So I recently visited the Anchor Bar in Buffalo to see what the original Buffalo wings are all about. Boy, was I looking forward to this visit. For months.

I ordered bar-side. My plate of 20 wings came out after a good wait, and I dug in. I was immediately surprised to notice that the wings were fried to a crisp. I mean no juice, it crunched hard when you bit into them, and the meat and skin stuck to the bones so much you had to break or rip it off.

At first, I thought they made a mistake and left them in the fryer too long. But I thought to myself, "this is the birthplace of the Buffalo wing, how could they mess 'em up?" I debated saying something to the bartender. I chose not to question the "Home of the Original Buffalo Wing."

Thankfully, right away a local guy next to me, who I had done some chit-chat with earlier, asks me with a huge smile, "So what do ya think about the wings?" Trying to be nice, I said that the sauce was great, but the wings were "kinda crunchy." Of course the smile vanished and he said that he loves them crunchy. He went on to say that if you don't cook them long enough, they are "chewy." I did the "aha..." thing and proceeded to finish off the wings. Several other locals during my trip confirmed that this is the way they're done in the area. Lesson learned by this out-of-stater.

Before writing this post, I re-read this thread. I noticed that most of the posts from Buffalo-area people mention that they want them done extra-crispy. Be forewarned if you're heading out that way and prefer a more fall-off-the-bone tender & juicy type of wing. At the risk of being tarred-and-feathered, you might want to request that they don't cook the wings so long.

On a more positive note, I really liked the blue cheese dressing at the Anchor Bar. I normally order ranch since I don't like sour chunks of cheese, and I don't like them messing up my dipping action, either. On this occasion, I knew not to violate local tradition. Tasty and low-cheese-chunk-content dressing at this place.

I also picked up a couple bottles of the wing sauce so that I can make 'em at home the way I like 'em. :)

I like my wings with sesame sprinkles. ^

Fascinating! We buy them for the dogs and cats - very good for them as they can eat the bones and all. Occasionally one (wing, not cat or dog) might go into soup but why would you eat them?

There's a Wings n Things in San Diego area.. local chain. Quite good.

Chickie's and Pete's in PHL/South Jers has wings and they are AWESOME. Their sauce is great.

The place was rated the #1 sports bar in America by ESPN's Cold Pizza show.. their specality is crab but don't kid yourself, the wings are awesome.

My, times have changed. I always thought that you never fed chicken bones to a dog. And, I didn't even know that cats were capable of eating bones! :eek:

My wife and I (from Houston) made a point to visit the Anchor bar in 2003 en route to Niagara Falls via BUF. We got there around 10/11 PM on a Saturday night after a long and tired flight and sat in a room behind the bar with a live band. We both agree the wings we had were the best we had ever had. Now, we were both very hungry (no meals on WN flights!), and I at had at least a sixer in me, so that could have skewed the results a bit. I don't remember them being too crunch but I do remembered they were breaded like they are at Hooters, and the sauce was excellent. I would not hesitate to go out of my way to eat there again, or to recommend the place to anyone. Also they have a very large draft and bottled beer selection, with a lot of local microwbrews. I can't imagine how crowded the joint gets during and after Bills games on Sundays.

Sorry - should have made it clear we feed them RAW - cooked chicken bones are generally not considered good. Dogs (and cats) can digest a certain part of raw bones but not cooked ones and also cooked bones can have very sharp pieces. As for cats eating bones, they will leave the bigger pieces and chew up the smaller bones, and if you ever have the misfortune to observe one eating a mouse, you will see that the whole mouse gets chewed up and swallowed, bones and all.

Neither did I.

Duff's not Anchor Bar
 

I no longer live in Buffalo but I would only go to the Anchor Bar to take someone from out of town just so they can say that they have been there. I would consider their wings good but nothing more. Duff's is where I would recommend that you go if you happen to find yourself in Buffalo craving wings.


Keba

I smell BW3 franchise opportunity a-brewin' in the UK...

Millions of years of evolution have gone for naught, eh.

As far as wings go: my brother decided to fix me dinner last night -
the first time in 15 years of adulthood that he's attempted to do so.
He bought a mismarked package of chicken wings (marked at 1.8 lb,
only were about 1.2 lb in there) at $2.99/lb! Cooked them according
to the directions on the Frank's wing sauce bottle. They tasted
pretty much like the Anchor's, only not so good. It's time for a visit
to the Anchor, if I can bring myself to return to Buffalo.

So, I'm guessing Salmonella isn't a concern with pets?

My sister puts a big bell around her cat's neck to help give the neighborhood birds a fighting chance. :eek:

I always wonder why people think Duffs is so great. The sauce is runny, it lacks real taste and the place is disgusting.

Saying that, the last time we were at Anchor Bar (end of June) the service was even worse than usual. We've decided to just order take out in the future.

On a funny note - as we were being seated there was a lady at a near-bye table speaking (loudly) into her cell phone telling someone that she was "In Buffalo at Anchor Bar where chicken wings were invented". She seemed very excited to be there.

:(
Like riding in F for the very first time: one can get a bit overenthusiastic.
I once watched an NW pilot (okay, possibly an airlink pilot) in uniform
virtually bouncing up and down in excitement while telling his cellphone
conversant that he was sitting in F on a 777 ... unfortunately, it was really
a 767.

[P.S. I wonder where the egg was invented?]

I'm not going to lie, but when I first heard the term buffalo wings, I though they were made from processed authentic buffalo meat. :o