Charlie the Butcher
Buffalo, NY, USA
About
Charlie the Butcher, [188]. Charles E. Roesch was not the inventor of beef on weck—that honor goes to Schwabl's restaurant, which opened in 1837 in the Near East Side and later moved to suburban West Seneca—but he and his descendants have certainly done the most to popularize that Buffalo specialty outside the immediate local area. The butcher shop of Charles E. Roesch and Company was founded in 1914 and operated for over eight decades in the Broadway Market, with its titular owner also serving as Mayor of Buffalo from 1930 to 1934. His grandson, Charles W., carries on the family business, both at his restaurant, Charlie the Butcher's Kitchen, in Cheektowaga—which has been visited, according to the photos hanging prominently on the wall, by such famous names as Mark Russell, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Denise Austin, Tim Russert, and Regis Philbin—and at five Charlie the Butcher Express locations in downtown Buffalo as well as the suburbs of Cheektowaga, Williamsville, Orchard Park, and East Aurora. In addition, Charlie the Butcher's carved roast beef is available at Buffalo Bisons games at Coca-Cola Field and at many supermarkets and grocery stores all over Erie and Niagara Counties. Charlie has also taken beef on weck to the national and international stage on TV shows such as "Good Morning America", "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee", and "FoodNation with Bobby Flay", and in the pages of magazines such as Gourmet and Martha Stewart Living.
