Shore side eatery offers fresh sea food, live bands

Since starting a business in a prime location, across for the Niawanda Park, Tonawanda, Mississippi Mudds has had a great deal of success through the years. However, The Berrafato family decided to take their success one step further and grow their business - just down the road.

In 2004, The Berrafato’s purchased the restaurant Old Man River (OMR) in order to expand the items and service they were already offering to the community.

“We knew we had a great location and wanted to make it better,” said Tony Berrafato. “It’s much easier to run two businesses when you have the opportunity to run them only two blocks away from each other.”

The shore side location still offers the traditional hot dog and hamburger, with a side of fries; however, at OMR, it’s offered with a side of flair.

“We wanted to keep the same menu items, but spice them up a bit and add a variety,” said Berrafato.

That variety includes different flavors of burgers, chicken sandwiches and most notably, hot dogs.

Some choices on the menu include: white hots, a Chicago dog, the bunny dog, the piggly wiggly ( a deep fried hot dog wrapped in bacon and topped with cheese), guacamole burgers and chicken sandwiches and a Swiss mushroom burger.

Known for it’s bunny dog, which consists of a fresh carrot marinated in a secret OMR recipe, grilled and then placed on a hot dog bun, OMR is a great place for vegetarians to enjoy a meal.

The Sea Food Shack is the latest edition added to the outside patio at OMR.

The shack offers steamed clams, shrimp, beer and wine. The shack is also complete with a barbecue pit, where patrons can order their favorite dinner meal including barbecue chicken and rib dinners.

For those who want to enjoy the park and stop in for an evening of letting loose, the Sea Food Shack hosts Clam Jam nights from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays. They feature live bands and a free half dozen clams with a purchase of one dozen clams.

Led by General Manager Marge Zajdel, OMR continues to grow as a business and offer more items on its menu.

Most recently, OMR is looking into deep fried Twinkies and Oreos; fresh pies and cakes; funnel fries; and will continue to offer traditional ice cream and custard flavors.

OMR is located at 375 Niagara St., City of Tonawanda. The restaurant offers daily lunch specials from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.