I bet that you’ve never heard of Pete’s Place. Maybe if you work in the Swan Towers building… but chances are, other than that, this eatery has been off your radar. Until this morning, it was off my radar. I biked by the eatery’s sandwich board, which caught my attention. So I hopped off my bike, and walked inside the door with “Pete’s Place” posted on the glass. At the top of the stairs, I looked around, searching for another signal. Nothing. I then walked down the staircase, and took a left and walked down a hallway, and smack in the middle of the hallway was Pete’s Place.

It took me a couple of seconds to get my bearings. Was this a breakfast joint? A lunch place? Do I get a pastry? A bagel sandwich? What’s going on here? It turns out that Pete’s Place packs a huge punch for such a small place. What was formerly a news stand is now a full fledge cooking operation, serving up rice bowls, burgers, tacos, soups and salads, tacos, burritos, crab cakes, chicken and steak hoagies, grab and go items, and full breakfasts, not to mention breakfast sandwiches. How the heck do they do all of this at this hallway kiosk? Passion!

During my visit, Pete Flanigan (the owner) was not there, unfortunately. But I was told that Flanigan got his start in the catering business, and has now owned and operated this kiosk for a little over a year. “We’re serving up mad food in the hallway,” the woman behind the counter, who started to tell me about the small but mighty food operation. “We’re famous for our jerk chicken,” she said. “We can make it in a taco, rice bowl, quesadilla, burrito, or on a salad. We add some hot sauce, and our mango salsa, which we cut up fresh by hand daily. We also put some of our delicious fresh microgreens on top. We hand cut and season our steaks everyday – there are always new specials, and we make the food from scratch. There is a line of people down the hallway at lunchtime. The food is that good.”

Apparently, Flanigan will be launching a food truck in the near future, to take his delicacies on the road. But if you can’t wait for the truck, be sure to stop on over to Swan Towers for some yummy food. I ordered a breakfast sandwich on a croissant to go, and not only was it the biggest breakfast sandwich that I had ever had, the eggs were cooked to perfection. It was delicious. If you order some food to go, you can take it over to a bench at Cathedral Park (across the street) to eat, or even inside at a table at the Ellicott Square Building.

Downtown workers and dwellers, put Pete’s Place on your radar – you won’t be sorry!

As an aside, I have one suggestion for the managers of Swan Towers. Please put some flags up on the flag poles. The excuse that downtown Buffalo is too windy just doesn’t fly anymore. Lots of downtown buildings are flying flags these days, with no visible issues.

Pete’s Place | 290 Main Street | Buffalo, New York 14202 | (716) 342-2044 | Facebook | Catering available