Compared with larger American cities, commercial rents are still relatively affordable in Buffalo, New York: The average retail rent there is $14.40 per square foot, versus $46.50 in the New York City metro area, with a 2 percent higher vacancy rate, according to a third-quarter 2025 market report from commercial real estate specialists CoStar Group, provided by Michael Scheid, a broker at Hunt Commercial Real Estate. This lower cost has enticed many native Buffalo chefs to return home to open restaurants. Dreamstime/TNS
Buffalo might be synonymous with hot wings, but there’s a less heralded bar staple that represents the city even better. The locally beloved roast beef on a caraway-seed-studded kümmelweck roll is a legacy left over from German immigrants who flocked to the northern New York metropolis in the early 19th century in search of jobs in the flourishing shipping and milling industries.
