It's A Wing Thing

Over the years I've spent lots of time in bars, restaurants, sports bars and pubs, and one thing that I've always loved is, Buffalo Wings or Hot Wings or Chicken Wings. Whatever you want to call them, I think you know what I'm talking about- the wonderfully deep fried tasty morsels of chicken tossed in a cayenne based hot sauce and served with blue cheese dressing, celery and carrot sticks. Yeah, you know the stuff! With it's many variations and the advent of wing specific quick serve restaurants, wings are more popular than ever. Many of us consider ourselves connoisseurs of these fried beauties, but have any of you thought of how they came to be?

Well, with both college and NFL seasons in full swing, the thought has crossed my mind on more than a few occasions so I did some research and here is what I came up with...

There are four versions of the story on the origination of the "Buffalo Wing." Three of them involve the Bellisimo family: Teressa, Frank, and their son Dominic. The fourth version involves a gentleman by the name of, John Young and his "mambo sauce." Now, I have to say that I've spent quite a bit of time looking into this and every source that I've come across points to virtually the same four stories. Even though I've searched high and low, I can't find anything to suggest otherwise, so here they are:

The first version is widely believed by most to be how it actually went down: One night in 1964 at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, owned by Teressa and Frank, Dominic, their son, brought in a group of his college buddies and wanted a late night snack. Some rumors were that they had been partying on a weekend break from school, but who really knows. Anyway, the boys were in the bar late night and wanted ma' to hook 'em up with some late night grub. Teressa was just about to toss the wings into a pot to make some chicken stock, so she took the wings and fired them up in the broiler and when they were cooked up all nice and crispy she tossed them in sauce she threw together that included Frank's Hot Sauce put them on a plate, she took some celery sticks from an antipasto platter she had and served the wings and celery with the Anchor Bar house dressing, which just happened to be blue cheese. WINGS ARE BORN!

Versions two and three are quite similar, but not exactly the same, although they do have one thing in common- Teressa gets the credit for the invention.

Version two was told to Calvin Trillin of the New Yorker magazine in 1980, by son Dominic. In Dominic's version he said that it was a Friday night and the bar was full and he wanted to do something nice for the patrons after midnight. He said that the patrons were mostly Catholic and it was after midnight that they would be able to eat meat, so he asked Teressa to put together something to show their appreciation for having a full bar.

The Anchor Bar, Buffalo, New York Version three was told by Frank. His story was that they received a shipment of wings instead of the normal backs and necks of the chickens, which they used to make their spaghetti sauce, and he asked Teressa come up with something and, as mentioned before- WINGS WERE BORN!

The fourth version on the invention of "Buffalo Wings," doesn't involve the Bellisimo family or the Anchor Bar at all. It involves, John Young. In the article by Calvin Trillin in the New Yorker in 1980 Young said that he had created his very own sauce and called it, "mambo sauce." At the time chicken wings in "mambo sauce," had become the specialty at his restaurant in Buffalo during the mid-sixties. The fundamental difference between the "mambo sauce" wings and the Anchor Bar is that John's version doesn't separate the wing into two pieces, he breads the wings and drizzles the sauce on them.

It's almost impossible to to know if it was the Anchor Bar or John Young, but one thing is for sure: The craze spread like wild fire and has embedded itself into American culture. In fact, Buffalo Wings have become such a part of American culture you can find them on almost any menu at the aforementioned, bars, pubs, and sports bars. You will find entire restaurants dedicated to wings. You will find all sorts of variations: super extra kick you in the ass spicy, honey-mustard, garlic-butter, Thai chili, sesame-ginger... you get the picture. So the next time you're out and about and you get a craving, go ahead and dig in and pay homage to the Anchor Bar and John Young.