It’s only been open for a few months, but Buffalo has answered Beacon Grille’s beckoning with ravenous support.
Husband and wife co-owners Amanda (general manager) and Bruce Wieszala (chef) are no strangers to the restaurant industry, having cut their teeth in various positions over the last 10 years. At the Beacon Grille, both the menu and the kitchen itself are centered around a live wood-fire grill, bringing a new dining concept to the Buffalo restaurant scene.
“Nothing tastes as good as it does when it’s cooked over a live fire like that—you can’t replicate it any other way,” Bruce says.
The space opened in July, and one item has been an unexpected hit from the very beginning: the charred octopus. It was inspired by one of Bruce and Amanda’s favorite meals abroad, reconstructed with wood-fired flair.
“On our honeymoon in Spain, every restaurant we went to had octopus—we ordered it every time,” Amanda laughs. “Bruce had said, ‘If we ever open a restaurant, I want to put a dish like this on the menu.’”
“I start out by slow-cooking (the octopus) with white wine, garlic and very little salt, because it’s actually very ocean-y and salty to begin with,” Bruce explains. “It’s slow-cooked for close to two hours to get it nice and tender. When somebody orders it, we put it on the woodfire, to get a nice char and crisp up the skin.”
The charred octopus has been a best seller for the Beacon Grille since it opened in July.
The octopus is then layered over paella rice stewed with saffron, sofrito and chicken stock and then tossed onto a hot plancha to create a thin, crisp, underlying crust known in Spanish cuisine as “socarrat.”
Garnished with scratch-made, roasted tomato romesco sauce, the dish is completed with a sprinkle of fried garbanzo beans for an added crunch.
Despite initially assuming Buffalo might be slow to embrace the eccentric dish, the charred octopus has been Beacon Grille’s top-selling menu item since it opened its doors.
“It was immediate—I was so shocked,” Amanda says. “The whole staff tried it during training and they all loved it, but restaurant people tend to be a little bit more adventurous of eaters. I did not think that Buffalo was going to be on the octopus train as hard as it has been.”
The Wieszalas are looking forward to their first winter in the space, knowing that the live grill will evoke an even cozier atmosphere and provide warmth and respite in the colder months.
“We really identify with the values of Allentown and how it’s always been this really accepting, creative and inviting community,” Amanda says, “That’s what we wanted to parallel in our restaurant.”
