Tantalus Restaurant, Bar & Cafe

634 Main St, East Aurora

The greek mythology story of Tantalus is one of a thief and a cannibal. The mythological Tantalus offers up stolen nectars and ambrosia, as well as parts of his boiled son. While the restaurant Tantalus doesn't offer up humans for food, they have plenty to offer to those looking for good food in East Aurora. Located on Main street, the restaurant is just a short walk down from the famous Vidler's 5 & 10. Inside it has a rather large seating capacity, divided into two basic sections. Expect a few minute wait on a busy Friday or Saturday evening (20 minutes tops from prior visits). On this encounter, lunch had plenty of open spaces and were greeted by friendly staff telling us to sit anywhere we liked.

The waitress came over carrying an abundance of reading material. The menu is also comparable to Homer's Odyssey, if only in size. The multi-page, multi-section menu is a bit overwhelming for newcomers and those returning because of the number of selections to read through. The menu can seem a bit repetitive at times, with some items being very similar or made their way into both the lunch and dinner section. Expect to tell the staff "ehhh not done reading yet" a few times on your first few outings there. Other than the main menu, expect a mini clipboard with the daily tap selections, another bottled beer list, and a wine list. So much material, but unlike high school English class, there is no exam.

Having already decided what I wanted before I walked in, I didn't even open it to browse the lunchtime selections. Pointing my buddy to the burger selection, he browsed through that while I read over the rather extensive menu of beers on tap. Settling on an IPA, the waitress came back to tell me that keg just kicked. Switching to a different IPA the waitress came back saying that keg was also out. No worries though, with an easy 12-15 taps, I had plenty to choose from (provided they weren't all out) and went to the third IPA on the list. That one ended in success.

Food order was placed....the Bleu insider for me and CB insider for my friend. Both are their specialty burgers, with the usual toppings inside a monster burger. Bleu cheese inside and mushrooms on top on the mine, while the CB insider has cheddar and bacon inside. Fries, lettuce, tomato and a pickle accompany it on the plate.

The bleu cheese inside the burger was nice and melted and had a good "snap" to it. Biting into the burger, the cheese oozes out and makes a decent mess around the area. Luckily the crispy fries are there to clean it up. The burgers are rather big too. I planned on eating the whole thing, but my friend here decided to cut it in half and potentially save some for later.

The cheddar of the CB insider had less lava flow action than the bleu cheese but the bacon helps retaining it. The burgers were cooked as ordered (medium-well) and the kitchen had them out quickly. The real merit is in the rest of their food. Although it's been awhile since I have eaten dinner there (I keep getting snagged up on the burger page...they're GOOD burgers) in the few instances I have, the food was always great. Personal suggestion for an appetizer is the mussels with sea salt if you head there for dinner.

Overall, for the 9 bucks or so for the burgers you can't go wrong. The burgers were a large lunch size and the amount of fries was perfect as well. I haven't had anything there that I would not eat again, which makes return trips a battle between "things you know are good" and "things that sound good." With a seemingly never-ending menu, there are plenty of selections to try out and my guess is that if you actually could make it to the end of the menu, it will have new offerings by the time you reach it.

Oh and one more point: right next door is Taste, the EA coffee spot. It's a nice place to wander over to after a dinner for a change of scenery on a night out.

nom nom nom nom

[As an aside, using "blue cheese" vs "bleu cheese" is interchangeable. However, being in Buffalo, "Blue cheese" typically implies the dressing form. Therefore "bleu"=real bleu cheese and "blue"=dressing to me, just for simplicity.]