By JODI SOKOLOWSKI
Buffalo Law Journal

The Mid-Day Club sits on the top floor of the Liberty Building, where members can catch views of Lake Erie and the Buffalo skyline while they enjoy a relaxing lunch.

Servers greet them by name and immediately bring their preferred drink over. Diners choose from a changing menu of salads, sandwiches and heartier entrees. If pressed for time, they can have expedited service or have lunch delivered, if their office is within the building.

The recently remodeled luncheon club is celebrating its 70th anniversary with a $20-a-head wine-and-hors d'oeuvres reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, for members and their guests. It's a way to build club membership, now about 175, and get the word out about Buffalo's "best-kept secret," said Carol Condon, the first woman president of the club's board of directors.

"We want to keep the club vibrant. We want to guarantee its legacy," she said. "It's a treasure. There's no place like this in Buffalo."

The club was started in late 1936 by accountants, stockbrokers and bankers who regularly got together for lunch on weekdays.

According to an April 1937 article in the Buffalo Courier-Express, "a small group of intimates ... talked over the possibility of taking over the empty quarters" of the Luncheon Club on the 10th floor of the Stock Exchange Building. It moved up Main Street to the Liberty Building a few years later.

A new breakfast speaker series has seen the club hosting talks by Erie County Executive Chris Collins and Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute President Herbert Hauptman.

"We wanted to offer different ways for members to participate and to meet with professionals in a little more informal setting," Condon said.

Condon, a matrimonial lawyer with a solo practice, has been a club member for six years and a board member for three. During her one-year term as president, she said she'd like to grow the membership with more women and a greater diversity of professionals.

Kenneth Suzan became a member when he moved from New York City to join Hodgson Russ LLP, where he practices trademark, copyright and Internet law.

"I found the club to be a great place to go to lunch and meet new people. It's a place to escape the day-to-day routine in a relaxed atmosphere," he said.

One tradition that continues is the club's common table, which seats a dozen, in the middle of the room so that single diners can enjoy conversation together.

Initiation fees range from $50 for junior members age 34 and younger to $100 for regular members age 40 and older. Regular members pay $150 for quarterly dues. Applicants require three sponsoring members.

The Mid-Day Club is open from noon to 2 p.m. weekdays, and for private functions and special events. For more information, call Condon at 845-5500 or chef and manager Jim Mackowski at 852-7792.