Hamburg Gaming, located at the Erie County Fairgrounds, today opened its new $3 million restaurant.
The restaurant, “indulge at Hamburg Gaming,” is in redesigned space that formerly housed the Midway Buffet. It features menus catered to guests’ top-three requested food styles: fried, comfort and grilled foods.
The restaurant project included new lighting, furniture and kitchen equipment. Guests can now order from self-service kiosks and pick up fresh-cooked food from one of the three menu options. The nearby private dining room, which will continue to host private events, has also been reimagined and updated.
“We really wanted to make the space, which had been walled off from the gaming floor, to be an open, modern space,” said Delaware North’s Michael Miles, general manager for Hamburg Gaming. “We’ve reimagined and reinvented the restaurant in terms of both aesthetics and a fast-casual, quick-service concept.”
Delaware North, the global hospitality and entertainment company headquartered in Buffalo that also owns and operates a portfolio of regional gaming destinations, designed the restaurant and operates all aspects of Hamburg Gaming for the Erie County Agricultural Society.
Delaware North officials were joined by members of the agricultural society’s board of directors this morning for a ceremonial ribbon-cutting to celebrate the restaurant’s opening to guests and the public in the afternoon.
New Hamburg Gaming Executive Chef Brian Wolfe created a menu for the three themed menus with local favorites and some items with influences from his experience the last six years serving as executive sous chef at Southland Casino Hotel in West Memphis, Ark. In 2022, Delaware North completed a new gaming complex and 300-room hotel, a project that included opening eight new restaurants and bars.
“We have a lot of comfort foods, which has been a trend since the pandemic kept folks at home, and plenty of Buffalo favorites, including beef on weck, a beef on weck burger, Buffalo wings, Buffalo chicken finger pizza, Buffalo roasted cauliflower,” Wolfe said.
Other menu highlights include a beer-battered fish fry, turkey dinner, meatloaf poutine, loaded baked pasta, mac and cheese, Nashville hot chicken, and various different salads, burgers, pizzas and sandwiches.
A Rochester, N.Y., native, Wolfe joined Delaware North nearly a decade ago as a sous chef at Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack in Farmington. He is a graduate of Johnson and Wales University, where he earned an associate’s degree in culinary arts and bachelor’s degree in food service management.
The restaurant has a staff of about 35 and will be open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.