Daniel's

despite four last-minute cancellations, we still had six attend yesterday evening's dinner at Daniel's in Hamburg. Daniel's is to Hamburg as San Marco is to Snyder - tops. in a simple yet elegant setting, it's fair to say the group enjoyed the food, chat and the raging thunderstorm.
our posse started with Daniel's escargot appetizer: snails in a garlic butter sauce wrapped in a pasta cocoon. let me tell you, if balsamic is my #1 lure, garlic is a close second. i've never had escargot before and was not disappointed with Daniel's delivery - very good. The group also sampled their standard baked goat cheese appetizer (great), and special appetizers: butternut squash ravioli (good) and seared sashimi tuna (good). i also had their mozzarella salad with crispy prosciutto (average as the prosciutto added nothing to the dish).
as far as the entrees, i debated between ordering their veal chop and their roasted lobster tails over angel hair pasta in a vanilla bean butter sauce deciding for the later (doesn't seem like a difficult choice with that description though). jeff harrington decided to order what i didn't and grumbled about it afterwards as the sliced lobster tails with the hint of vanilla in that sauce were awesome while the veal chop was average. other choices included their standard tenderloin of veal with lobster (great), their halibut filet with crab meat (very good) and their rack of lamb with sea scallops - the lamb was perfectly tender and the scallops were perfectly crusted (excellent).
the group ordered an assortment of desserts, including their white and dark chocolate mousse (good), their chocolate marquis over a pistachio anglaise (excellent) chocolate timbale (didn't try) and their mascarpone with strawberries (very good).
Daniels's is fine dining and except for the some of the smallish portions which you would expect at such an establishment, i have little complaint (although i should have ordered a side of potato pancakes) so Daniel's joins the ranks of the elite with an A.

Santisero's

seven (one new) sat down at Santasiero's in buffalo last night to enjoy standard italian fare. if you haven't eaten at this staple of the west side I can tell you that there's nothing fancy there - decor or food but the place is solid (the food at least).
the group started with garlic bread with cheese, most of which had to be packed up for home because of the ample entrée portions. as far as the entrees, I had my favorite dish there, the pasta fasoola served with a side of hot peppers (tasty and satisfying). other's had: peas and macaroni, lentils and macaroni, spaghetti parm, linguini with clams, ziti with pesto sauce and spaghetti with tomato sauce. I sampled only the lentil dish which was good and everyone else seemed to enjoy their respective dishes. two dishes that I would have liked to sample are their goulash and their eggplant parmigian but because I enjoy the pasta fasoola so much I wasn't adventurous enough to order either myself.
no one had dessert as there is no dessert.
Santasiero's is about eating italian food and little else. their menu is billboarded on the walls of the restaurant and the scenery is out of a bad Sopranos episode but you can't beat the bang for the buck there so it gets a solid B.