The “Alphabet Challenge” is up to the letter ‘I’ this week, and at the top of the list are two restaurants that specialize in incredible pasta dishes.
Each week, I’ve been asking for your suggestions for restaurants in the Western New York area as part of what we’ve been calling “The Alphabet Challenge.” This week, we are up to the letter ‘I.’
What is “The Alphabet Challenge?”
The Alphabet Challenge is something my wife and I started doing with my cousin and her husband as a way to get together every month and to try out some restaurants that we’ve never been to before, or to try out some of the classics that we haven’t been to in a long, long time.
So when we were out to dinner at The Anchor Bar one day and we were trying to plan our next night out. Instead of struggling with all of the incredible places to go to in Buffalo, we decided we’d make it easy on ourselves and just narrow it down to restaurants whose names began with the next letter in the alphabet. We’ve been doing it for months now, and we’ve kind of forced ourselves into trying some pretty incredible places.
This week, we are up to the letter ‘I’
Now, I’ve begun asking for your suggestions. Last week we put together a list of restaurants that started with the letter ‘H’, and one of Buffalo’s best steakhouses topped the list.
Read More: See the rest of the restaurants suggested for the Alphabet Challenge here
This week I asked for your suggestions for the letter ‘I.’ There were tons of great suggestions including:
Imperial Pizza (Two locations on Main Street and Abbott Road in Buffalo)Indian Falls Log Cabin Restaurant (1227 Gilmore Rd, Corfu, NY 14036)Ichiban Japanese Restaurant (3701 McKinley Pkwy, Blasdell, NY 14219)Italian Village Restaurant (6354 Transit Rd, Depew, NY 14043)Inchin’s Bamboo Garden (5415 Sheridan Dr, Williamsville, NY 14221)Inchin’s Indian Kitchen (1 Walden Ave, Cheektowaga, NY 14225)
But two restaurants dominated the list: Ilio DiPaolo’s, and Inizio.
Ilio DiPaolo’s
Ilio DiPaolo’s Restaurant has been in Buffalo (Lackawanna) since 1965 when recently retired professional wrestler set up shop on 3785 South Park Avenue. It was originally just a pizzeria with just 4 employees but over the years it grew into a full restaurant that put its emphasis on good food and friendly service.
All these years later, Ilio’s is still a great place for banquets, weddings, or just a private dinner for two. The food is incredible and the service is impeccable.
Inizio’s
Inizio’s is a little bit newer than Ilio’s. They were founded by chef and owner Michael Gibney in 2019. This is the restaurant that we chose in our own Alphabet Challenge and we were all incredibly happy we did. It was one of those nights where everyone was sampling from each other’s plates because they were all so incredible. It’s all hand made fresh pasta with locally sourced ingredients. The pasta and the sauces are all phenomenal. If you love pasta, you won’t regret using this for your ‘I’ restaurant.
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