I have been to the source, the birthplace of an American classic. I have been to the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY. Twice.

My first visit was last Labor Day weekend, when I was in the area for a family wedding. This should give you a clue that it was not lack of material that kept me from posting over the past few months.

The second, much more recently, coincided with a decidedly sadder occasion, the memorial service for a friend who perished in the Continental plane crash. After the service, H2 and I headed to Anchor Bar for a late lunch.

During the two visits, I ate the compositely perfect chicken wing. Unfortunately, I had to imagine the best of both visits to achieve perfection...my ordering screwed up the first visit while poor service that degraded the food quality spoiled the second.

What was consistent between the two visits is that Anchor Bar has mastered the art of cooking the chicken wing. They've hit upon the right combination of oil type, temperature and frying time so that the wings are cripsy on the outside yet moist and tender on the inside. This is the perfect wing preparation and Anchor Bar nails it.

On my maiden voyage, I admit, I was the Wimpy Glutton, not the Grumpy one. Anchor Bar offers its wings in mild, medium, hot, spicy (which is a BBQ sauce different from the medium and hot sauces, a fact that I didn't grok until my second visit) and suicidal. The suicidal offering made me fear that the joint likes to throw down the gauntlet when it comes to hotness. I didn't want any part of a challenge I was doomed to lost.

I went with a medium single (10 wings for $10.00). Mistake. Had the wings more hotly spiced, the would have been the best wings I'd ever eaten. As they were, they were very, very good but I found myself longing for more kick.

Service on my first visit was excellent. A friendly, engaging young waitress took her time, answered all of my questions and generally made me feel welcome. Granted, the place was almost empty because I was there at an off hour but with good servers, personal qualities usually don't change all that much with the level of business.

During my more recent foray to Anchor Bar, with H2 in tow, we opted for a hot double (20 wings for $14.00 — clearly this is a business that encourages volume purchasing). Hot is definitely the proper spice level.

However, our waitress was a burnt-out case. She wanted to be somewhere, anywhere but waiting tables. It took several requests for H2 to get the Diet Coke he ordered rather than the sugared Coke he received. Worse, she took her grand old time delivering the wings. When she finally dropped them at our table, it was obvious that they'd been sitting for way too long. They were hot enough spice-wise but not temperature-wise. Not even close teperature-wise. Spoiled the effect entirely.

Combining the spice level of my second visit with the rest of the preparation  and service from my first visit would yield the perfect chicken wing. Pehaps Anchor Bar will nail it if I make a third visit. Until then, Hot Wings on Melrose in LA retains the title of best hot wing I've ever eaten.

Anchor Bar
1047 Main Street
at E North Street
Buffalo, NY  14209
(716) 884-4083 (for reservations only)
Map
Web site
Food inspection score: Not located in San Francisco
Symbol of Excellence: N/A