Breakfast at Nick's Place on Elmwood & Dinner at Chin Hills

Revisiting some favorites, both on Elmwood Ave in Kenmore

There are a few restaurants in WNY that are absolute comfort for me—those at which I’ve dined countless times enjoying more than half the menu with plates as appealing to the eye as they are the belly. This past week, I revisited two restaurants in this category.

I began writing this blog on June 1st, 2022 and enthusiastically wrote about both of these restaurants right way. My initial audience was roughly 50 readers at that time. As my blog approaches its three year anniversary, that readership has grown to almost 300 subscribers and over 400 followers. Thank you for being part of those numbers! I want to revisit these two favorites for you in case you missed the posts back in 2022.

I am happy with my first post about Nick’s Place on Elmwood (then named Nick’s Place Express) located at 2466 Elmwood Avenue in Kenmore. I hope you’ll go back and read it. But there have been some exciting updates to the restaurant since my first writing. Over the past few years, they have more than doubled their seating capacity with expansion into what used to be a separate space next door and the addition of a patio for outdoor dining during the summer months. What hasn’t changed is the friendly service and the artfully plated and exceptionally satisfying food including homefries that may spoil you for all other homefries.

Check out their social media pages for weekend specials featuring additional options such as the breakfast crunch wrap, pictured below. Or perhaps you will catch my personal favorite, the Reuben skillet—corned beef, sauerkraut, green pepper, choice of eggs, mozzarella, thousand island dressing, and rye toast.

Breakfast Crunch Wrap (a special) at Nick’s Place on Elmwood

Back when I first wrote about Chin Hills at 2756 Elmwood Avenue in Kenmore, I felt like few people knew about My Favorite “Hidden Gem”. More recently, I am seeing Chin Hills being recommended in online discussions of local Korean and Burmese cuisine. The word is getting around.

In one such discussion, another commenter and I shared our love for the scallion pancake (Pajun), which has ruined me for all other scallion pancakes. This person also mentioned the tea leaf salad, which I did not recall seeing on the menu. I investigated and found it—Laphet Thoke, Burmese pickled tea leaves, tossed with crispy beans, peanut, sesame seeds, garlic, cabbages, onions, and tomatoes. I added the dish to my mental to-try list for the next visit.

Within a few days, another prompt for a visit arose. While watching TV, I was introduced to and inspired to try Mohinga, a traditional Burmese fish noodle soup. Familiar with Chin Hill’s incredible soup offerings, I went directly to their menu and verified that Mohinga could be sampled here.

I was giddy with excitement to be returning to a favorite restaurant to sample two menu items that somehow had previously escaped my attention. We started our meal with the Pajun and Laphet Thoke to share. The beautiful salad was an explosion of flavor and texture. We are still talking about it days later and will be starting with both of these dishes on all future visits.

The Mohinga pleasantly surprised me as I didn’t know what to expect. The broth was thicker than I anticipated, served over a hearty amount of rice vermicelli, garnished with hard boiled egg and fresh cilantro. I found the flavor to be balanced and quite pleasing. Although I did not verify ingredients used at Chin Hills, catfish is the traditional fish used in this soup along with flavors of turmeric, lemongrass, onions, garlic, ginger, and fish sauce or paste. This was a hearty bowl of comfort that I will definitely enjoy again.

Totally off subject but can anyone recommend any places to eat in Erie, PA? We’ll be visiting shortly and look forward to checking out a restaurant or two.