Description: Chicken wings, once the leftovers of the bird, now have become a multi-million dollar business. There are restaurants that specifically serve wings while at almost any other restaurant, they can be found as appetizers. There are many restaurants around the country that claim to have the best wings or some go as far as to believe they created the wing. However, there is a reason why they are called Buffalo wings. That being said, one can gather that Buffalo wings were started in Buffalo, New York.
One restaurant in Buffalo is credited with the birthplace of chicken wings, the Anchor Bar. The restaurant, owned by Frank and Teresa Bellissimo, has been a fixture in Buffalo since 1935 but the wing was not born until 1964. The story, as told by the Anchor Bar, begins on a Friday night in 1964 when Frank and Teresa’s son Dominic was working as a bartender. Some of Dominic’s friends came into the restaurant starving. He asked his mother to prepare something for them. Until this time, chicken wings were put into the stock pot for soups or either thrown into the trash. There was a plate of chicken wings that was to be used for the soup, but instead she decided to deep fry them and baste them with a secret sauce. The wings became an overnight sensation.
The Anchor Bar is world renown which is evident from just looking inside the restaurant. The walls are decorated with license plates from all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico and as far as Guam. The menu includes many other items besides chicken wings, such as popular Italian dishes from eggplant parmigiana to chicken cacciatore. They also serve sandwiches, steaks, and seafood. While all their food dishes are excellent, the wings keep people coming back. At some restaurants such as Buffalo Wild Wings, there is a laundry list of different sauces such as Teriyaki, Parmesan Garlic, and Asian Zing. You won’t find those at the Anchor Bar. The only sauces here are Mild, Medium, Hot and Spicy Barbeque. For those who like it really hot, try the Suicidal, but only “if you dare.”
Anchor Bar’s wings have become legendary and they continue to receive awards for their secret sauce which many people have tried to duplicate but with no success. The wings have meant so much to Buffalo that in 1977, the mayor, Stanley Makowski, proclaimed July 29 “Chicken Wing Day.”
If you can’t go to Buffalo or you can’t go often enough, don’t worry, because Anchor Bar delivers. All of their famous wings can be shipped anywhere and the taste of Buffalo can be enjoyed in your home especially on those all important days such as Super Bowl Sunday or during the Daytona 500.
Until the Anchor Bar, a chicken wing was just that, but now it is perhaps the most glorified part of the entire bird.
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