Teresa Bellissimo was a mother who never said “no” to her son Dominic. A warm-hearted Italian mama who loved to cook, she could always rustle something up when Dom’s friends came calling.
On that fateful night in 1964, when a group rolled in to visit Dom as he tended the bar at the family restaurant in Buffalo, things were no different. Teresa took the bucket of chicken wings she’d been about to drop into the soup kettle and tried something different. She rolled them in flour, fried them in a pan and drizzled them with sauce – and thus, the Buffalo chicken wing was born.
Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York is birthplace of the Buffalo chicken wing
Today, more than 40 years later, people are still lining up for chicken wings at Buffalo’s famous Anchor Bar at 1047 Main Street.
Don’t plan to get in and out in a hurry. It doesn’t matter who you are – at the kitsch-filled old bar and grill in the heart of the city, you’ll wait your turn like everybody else. The sign on the maitre d’s table makes that perfectly clear:
I can predict time.
I hereby predict
That when one table gets up to leave
The next party can
Be seated.
Please no applause.
I am clairvoyant.
It’s tongue-in-cheek, crusty Buffalo humour. A city that takes a lot of grief for its climate, Buffalo has had a ‘Talkin’ Proud’ attitude since the 1980’s when the its Bills football team started to look good. While the Bills have their ups and downs ever since, the city can always be justifiably proud of its chicken wings.
It was thirteen years after Teresa served up that first platter for Dom’s friends that then-mayor of Buffalo, Stanley M. Makowski proclaimed July 29 “Chicken Wing Day” in recognition of Teresa and her husband Frank. Today, Chicken Wing Day has expanded into a National Wing Festival held for three days each year, over the Labor Day weekend in a downtown Buffalo park.
Since its inception in 2002, the Festival is estimated to have attracted more than 329,00 people who’ve chowed down on 1.9 million wings (that adds up to 110 tons!). In addition to the Anchor Bar, more than 180 other restaurants now take part and the festivities even inspired one couple to be married as wing fans watched and cheered.
Perhaps the most memorable event of the National Wing Festival was the first induction into its Hall of Fame in 2002 – Teresa and Frank Bellissima of the Anchor Bar.
Hadn’t you better try the Anchor Bar’s wings for yourself? Served mild, medium or hot, the wings run $10 for 10, $14 for 20 and $32 for a bucket of 50. If you’re really brave – and willing to shell out a bit more cash – you can try the suicidal variety. They’re $12 for 10 – but don’t worry about the added expense. You might not survive to pay the bill anyway.
If, like many visitors, you fall in love with Teresa’s famous sauce you can either buy a supply of bottles in the small on-site store or arrange to have it shipped to you.
That’s what Buffalo chicken wing obsession is all about!
Want to book a trip to Buffalo, NY? Check out the tripatlas.com/new Trip Builder where you can request a quote local travel agents who are waiting to offer you custom prices on your trip.
Liz Fleming is an award-winning Canadian travel journalist who specializes in adventure, health and wellness and learning travel. For more from Liz, go to: Liz Fleming’s Travel Tales