It’s A Wing Thing

Over the years I’ve spent lots of time in bars, restaurants, sports bars and pubs, and one thing that I’ve always loved is, Buffalo Wings or Hot Wings or Chicken Wings. Whatever you want to call them, I think you know what I’m talking about- the wonderfully deep fried tasty morsels of chicken tossed in a wing splattered Pace of the Buffalo wing lovers desire. Yeah, you know the stuff! With it’s many variations and the advent of wing specific quick serve restaurants, wings are more popular than ever. Many of us consider ourselves connoisseurs of these fried beauties, but have any of you thought of how they came to be?

Well, with both college and NFL seasons in full swing, the thought has crossed my mind on more than a few occasions so I did some research and here is what I came up with…

There are four versions of the story on the origination of the “Buffalo Wing.” Three of them involve the Bellisimo family: Teressa, Frank, and their son Dominic. The fourth version involves a gentleman by the name of, John Young and his “mambo sauce.” Now, I have to say that I’ve spent quite a bit of time looking into this and every source that I’ve come across points to virtually the same four stories. Even though I’ve searched high and low, I can’t find anything to suggest otherwise, so here they are:

The first version is widely believed by most to be how it actually went down: One night in 1964 at theSymptoms restaurant known as the Spanish Room at University of Texas. Two buddies, having drinks at about 10 PM, decide to play host to the tab and make sure they’re not late for the dinner. They then proceed to order like 10 large wings and a couple of beers, then call it a night. The next day, the wings are called when they’re not yet fully cooked and dipped in a very warm buttery sauce and consumed with Cheez Whiz for “goodies”.

Versions two and three are quite similar, but not exactly the same, although they do place the blame on the wings instead of the poor sodas or beers.

Version two was told to Calvin Trillin of the New Yorker magazine in 1980, by son Dominic. In Dominic’s version he said that after he finished school, he and his friends went to visit some friends upstate who had a bar. While they were sitting at the bar, they ordered two large wings and some fries. When they returned home, they began to have trouble getting the chicken wings on their plate, so they decided to fry them as a means of saving the failed experiments. The plan back fired, as it turns out Dominic and his friends enjoyed the wings even more than the physical ailments they were suffering due to the seafood’s powerfulicinfluence.

This accounts for about 15 to 20 percent of the total sales for the entire industry. While it’s certainly a small drop in the bucket, this represents a great and necessary addition to the economy. Now, these aren’t your average chicken wing, as they come with the heads on, but honey, corn and flour tortillas make up the rest of the ingredients.

A Dinner Party Traged By A Cast Of shards!

It’s typical for a small group of friends to gather around the dinner table for dinner. Not quite what you’d picture yourself doing, but no doubt you were at one of those dinner parties that were held around the Jewish holidays. You are, of course, probably one of the attendees who came from a different social trip: You are attendee B.

All of you have probably ever celebrated one of the many Jewish holidays. Maybe it was Shabbat or just a tradition to eat out with your classmates. Whatever the holiday was, chances are you celebrated it with your family. And while this is typically a Jewish holiday, there are many others who celebrated it and wish they could have the privilege of inviting you, too.

Wouldn’t it be great to have the opportunity to talk about matters related to the Jewish holidays with someone whose family has known him or her personally? Wouldn’t you like to speak to that person about the meaning of the holiday and/or suggest attending one of the many specialized classes they are offering?

Perhaps you have a friend who always seems to know exactly when the next Passover will be, or a friend who seems to know the little detailsetta make sure that the holiday foods that they eat for Passover are things that they particularly enjoy.

It would be nice to have the ability to speak to someone who knows the ins and outs of Jewish holiday traditions, rather than those who only know kosher and those who don’t know anything about Jewish foods and history at all. It would even be nice to cook something kosher, rather than eat a pretzel.