History & Culture · Western New York
The Soup Wings That Conquered the Super Bowl
One late night in 1964, Teressa Bellissimo fried up the chicken wings meant for her soup pot and tossed them in hot sauce — and the Buffalo wing was born at the Anchor Bar.
Published June 21, 2026 · Last verified June 21, 2026
It was late on a Friday night in 1964 when a few of Dominic Bellissimo’s buddies wandered into the Anchor Bar on Main Street, hungry and out of luck. The kitchen was winding down. Dominic, tending bar, did what any good son does in a pinch: he hollered to his mother in the back.
Teressa Bellissimo had a tray of chicken wings on hand, the bony tips usually thrown into the stockpot for soup. Instead of letting them simmer into broth, she deep-fried them, tossed them in hot sauce, and sent them out with a wedge of celery and a cup of blue cheese to cool the burn. That was it. No grand plan, no recipe card. Just a mother feeding her son’s friends something quick.
The wings were an instant hit. Word got around the way it does in a city like Buffalo, and before long folks were coming in just for them. The Anchor Bar had been pouring drinks since 1935, but this was the thing that made it famous. Today the barroom walls are papered with more than 500 license plates that wing pilgrims have mailed in from all over, and the bar’s signature sauce sits on shelves in nearly 3,000 supermarkets.
Six decades later, you can still belly up to that same wooden bar where Teressa’s late-night save turned into a menu staple, then a city’s calling card, then a Super Bowl Sunday ritual in basements nationwide. The “medium” heat is the one closest to what she ladled out that night.
Not bad for a snack that started life as soup stock.
Where to see it
The Anchor Bar, 1047 Main Street, Buffalo. Enter via the Main Street entrance to see the original wooden bar and the wall of mailed-in license plates. Order the medium wings for the closest thing to Teressa's 1964 recipe. Check anchorbar.com for current hours.