June 2, 1935 – March 23, 2023
Mike Milkie, who operated a succession of 15 restaurants in the Buffalo area during a career that spanned more six decades, died March 23 in Sisters Hospital after a short illness. He was 87.
His establishments included the Forvm and the Villa Romano in the Main Place Mall downtown and Miner’s Ten and Bobby McGee’s in the University Plaza.
Shortly after he sold his last remaining restaurant in 2010, he returned to the business, taking over the Elmwood Lounge at Elmwood Avenue and West Utica Street, renaming it Milkie’s on Elmwood. From his customary seat near the stage, he continued to greet customers almost every day until a couple months ago.
“I tried to retire, and I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t sit home,” he told Buffalo News reporter Mark Sommer in 2012. “It’s in my blood. I love meeting people and being part of the community.”
Born Naseeb Milkie in Buffalo, he was the son of a Lebanese father and Syrian mother. At the age of 9, he began working in his father’s restaurant, Abe’s Texas Red Hots near War Memorial Stadium.
He was still attending School 21 when his father died in 1946. He delivered newspapers and worked as a short order cook in Colonial House Restaurants, eventually becoming a manager.
He served as a staff sergeant with the New York Air National Guard at what was then Niagara Falls Air Force Base, commanding the cafeteria kitchens.
Receiving the first full-tuition scholarship given by the Buffalo Branch of the International Stewards and Caterers Association, he also enrolled at Erie County Technical Institute, now SUNY Erie Community College, to study food service administration.
In 1957, he borrowed $50,000 from M&T Bank and went on to open his first restaurant, the Falling Star in the Airport Plaza on Union Road in Cheektowaga.
In the 1960s, he opened the Milkie Way Theater, dinner theater on Main Street in Williamsville, which later became the Milkie Way Restaurant. In 1970, he started Le Club Armondos at Transit Road and Sheridan Drive, which featured waitresses in bunny costumes.
By the mid-70s, he had three Mighty Mike’s locations, plus two Italian-themed spots, the Forvm Lounge and Villa Romano, in Main Place Mall in downtown Buffalo.
His other restaurants included Gulliver’s World in Clarence, Tiffany’s on Center Road in West Seneca, the Little Dipper in the Seneca Mall and the Old Docket on Court Street in downtown Buffalo.
His longest-running location was the University Plaza. From 1967 until 2010, he had restaurants there under the names Blu Galaxie, Sutter’s Saloon, Miner’s Ten and Bobby McGee’s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Mr. Milkie headed local fundraising for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as president of the Greater Buffalo Area Chapter of ALSAC, Aiding Leukemia Stricken American Children, which became the Danny Thomas Leukemia Drive.
He recounted his career in a photo-filled memoir published in 2018, “Do It the Milkie Way.”
At Milkie’s on Elmwood, he provided a home base for singer and entertainer Lance Diamond and a launching pad for a variety of aspiring musicians, comedians and spoken word artists. It was one of the host venues for the annual avant-garde Buffalo Infringement Festival.
“I think this was an opportunity for him to build a place where the community could come together and enjoy themselves,” his daughter Melissa Milkie said.
In addition to his daughter, survivors include two sons, Michael and Mark; a brother, Ramon; nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
A Mass of Christian Burial was offered March 27 in St. John Maron Catholic Church, Williamsville.
