Adventures of the Lost Expedition, Part X: Creature comforts.

March 4, 1983

Adventures of the Lost Expedition, Part X: Creature comforts.

CAPTAIN’S LOG, BAR DATE X: No, said the billiards technician, he wouldn’t be joining the Lost Expedition at its latest staging area. He held no aversion to the Eagle House at 5978 Main St. in the heart of Williamsville. Indeed, that was one of his regular haunts. There he’d learned that the proprietor was dreading the arrival of the sipping safari. He might even eject the whole crew from the premises.

Despite this warning, the Captain refused to be swayed. A mission was a mission. Come hell or high water, he was going to drink in every licensed establishment on Main Street from the depths of downtown Buffalo to the Genesee County line. If it meant filing an anti-discrimination suit with the state attorney general, so be it.

Nevertheless, conviviality was preferable to confrontation. The Captain and the California Co-Pilot decided to take the quiet route in. They arrived inconspicuously at the height of the Friday evening dinner hour. All the caution was for naught. Instead of hostility, there was hospitality. A hostess informed them there would be a short wait if they wanted a table. They joined the crowd that filled the bar.

Nor was there a hitch in getting provisions from a bartender wearing a radio earpiece tuned to the Sabres game. Armed with a pair of $2 mixed drinks, the Captain surveyed the place and wondered what all the worry was about.

The walls and the ceiling were adorned with some of the finest woodwork the Captain had ever seen in a drinking establishment. A real wood fire burned in a brick fireplace that took up most of one wall in the lounge area attached to the bar. The final touch was wallpaper in an antique floral motif.

Bowls of pretzels and chips adorned the bar and the cocktail tables, along with tiny tubs of jalapeno cheese dip. As the bar emptied into the dining room, the Captain and the California Co-Pilot commandeered a small table, then a larger one, called a most obliging waitress named Debbie and settled in to savor the pleasures of the place.

Before long, reinforcements arrived. The Science Officer showed his bearded face and brought back glowing reports about the lavatory. A contingent of Marines landed, dressed not in battlefield khaki, but in the blue and grey uniforms of Marine Midland Bank. One of them reported that the Eagle House served great stuffed mushrooms.

Mark Stone from the Pierce Arrow Restaurant rolled in to pick up a big jar of donations for the Variety Club Telethon from behind the bar. The Erie County Liquor Licensees Association promotion to benefit Children’s Hospital was turning out to be a great success, he said. As he left, the Captain glanced at his chronometer, counted the ever-expanding crew and determined that if the party didn’t move on, it might stay here all night. He called for the tab and gave Debbie an American Express card.

Heeding a report that the Creekside Restaurant at 5629 Main might still be too crowded to accommodate such a large number, the expeditioners trekked instead to Sorrentino’s Pizzeria, an Italian eating place at 5640 Main with an ambiance halfway between a pizza parlor and a full-fledged restaurant and lounge.

The small bar area included a table-model Pac Man video game, which immediately lured the more dexterous members of the crew. The rest repaired to the dining room and secured a row of tables, a round of drinks, a bucket of hot chicken wings and extra servings of blue cheese dressing. Hot at Sorrentino’s was what would pass for a zesty medium at some other wingeries, but it proved to be an excellent compromise for all the tastes involved.

The crowd was gone when the expedition finally crossed the street to the Creekview. Taking note of the incomparable dining room window overlooking Ellicott Creek, they settled into the knotty pine bar, where the sports network played on cable TV and the bartender poured 85-cent drafts of Old Vienna.

The Creekview proved as commodious as the previous stops this night, a cozy backdrop for lingering conversations. The Captain, ever mindful of making a minimum of five bars per evening, was obliged again to exhort the party to drink up and proceed to the next outpost.

And what an outpost! The Little White House at 5877 Main has long been considered one of the classier culinary experiences in the area. The safari did not venture into the vast dining room, however. They found a series of tables in the lounge instead, where they admired the leaded glass, the brick, the wood and the fireplace.

Also present was an all-purpose lounge combo called Sassafras. The instrumentalists in their vests and ruffled shirts seemed well-suited for the seamless renditions they gave to Willie Nelson’s greatest hits, while vocalist Cheryl Ferris, willowy in her white satin suit, provided the pizzazz for the pop tunes.

The White House manager, Dave Ring, joined the party. Learning that the kitchen was still open, the Captain decided to test the lobster bisque, since chef Bruce Dorr built a reputation concocting that specialty for McMahon’s in Snyder. The $2.50 bowl of bisque emerged equal to its billing – thick and meaty, leaving no doubt about the presence of sherry in the recipe.

After this extended evening of dalliance, the itinerary was supposed to finish with a down-to-earth flourish in Placey’s. But, alas, here it sat at 2 a.m., the lights dimmed and the doors locked. The same conditions prevailed at the next station, the Hackney House. Lest the route get too convoluted, the Captain nixed the notion of continuing to Main and Transit. For now, the creature comforts of Williamsville would have to suffice.