Dining with Dondero: Buffalo House (Proctor, MN)

American singer-songwriter, David Dondero, is reporting in his meals from his current tour. He’s living my dream of playing music and eating on the road. Here is Buffalo House Bar & Restaurant in Proctor, MN.

The Buffalo House in Proctor, MN.  Just up the hill from Duluth, MN where i was born..  I used to go there as a kid back in the 70’s.  I remembered riding down the roller coaster dirt road between fences and white birch trees.  Inside those fences were hundreds of buffalo.  The Buffalo House sold the meat from the herd.

I returned last week to check it out again after over 30 years.  Much has changed.  The buffalo herd is gone and the pasture is now a baseball and volleyball field.  They’ve added an RV Campground and it’s now in a completely different new building.  Not sure if the old place burned down or was torn down.

I dined with my Uncle Bob and we decided to split 2 entree’s.  I got the Buffalo Steak with waffle fries and chicken & rice soup on the side.  Uncle Bob got the fresh Lake Superior Walleye grilled with Cajun spice and garlic mashed potatoes.  We split both dishes.

Uncle Bob raved about the rolls at the old Buffalo House.  The rolls came out but i could tell right away they weren’t the same.  “They used to be fresh”   he said..  “It was one of the best things they had..”  not the same now.  They were okay.. kinda like rolls from the high school cafeteria.

The soup came next.  Chicken and wild rice.  It was not really soup..  It was more like a gelatinous clump with bits of chicken and swollen white rice.  You could eat it with a fork but was really bland.  I had to add alot of salt and pepper to give it any flavor.  It was like the soup at the senior citizens home I used to work at.  It was horrible.  Uncle Bob seemed to like it.

The main course came up and the lady plopped it on the table like returning bowling shoes at the bowling alley.  Then she clomped off in her Buffalo House t-shirt.  The Buffalo steak portion was tiny.  About the size of a hot dog.  I ordered it rare but it came out medium and was hard to cut through with a steak knife.  It was tough meat.  Not horrible, just not very good.

The only redeeming quality to the meal was the fresh Walleye.  That was delicious and i wish i ordered it too.  Basically grilled with cajun seasoning sprinkled all over it.  It’s not hard to go wrong with that.

They had 64 ounce beers but I got my usual Miller Lite long neck vortex bottle to wash it down.  It was great catching up with Uncle Bob and he paid for the meal.  Thanks Uncle Bob.  It wasn’t his idea to go there by the way.  He said he hadn’t gone there in 15 years..  It was nice to see the new Buffalo House but probably wait another 35 years to go back.

Buffalo House Restaurant – 2586 Guss Road, Proctor, MN

David Dondero is one of the hardest working touring folk singers in America. Once named one of the Best Living Songwriters by NPR, alongside Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Paul McCartney. It’s a privilege to have him part of Me So Hungry. http://www.daviddonderomusic.com/