Buffalo Chicken Wings Food Fight

The buffalo chicken wing may originally hail from New York, but that doesn't disqualify Chicago from having a plethora of chicken wing options. One just has to check out Chicago's annual Wingfest, this year held on Sunday February 28th, to see all the places that offer up a piece of chicken slathered in a spicy buffalo sauce.

Or, if paying $24 for the Wingfest doesn't float your boat, you just have to throw a food fight, like my friends and I did this past weekend.

Where the wing comes from
As the name of this hot appetizer implies, the chicken wing has its roots at Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York back in 1964. Legend has it that the restaurant's owner wanted to make a late time snack for her son and his friends, and she had some leftover chicken wings from the restaurant. After dunking the wings in the fryer and in hot sauce, she added some celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing to the plate so as to temper the hot flavors of the meat. And that, folks, is how buffalo chicken wings were born.

As the recipe made its way into other restaurants, the chicken wing evolved. Some restaurants, like Hooter's, started using different levels of 'heat' or 'spiciness'. Bars and restaurants alike added it to their appetizer menu and started using both drummettes and double bone chicken wings. Even restaurants devoted solely to the chicken wing began to spring up. With all these restaurants, how is one to find the best Buffalo chicken wing the city of Chicago has to offer?

THE FOOD FIGHT

Suzanne & Maggie start digging in at contender #1

Other buffalo chicken wing competitors are sure to follow this food fight, since there are just so many places to grab a basket of wings in Chicago.

With this first fight, we went with two contenders. The food fight crowd was a bit smaller than usual, but, not surprisingly, that didn't stop anyone from having a strong opinion. With a group of six, we ordered baskets of wings and split them up. The only rule: we were voting on BUFFALO chicken wings, not any other flavor, and we agreed not to order any boneless. (We'll save other flavors for another food fight... but boneless? It's not a chicken wing if you don't have to work for it).

The two contenders were as different as could be. One is a chain restaurant that prides itself on serving all kinds of chicken wing dishes. The other is a bar/restaurant that only gave us one option: the beloved buffalo chicken wing appetizer.

So, which contender won this fight? Tune in tomorrow to find out.