Sunday News: Can International House break the curse of 617 Main St.?

One Thammasithikoun opens One Thai Food, bet on Jay’s Artisan for pizza date

Over 23 years, I’ve walked from Washington Street to Main Street through 617 Main St., the space next to the Market Arcade in Buffalo’s Theater District, hundreds of times.

Birth announcements followed by funeral proceedings made the dark interior even more foreboding. From Breckenridge Brew Pub (1996-1998), Empire Brewing Company (1999-2001), YaYa Bayou Brewhouse (2002-2005) then EXPO (2015-2020) and Downtown Bazaar (2023-2024), 617 Main St. was a vale of commercial sorrow.

The City of Buffalo poured millions of dollars into the pockets of restaurateurs trying to succeed there. It became such a point of public humiliation in the heart of an allegedly resurgent theater district that The Buffalo News editorial board felt compelled to weigh in.

On June 15, two days after I published a story airing tenant restaurateurs’ issues with their landlord, Mark Supples called to see if we could talk. He asked lots of questions about the situation, and I told him what I knew.

318 days later, International House and Bar Flamant Rose opened. Supples had decided to launch one more spot, with wife and business partner Amy Taylor. They thought that space and those cooks should thrive under proper management. So far, they’ve spent $500,000 of their own money to see if they’re right about the space no one else could bring to life.

Starting a restaurant at 617 Main St. seemed like going to the car dealer and picking out the one with the most crashes. But I’ve never run a restaurant, much less invent the Pink Flamingo and make Mother’s a standard for late-night dining.

As a Buffalonian, days that have made me hopeful for the future of downtown Buffalo as a place to live and play have been in short supply. On April 29, 2025, I had one of those bright sunshiny days, strong medicine for my heart.

International House opened, and people are playing ping-pong, children are playing while their parents eat, folks are swaying to the music, and I get to enjoy chicken curry puffs, ginger salad, and mango smoothies on Main Street, Buffalo, as the train rumbles by.

Here’s a suggestion from each menu.

Pattaya Street Food: chicken curry puffs (2/$5, above) tuck potato-chicken mash inside flaky crust for an irresistible snack.

La Divina Tacos: lengua, tongue ($5), for the flavor of rich pot roast.

Abyssinian Ethiopian Cuisine: veggie sampler ($17.99), seven vegan vegetable marvels on injera, sourdough pancake made of teff and barley. As much as I dig meat, Ethiopian vegetable treatments are marvelous enough to me to go veggie when forced to choose.

Nile River Restaurant: beef halal ($13.99), inky with Maggi sauce, spicy-sweet jerkylike dish is best-seller.

Pinoy Boi: pork sisig with fried egg ($18), because if you dig pig, cubed pork belly marinated in lime soy and plancha-seared, served with garlic rice, two crispy pork-filled lumpia rolls, and a fried egg is fine dining.

Ethical disclosure: On March 26, Supples hired me to help create International House’s website and social media program. In 13 years of trying to draw attention to the work of Gemmeda and company, mostly as The Buffalo News food editor, I’m getting paid specifically to draw attention to its cooks for the first time. Four Bites reviews and stories like this one will never be for sale.

REVIEW: At Iron Tail Tavern in the Elmwood Village, veteran chef Andrew Berger offers a Spanish-inspired menu in a two-story sunny space. Piquillo chillies stuffed with quinoa with manchego and serrano ham make burrata a meal, and octopus carpaccio is pretty as it is delicious. But everyone should give thanks for proper patatas bravas – fried potato nugs with smoky-spicy pimenton-tomato sauce – within reach.

ONE THAI FOOD OPENS: One Thammasithikoun, the Laotian restaurateur who all-too-briefly offered us Lao Gourmet Cuisine next to Buffalo State College, has a full menu again.

One Thai Food officially launched April 26 in the West Side Bazaar, 1432 Niagara St. She ran the bubble tea booth there from its opening, and has taken over a full restaurant space.

Follow her on Instagram and read her menu here.

ASK THE CRITIC:

Q: What’s the best place to take a girl who went to Italy and misses the pizza now? We live in Buffalo so even Northtowns would be great. Tho if some place farther away is doper, I’d go the extra mile to impress pizza girl.

Jim A, Cheektowaga

A: Jay’s Artisan Pizza counter would be my suggestion. Literally world-class Neapolitan and Detroit-style pizza. You can negotiate which two to get, and compare and contrast. If that doesn’t make chitchat easier, that’s on you.

When it comes to salad, if it’s still on the menu, consider the Castelfranco radicchio salad ($12), gently bitter white-and-red foliage dressed with just enough blood orange vinaigrette and speckled with toasted crushed pistachio and grated pantaleo aged goat’s milk cheese.