Cimorene

I'm leaving Buffalo to go to Providence this summer. I'm so sad to be leaving. Get an apartment in Elmwood Village or Allentown (parts of Allentown can be mildly sketchy; nowhere in EV is sketchy). You can get a 2 bdrm apartment with huge bay windows, hardwood floors, and a yard for $625 in an old Victorian house in one of the best neighborhoods in the country (as Elmwood Village is constantly rated best neighborhood to live in, in various magazines and such). Don't do the Amherst/University apartments--they're totally overpriced and Amherst is a death-town, suburban wasteland. EV is amazing--great restaurants, cool bars. The theatre scene in B.lo is particularly excellent, as is the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

Bistro Europa, on Elmwood Ave near Hodge, is perhaps the best restaurant I've ever eaten at, ever, in my whole live, anywhere. It's amazing and I want to cry because I live right around the corner and I dread leaving it.

Allen St has the best bars--Hardware is nice. Coulter Bay has good beers, but a kind of frat-boy atmosphere sometimes. The Old Pink is great in a sleazy, drunken way.

It's cheap at hell to live here. In the winter, get the clear plastic insulation (you can get it at Home Depot or, even better, TruValue hardware) so your heating bill doesn't get grossly high. It will get cold in the winter, but not as cold as Boston, MA (I went to undergrad at Wellesley). It snows more here, though. Be prepared, because Buffalonians almost never shut down for snow--only when it's really, really bad. Because if we shut down every time it snowed a foot in a day, we'd miss too much school and work.

UB is a great school, but the campus is shitty for grad students. The neighborhood near South Campus, so-called University Heights, is sketchy and dangerous with lots of absentee landlords who don't care about their property, and lots of frats/frat-like houses that throw wild parties. Elmwood Village has a lot of homeowners, and a lot of old houses converted into apartments. It's nicer. It's the best place ever. Sigh. I'm sure Rhode Island will be nice, but I'm just gutted to be leaving.

My partner is from Atlanta, and is a total Buffalo-convert. He doesn't want to leave, either.

Live with someone--or two people, ideally--and your rent will drop dramatically. You can get a beautiful, huge, bad-ass 3 bedroom for as little as $800/month.

It's an excellent dog city. The dog park in LaSalle park is wonderful, on the water and really nice, especially in the summer.
I recommend Shakespeare in Delaware Park if you're here in the summer. Good theatre, fun, and nobody cares if you bring a bottle of wine and drink it in the park.

Best Pizza: Bella Pizza, in Lackawanna (kind of far for just a slice, but if you're ever in the neighborhood).
Best Pasta: Chef's, downtown, or Pino's, in Orchard Park (a suburb south of the city). Get the Spagetti Parm, it's a buffalo-favorite.
Best Wings: I like Gordon's, near Hertel.
Best patio: La Tee Da, on Allen St (Patio's in the back, only open Thursday-Sunday), or Cecilia's on Elmwood, though I find that crowd tiresome--they make amazing martinis, though.
Niagara Cafe on Niagara St has great Puerto Rican food, Custard Corner on Porter Ave (nearish the dog park) has the best ice cream EVER, Fowler's has the best chocolate, Cafe Aroma has the best coffee, Spot has the best coffee-shop atmosphere.
Trattoria Aroma (Bryant and Ashland) has the best properly Italian food--their pizza sauce is freakishly delicious. They make great cocktails, too.

If you're looking for apartments, try ArtVoice, the weekly free newspaper. Also, try driving around--lots of people put up For Rent signs in front of their property without posting ads anywhere.
Enjoy! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I love this city.

I'm leaving Buffalo to go to Providence this summer. I'm so sad to be leaving. Get an apartment in Elmwood Village or Allentown (parts of Allentown can be mildly sketchy; nowhere in EV is sketchy). You can get a 2 bdrm apartment with huge bay windows, hardwood floors, and a yard for $625 in an old Victorian house in one of the best neighborhoods in the country (as Elmwood Village is constantly rated best neighborhood to live in, in various magazines and such). Don't do the Amherst/University apartments--they're totally overpriced and Amherst is a death-town, suburban wasteland. EV is amazing--great restaurants, cool bars. The theatre scene in B.lo is particularly excellent, as is the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

Bistro Europa, on Elmwood Ave near Hodge, is perhaps the best restaurant I've ever eaten at, ever, in my whole live, anywhere. It's amazing and I want to cry because I live right around the corner and I dread leaving it.

Allen St has the best bars--Hardware is nice. Coulter Bay has good beers, but a kind of frat-boy atmosphere sometimes. The Old Pink is great in a sleazy, drunken way.

It's cheap at hell to live here. In the winter, get the clear plastic insulation (you can get it at Home Depot or, even better, TruValue hardware) so your heating bill doesn't get grossly high. It will get cold in the winter, but not as cold as Boston, MA (I went to undergrad at Wellesley). It snows more here, though. Be prepared, because Buffalonians almost never shut down for snow--only when it's really, really bad. Because if we shut down every time it snowed a foot in a day, we'd miss too much school and work.

UB is a great school, but the campus is shitty for grad students. The neighborhood near South Campus, so-called University Heights, is sketchy and dangerous with lots of absentee landlords who don't care about their property, and lots of frats/frat-like houses that throw wild parties. Elmwood Village has a lot of homeowners, and a lot of old houses converted into apartments. It's nicer. It's the best place ever. Sigh. I'm sure Rhode Island will be nice, but I'm just gutted to be leaving.

