Anchor Bar celebrates 50 years of Buffalo wings

Everyone knows the Anchor Bar as the birthplace of the Buffalo Wing. But you may not know that the secret concoction that makes their wings taste so good was thrown together by accident 50 years ago tonight.

The Anchor Bar is throwing a huge birthday bash for the sauce that put Buffalo and the bar on the map.

For anybody visiting Buffalo, a stop at the famous Anchor Bar for chicken wings is a must.

“We drove all the way up from Delaware. Left at 3:00 this morning.”

Nine hours on the road to eat Anchor Bar Buffalo Wings.

“Wing connoisseurs, absolutely.”

The Buffalo Wing has turned 50. And they’re celebrating with a big birthday bash.

The walls inside are covered with celebrities. Hillary Clinton, John Candy, Lou Gossett Jr, and Kenny Rogers have all eaten Anchor Bar wings.

It all started by accident. When owner Teressa Bellissimo’s son asked her to whip something different. She grabbed the soup wings, fried them up, mixed them up with hot sauce and other ingredients.

“When she brought them out to the bar, everyone kind of looked at them like,
‘what is this?’. Once they tried them, they loved them. They kept on coming back
and asking for them.”

And the rest is Buffalo wing history.

The Anchor Bar has two other locations. one in California, the other in Hamilton.

The Hamilton location is so popular that the Anchor Bar is scouting another site in the Niagara region.

If you can’t get to the restaurant, you can still enjoy Anchor Bar wings. Their secret sauce is sold in 5,000 grocery stores across North America.