Four Bites: Sunday News — 10 places Buffalo eaters can feel the love for under $10 -

(Above: Mohinga, catfish soup with rice noodles and banana blossom, at Lin Asian Market).

By Andrew Galarneau

What’s wild about eating in Buffalo is that if you know where to look, you can find a little taste of heaven for under a sawbuck.

Here’s some of my favorite under-$10 reasons to be glad I get to eat in Buffalo.

Mohinga, $6, Lin Asian Market

Mohinga is Burmese catfish noodle soup, usually eaten for breakfast with a sheaf of rice noodles, long beans and cilantro. Banana blossom is also a common vegetable, braised to tenderness. It’s available at midday in the Riverside Asian market, with the broth in a bag The restaurant next door remains dark, but Lin’s cooking is available at the checkout counter. Other choices usually involve noodle salads, Thai sausage, and coconut desserts, along with fried chicken by the piece.

Borscht with housemade mushroom dumplings, $5, Ukrainian-American Civic Center

On Fridays, the Ukrainian social club welcomes all to enjoy the cooking of a real Ukrainian grandmother. The brief menu includes pierogi, braised cabbage rolls, fish pan-fried in an eggy batter, and borscht. She makes the mushroom dumplings, too.

Chicken shawarma, $6, Fresh Arabic Sweets

This Syrian enclave on Amherst Street, across from Wegman’s, rules the Buffalo baklava game with five or more types baked fresh every morning, and astonishingly inexpensive to boot. But it also has a passionate following for the chicken shawarma sandwich. It’s wrapped in a flour tortilla, with french fries and garlic sauce inside along with chicken, then browned in a sandwich press.

Chicken empanada with housemade chimichurri, $4, Tangos 716

This is your reminder that authentic Argentine empanadas in beef, chicken, and more are now part of the Buffalo menu. Visit Gabriela Ozan’s West Ferry takeout for huge flavors at tiny prices. Please note that Ozan has expanded her hours to two days a week: 1 p.m.-8 p.m. Friday, noon-7 p.m. Saturday. (Tangos 716 is her second job.)

Vietnamese egg roll, $2.99, 99 Fast Food

Now that I’ve gotten the chance to eat deep-fried Vietnamese pork rolls in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, my awe of this Buffalo Vietnamese veteran’s kitchen staff has only grown deeper. Here’s where you can find the crispiest version all-time. It’s stuffed with ground pork, vermicelli, and mushrooms, arriving piping hot on a lettuce leaf, with a sauce of nuoc mam fish sauce and lime dip. Protip: wrap the lettuce leaf around the roll, and you can dip hot.

House special banh mi, $7.75, Pham’s Kitchen

Every sandwich is better on bread made that morning, for that purpose. On Union Road in Cheektowaga, Vincent Pham gets up early to make sure fresh bread is ready for the restaurant’s 10 a.m. opening. Ask for the house special banh mi, and it’s loaded with four kinds of housemade cold cuts, liver pate, and mayonnaise, plus pickled carrots and daikon radish.

Vada, coconut and spicy tomato chutney, sambar, $5.95, Colombo Spice

The genius savory doughnuts called vada are made of rice and lentil batter, so they’re usually gluten-free. Colombo Spice sets you up with a brace that’s a light meal, all things considered. Those things are fresh coconut chutney, spicy roast tomato chutney, and sambar, lentil-vegetable soup, for a tasteful vegan snack.

Texas Twinkie, $6, Southern Junction

The opposite of vegan, the Texas Twinkie at Buffalo’s international barbecue star on Connecticut Street is smoked beef brisket and cream cheese stuffed into a fresh de-seeded jalapeno chile. Which is wrapped in bacon and smoked. Though two are showed in the photo, the recommended dose is one.

Vegan sausage roll, $4, Sevens

Another stone cold vegan stunner is the “sausage” roll at Sevens, on Louisiana Street in Buffalo’s Old First Ward. Stop by and see why the bakery-cafe-restaurant has become a part of so many South Buffalo days for people seeking lemon poppyseed rolls, the hoisin mushroom sandwich, or a snack of hashbrowns with chipotle aioli.

Ube flan, $9, Pinoy Boi

At 617 Main St. in the Theater District, Lloyd Ligao’s Filipino menu has a strong dessert presence. Super-premium ice cream in black sesame, ube, and sometimes avocado are just the beginning. Check out the ube flan, silky-rich and rimmed with bittersweet caramel sauce.

PIC

REVIEW: Concord, next door to Amabel Provisions, was opened by Amabel proprietors Julian Dell’Osso and Clayton Edison last year. It’s a wine bar, with a tightly curated list by the bottle or glass, and a diverse small-plates menu of originals and classics that is its own reason to visit. Green beans Caesar was a favorite, but all the plates in our parade made us happy that someone has gone to the trouble of preparing truly well-thought-out bar snacks. (For patrons, later this week.)

Author Anna Hezel, right, presenting The Little Book of Olives with Kim Behzadi of Read It and Eat Bookshop.

ASK THE CRITIC

Q: Where can I find the biggest selection of olives in Buffalo?

– audience member, She Gathers, North Tonawanda

On Saturday, food writer Anna Hezel was interviewed about her latest book, The Little Book of Olives, in She Gathers, the showcase for women artisan in North Tonawanda. The question came up, and after Hezel said she wasn’t sure, I raised my hand to shout out Buffalo Fresh.

Here’s some photos from the olive aisle at Buffalo Fresh Riverside on Ontario Street, and the original Buffalo Fresh, on Broadway across from the Broadway Market. (Editor’s note: These images are months old, so you may not find every variety shown if you go to the store today.)

Buffalo Fresh Riverside: