Welcome to One Mic History Newsletter. Thank you for your continued support. Today, we delve into a fascinating story: Who Actually Created the Buffalo Wing?
The history of buffalo wings centers around the Anchor Bar, a family-owned establishment in Buffalo, New York. However, an equally vital, albeit lesser-known, contribution to the development of the buffalo wing comes from an an African American restauranteur by the name John Young, Yet in recent years, local historians tracing the history of the dish have drawn attention to the contributions of John Young.
The common story attributes the creation of buffalo wings to Teressa Bellissimo, co-owner of the Anchor Bar, in 1964. According to lore, Teressa concocted the dish one night as a late-night snack for her son and his friends. Finding herself with an excess of chicken wings, a part of the chicken that was largely used for stock or thrown away at the time, she decided to deep-fry them and toss them in a cayenne pepper hot sauce she had on hand. Served alongside celery slices and blue cheese dressing, the dish was an immediate hit, eventually becoming a staple in the bar and spreading in popularity across the United States.
But chicken wings were not just an entree in Buffalo. By the 1960s, In Washington, D.C. the Black-owned restaurant Wings N’ Things was serving chicken wings in mumbo sauce. The sauce has roots in Chicago and has since become very closely associated with D.C. this may have also inspired John Young when he began serving wings at his own similarly named restaurant.
John Young moved to Buffalo from Alabama, served breaded chicken wings with his own special “mambo sauce” since the mid-1960s. He served this at his restaurant, "John Young's Wings 'n Things." around the same time, the Bellissimo family claimed they invented of buffalo wings. Unlike the wings served at Anchor Bar, which were covered in a vinegar-cayenne pepper hot sauce and served without breading, Young's wings were different. His version of the chicken wings were larger, breaded, and coated in a thicker, tomato-based sauce. This sauce was Young's own special concoction. John referred to his wings as “mambo wings” and he served them at his restaurant on Jefferson Avenue.
It’s unclear when Young opened his Buffalo restaurant. Although he applied for a business license for Wings and Things in 1966, interviews with Young and former customers indicate that he likely started selling food under that name before applying for the license to do so. In any case, Young’s restaurant became known for serving breaded, whole wings tossed in mumbo sauce.
Early media coverage surrounding Buffalo wing prominently featured Frank and Teressa Bellissimo. It was in 1972 that the Buffalo Evening News published an article highlighting the Buffalo wings served by the couple, propelling them into the national limelight. This exposure led to a feature in an Associated Press article, a cooking show appearance, and notably, a 1980 article in The New Yorker by Calvin Trillin.
Trillin's piece, however, introduced a counter-narrative through John Young, who challenged the Bellissimos' claim to the invention of the Buffalo wing. Young had relocated to Illinois around 1970 and was taken aback upon his return to Buffalo a decade later by the proliferation of what were being marketed as “Buffalo wings.” Specifically, Young was surprised to see the Anchor Bar claiming the invention of the dish, especially since he believed Frank Bellissimo had been inspired by him.
Young stated “I was selling 5,000 pounds of chicken wings in 1962,” . “Mr. Bellissimo used to come into my place and eat my chicken wings.”
Young's assertion of his pioneering role in the Buffalo chicken wing scene led to his recognition as the first to focus a Buffalo restaurant around the dish, but the most of the damage was done. by the 1970s, Restaurants in Buffalo began to feature their own versions of wings, with many adhering to the Anchor Bar's recipe of frying the wings, breaking them into drumettes and flats, and tossing them in hot sauce. Commonly, these wings were accompanied by sides of bleu cheese dressing and celery sticks. Nevertheless, some establishments sought innovation in how they served these wings like serving them with pizza.
By the 1980s, Buffalo-style wings began to permeate restaurant menus beyond the confines of Buffalo, marking the dish's ascendancy in American cuisine. The inception of the franchise Buffalo Wild Wings, initially named Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck, in 1982 in Columbus, Ohio, underscored this expansion. As Buffalo wings continued to proliferate nationwide, they increasingly became synonymous with American sports culture, especially football, and the Super Bowl in particular, solidifying their status as a quintessential game day fare.
John Young, died in 1998 but in 2020, his daughter, Lina Brown-Young, began serving her father's chicken wing recipe on Buffalo Bike Tours' historical “wing ride,” which honors John Young as the “King of Wings.”
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-Countryboi