Food Porn: Kennedy’s Cove

I’ve wanted to try Kennedy’s Cove for a long time, in fact for the previous two Local Restaurant Week’s it’s been on our radar.  But for whatever reason we tried out other restaurants instead and never could justify the big $$$ to go there on a regular week.  We had heard a lot of things about Kennedy’s, one friend told us it was the greatest steak he’s ever eaten while another friend claimed it was a glorified dive bar with rude servers.  So we finally decided we needed to try it out and made it our 3rd and final Restaurant Week meal.

To enjoy a meal at Kennedy’s Cove your going to need some patience and a lot of cash.  We visited the restaurant on a Friday and luckily grabbed one of their two tables near the bar; otherwise it would have been a 30+ minute wait for a table in the dining room (that wait got much longer by the time we left).  I can’t comment how nice the dining room is but the building definitely would not be called one of Buffalo’s finer looking establishments.  We saw people wearing jeans and sweatshirts and the tables appeared to have simple cushioned seats with paper place mats.  That said, their prices would make an outsider assume the dining crowd and atmosphere was similiar to Fiamma Steak or EB Greens.  But I suppose that’s part of the appeal of the restaurant, this is an incredibly simple restaurant that is supposed to resemble more of a bar & grill than a fancy fine dining establishment.  They do not take credit cards, you can’t make a reservation and their website only displays some items of their entire menu.

They get away with these drawbacks because, well, their most of their food is impressive and their portions are enormous.  I started my meal with a cup of their Vegetable and Beef Soup (pictured below), which really was more like a stew.  The broth wasn’t anything too special but it didn’t really matter, this bowl was packed with vegetables and huge chunks of beef.  We also ordered some Fried Mozzarella (pictured in gallery) for the entire table; but what we got was this weird soggy, flat and thin pieces of cheese.  It was something different that your normal mozzarella stick but I didn’t like it, it tasted like deep fried breading with almost no cheese in sight.

For entrees, almost the entire table ordered the 12 oz Strip Steak (pictured in gallery, their 16 oz is $36) while I decided to try the Pepper Shrimp (pictured below).  Everyone absolutely loved their steaks and that praise wasn’t coming from steak n00b’s either, Alli’s brother Dave is basically a steak junkie and was in love with the meal.  They were cooked exactly to everyone’s liking, and the flavor of the beef was really enhanced by whatever spices they crusted the outside of the steak with.  Alli noted that each piece melted in her mouth and commented that it was one of the better steaks she’s had all year.

The Pepper Shrimp was pretty impressive as well, large jumbo shrimp in a bath of spicy peppers, garlic and olive oil.  It was almost too intense for my taste buds; it was really spicy and I had to take breaks occasionally to let myself settle down.  Normally, it’s offered as an appetizer but this could easily be a meal for one, since I ordered it as an entree I was served French Fries and Garlic Bread.

The sides that come with your orders are gigantic; the Garlic Bread really stood out since they basically serve you a slice of bread thats the length of an entire loaf.  Warning, their bread has a really strong garlic taste and is basically soaked in olive oil.  For Alli, she was in heaven.  My side of French Fries was huge and my future brother-in-laws Baked Potato was impressive to say the least.  Prepare to bring home left-overs.

We had a really good meal at Kennedy’s and I’d say their food is worth the hassle.  Sure, you’ll have to make a trip to the ATM before hand and you should expect waiting at least 30 minutes on busy night.  But the reason the owners at Kennedy can continue to do these things is because the food is really that good.  The service wasn’t great but we were sitting next to the bar and away from the action, so I hope that it would have been better if we were sitting in the dining room.  I can understand why some people are so opposed to the place, the look and atmosphere don’t really justify their high end prices.  But when you are providing delicious entrees and huge sides/appetizers/soups, then I guess you can get away with it.  I’d love to go back again but I’ll probably wait until the next Restaurant Week or until someone else is paying.