CHICKEN WING HISTORY

Buffalo, New York lays claim to the birthplace of the chicken wing and that’s why they are often called Buffalo wings as well. The story goes that Teressa Bellissimo created chicken wings at the Anchor Bar, which she owned with her husband Frank, when her son Dominic and some of his college friends decided they wanted a late night bite to eat. She wanted a fast and easy dish so she deep-fried some chicken wings, which in 1964 were usually reserved for soup stock. She tossed them in butter and hot sauce. Naturally, they were an instant hit. The Bellissimos weren’t the first Buffalo restaurateurs to realize the potential of chicken wings. John Young had opened Wings’n Things on Jefferson Avenue in 1963. But his wings were breaded and dressed in a tomato-based sauce.

The Anchor Bar’s chicken wing recipe turned out to be irresistible to customers and competitors. Other restaurants in town started catching on. Duff’s, in Amherst, started selling them in 1969. A few years later, the City of Buffalo declared July 29 Chicken Wing Day and in its proclamation proudly noted that “thousands of pounds of chicken wings are consumed by Buffalonians in restaurants and taverns throughout the city each week.”