My partner is from Atlanta, and is a total Buffalo-convert. He doesn't want to leave, either.

Live with someone--or two people, ideally--and your rent will drop dramatically. You can get a beautiful, huge, bad-ass 3 bedroom for as little as $800/month.

It's an excellent dog city. The dog park in LaSalle park is wonderful, on the water and really nice, especially in the summer.
I recommend Shakespeare in Delaware Park if you're here in the summer. Good theatre, fun, and nobody cares if you bring a bottle of wine and drink it in the park.

Best Pizza: Bella Pizza, in Lackawanna (kind of far for just a slice, but if you're ever in the neighborhood).
Best Pasta: Chef's, downtown, or Pino's, in Orchard Park (a suburb south of the city). Get the Spagetti Parm, it's a buffalo-favorite.
Best Wings: I like Gordon's, near Hertel.
Best patio: La Tee Da, on Allen St (Patio's in the back, only open Thursday-Sunday), or Cecilia's on Elmwood, though I find that crowd tiresome--they make amazing martinis, though.
Niagara Cafe on Niagara St has great Puerto Rican food, Custard Corner on Porter Ave (nearish the dog park) has the best ice cream EVER, Fowler's has the best chocolate, Cafe Aroma has the best coffee, Spot has the best coffee-shop atmosphere.
Trattoria Aroma (Bryant and Ashland) has the best properly Italian food--their pizza sauce is freakishly delicious. They make great cocktails, too.

If you're looking for apartments, try ArtVoice, the weekly free newspaper. Also, try driving around--lots of people put up For Rent signs in front of their property without posting ads anywhere.
Enjoy! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I love this city.

I'm leaving Buffalo to go to Providence this summer. I'm so sad to be leaving. Get an apartment in Elmwood Village or Allentown (parts of Allentown can be mildly sketchy; nowhere in EV is sketchy). You can get a 2 bdrm apartment with huge bay windows, hardwood floors, and a yard for $625 in an old Victorian house in one of the best neighborhoods in the country (as Elmwood Village is constantly rated best neighborhood to live in, in various magazines and such). Don't do the Amherst/University apartments--they're totally overpriced and Amherst is a death-town, suburban wasteland. EV is amazing--great restaurants, cool bars. The theatre scene in B.lo is particularly excellent, as is the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

Bistro Europa, on Elmwood Ave near Hodge, is perhaps the best restaurant I've ever eaten at, ever, in my whole live, anywhere. It's amazing and I want to cry because I live right around the corner and I dread leaving it.

Allen St has the best bars--Hardware is nice. Coulter Bay has good beers, but a kind of frat-boy atmosphere sometimes. The Old Pink is great in a sleazy, drunken way.

It's cheap at hell to live here. In the winter, get the clear plastic insulation (you can get it at Home Depot or, even better, TruValue hardware) so your heating bill doesn't get grossly high. It will get cold in the winter, but not as cold as Boston, MA (I went to undergrad at Wellesley). It snows more here, though. Be prepared, because Buffalonians almost never shut down for snow--only when it's really, really bad. Because if we shut down every time it snowed a foot in a day, we'd miss too much school and work.

UB is a great school, but the campus is shitty for grad students. The neighborhood near South Campus, so-called University Heights, is sketchy and dangerous with lots of absentee landlords who don't care about their property, and lots of frats/frat-like houses that throw wild parties. Elmwood Village has a lot of homeowners, and a lot of old houses converted into apartments. It's nicer. It's the best place ever. Sigh. I'm sure Rhode Island will be nice, but I'm just gutted to be leaving.

My partner is from Atlanta, and is a total Buffalo-convert. He doesn't want to leave, either.

Live with someone--or two people, ideally--and your rent will drop dramatically. You can get a beautiful, huge, bad-ass 3 bedroom for as little as $800/month.

It's an excellent dog city. The dog park in LaSalle park is wonderful, on the water and really nice, especially in the summer.
I recommend Shakespeare in Delaware Park if you're here in the summer. Good theatre, fun, and nobody cares if you bring a bottle of wine and drink it in the park.

Best Pizza: Bella Pizza, in Lackawanna (kind of far for just a slice, but if you're ever in the neighborhood).
Best Pasta: Chef's, downtown, or Pino's, in Orchard Park (a suburb south of the city). Get the Spagetti Parm, it's a buffalo-favorite.
Best Wings: I like Gordon's, near Hertel.
Best patio: La Tee Da, on Allen St (Patio's in the back, only open Thursday-Sunday), or Cecilia's on Elmwood, though I find that crowd tiresome--they make amazing martinis, though.
Niagara Cafe on Niagara St has great Puerto Rican food, Custard Corner on Porter Ave (nearish the dog park) has the best ice cream EVER, Fowler's has the best chocolate, Cafe Aroma has the best coffee, Spot has the best coffee-shop atmosphere.
Trattoria Aroma (Bryant and Ashland) has the best properly Italian food--their pizza sauce is freakishly delicious. They make great cocktails, too.

If you're looking for apartments, try ArtVoice, the weekly free newspaper. Also, try driving around--lots of people put up For Rent signs in front of their property without posting ads anywhere.
Enjoy! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I love this city.