Three local luminaries in the Western New York hospitality industry will be honored by Buffalo State College's Hospitality and Tourism Department at 6 p.m., Thursday, Apr. 25, at the Eighth Annual Buffalo Niagara Hospitality Ambassador Awards. The event - entitled a Triptik Across America and featuring regionally themed cuisine - will be held on the second floor of Butler Library, on the Elmwood Avenue campus.

The 2002 Ambassador Awards recipients are:

• Dennis Di Paolo, owner and operator of the Ilio Di Paolo Restaurant;



• Mel Florczak, past director of the Buffalo Convention Center; and,



• Raul Sartini, retired club manager of Brookfield Country Club.

The buffet, designed by students from the college's Hospitality and Tourism program, will include: smoked salmon roulade with horseradish and frisee from the Northwest; a California salad station from the West; black bean and chicken chili quesadilla from the Southwest; a spit-roasted pork carving station from the Midwest; chicken and sausage gumbo from the South; steamed clams and mussels from the Northeast; and, Key lime pie from the Southeast.