Restaurants and bars in the Buffalo area ring up almost $2 billion in sales per year. That’s according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau, which contains the latest national statistics for a business category officially known as “food services and drinking places.” The bureau’s newly released 2012 Economic Census counts 2,642 restaurants and bars in Erie and Niagara counties, with collective annual sales of $1,897,000,000. That puts the Buffalo area in 49th place nationally.