Philadelphia, PA - Buffalo wings have many origin stories, but most people believe that Teressa Bellissimo, co-owner of Anchor Bar, Buffalo, New York, created it.
Teressa Bellissimo started making hors-d'oeuvres at her bar on Friday nights. She used leftover chicken wings to make them as an appetizer. They were cut into small pieces, then deep-fried in a spicy sauce of vinegar, butter, and cayenne peppers. As a refreshing contrast to the spicy sauce she used on her wings, she served them with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing.
Anchor Bar published the first mention of Buffalo Wings in 1966 in their Buffalo Courier-Express newspaper. Although the advertisement doesn't give any details about the recipe, it mentions that they sold 3,000 pounds of chicken wings per month within a month of opening their doors.
Chicken wings were not something that many Black Americans would have considered eating in the 1960s. There were very few Black restaurants that offered a wing-based menu.
John Young, a popular Jefferson Avenue restaurant a mile east from the Anchor Bar, started serving whole-breaded wings in 1964. Lina Brown-Young, Lina's daughter, claims the wings were served to several former customers with celery sticks and hot sauce.
A New Yorker journalist, Calvin Trillin, wrote years later about Buffalo Wings' popularity and how it spread quickly throughout the city. Buffalonians couldn't imagine their lives without the delicious snack, which was bottled and distributed all over the globe, from Japan to France.
It's difficult to recall who patented the chicken wings recipe. There have been many versions of the origin story of chicken wings. Some are similar, but they all claim to be correct. However, there is little consensus on which version is correct.
Frank Bellissimo and Dom Bellissimo recount two versions of the story about chicken wings. Dom claimed that his wife had sent them incorrectly to Anchor Bar for spaghetti sauce. Frank said that his wife turned them over to Frank when she couldn't decide what they should do.
Dom Bellissimo is Dom's son. Dom recalls that his mother couldn't cook on Friday nights and looked for an easy solution. She decided to fry chicken wings with her favorite sauce deep to make a snack that her friends would love. He's the current owner of Anchor Bar.
