About the Author

Your concierge for eating intel in the Buffalo, NY area, I don’t just publish articles. I get patrons answers for their questions. Where to find green almonds, eat khachapuri in Buffalo, or where can you get a table for eight Thursday night in a restaurant where celiacs can safely eat?

I’m your guy. I’ll tell you what I know, then put my investigative reporting experience to work to get you the information you need.

It happened like this:

After 35 years of newspapers, ex-Buffalo News food editor Andrew Galarneau went all-digital on Dec. 1, 2023, shortly before his 57th birthday. He set out to see if readers would pay for a steady stream of reliable, actionable eating intelligence centered around Buffalo.

Andrew Galarneau, wearing apron custom-designed by his middle kid Will, holding a plate of grilled gochujang-miso eggplant. — Andrew Galarneau

Using theories developed during 23 years of teaching journalism in the University at Buffalo’s English Department, he posited a new species of service journalism. Not only words and images, but a commitment to serve as digital concierge, a finder of answers, for subscribers.

Galarneau started his journalism career with Generation, a weekly student feature magazine at the University of Buffalo. After two Buffalo News internships, he was hired by Mike Pride at the Concord (N.H.) Monitor in 1988. After stints as a court reporter for the St. Petersburg Times, and an investigative reporter for the Lowell (Mass.) Sun, he rejoined the News in 1997 as a feature writer.

Now he has a TikTok account. It’s not a good TikTok account, not yet. But he’s learning, since his undergraduates taught him how to use the app last year. Most journalists roll their eyes when he mentions TikTok. Faced with the choice of serving an important swath of his audience or writing them off, he’ll be learning reel by reel at @buffalofoodguy. His Instagram and Twitter (X) are less terrible.

“My Name is Andrew, and I’m a Buffaholic” is the closest thing to an autobiography he’s published.

He is working on “The People’s Journalism Academy,” a textbook and DIY reporting guide that argues journalism is too important to be left to profit-driven businesses.