The Wing's The Thing

Drew Cerza, Buffalo’s self proclaimed “Wing King,” leads a hunt for the city’s best fried chicken wing.

I’m sitting across from Drew “Wing King” Cerza at Duff ’s, one of Buff alo’s legendary wing eateries and our first stop. Cerza, a local expert, has agreed to join me on a tasting tour of top chicken wing joints in order to find the best — nothing to sneeze at in this down-to-earth, big-appetite city. Buffalonians take wings seriously. So seriously, in fact, that the question of who makes the best has been the subject of local university studies, visit ing documentary film crews and intense debates played out across local opinion pages. This is, after all, where the Buffalo wing was born. For many of us, wing sauce courses through our veins.

A few moments earlier, Cerza had paused in the parking lot to count out-of-town license plates: Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia… “There are two types of wing restaurants in Buffalo: the local joint, and the tourist destination,” he said, matter of-factly. “Duff ’s has managed to be both.”

To level the field, we have agreed to order the same thing at each restaurant: a split double order of medium Buff alo-style (traditionally sauced with cayenne pepper hot sauce and butter) and the house barbecue. Duff ’s are generously sauced, and the skin holds the flavor well. The Buffalo wings are “very good, very traditional,” Cerza declares happily, although for a place known for spice, we were disappointed to find that neither style kicked out much heat.

A real Buffalo wing is fried, never baked or breaded, and balances the ratio of sauce, skin and meat. “It’s all about the sauce,” Cerza declares. He would know. Ten years ago, he made it his life’s work to spread the Gospel of the Wing through the annual National Buffalo Wing Festi val. His personal recipe bested Bobby Flay in the Food Network’s Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

We move on to La Nova, a bustling pizzeria in the heart of Buffalo’s West Side, where the bar becue wings are cooked in a famous charcoal pit. “Not too smoky or sweet, and, wow, what flavor!” Cerza exclaims, flashing his Super Bowl-sized “Wing King” ring. It looks strangely at home amid the machismo of this blue-collar pizzeria. The Buffalo wings are well balanced and a little softer than Duff ’s, with crisp skin infused with bright orange sauce. Both Duff ’s and La Nova off er the classic sides of fresh celery and carrot sticks, and a thick, chunky blue cheese sauce.

Next, we head across town to Anchor Bar, home of “the original” wing. As the legend goes, the first Buffalo-style wings were invented in 1964 by proprietress Teressa Bellissimo, who needed a quick snack to feed her son, Dominic, and his hungry friends. Anchor wings are larger than the ones most restaurants use, and the tradi tional medium are well-cooked and satisfying, far outshining the barbecue. On the way out, we chat with a group of travel ing businessmen sharing a tray heaped with wings. “Whenever we pass through town, we somehow end up here,” one says, a sauce-spattered napkin tucked into his polo shirt.

The feasting ends four hours later at Gabriel’s Gate, a popular watering hole tucked away in the historic Allentown district, well off the tourist trail. Both orders of wings edge out Duff ’s on flavor, are plumper than La Nova’s, and come pip ing hot and expertly sauced.

As we polish them off , something truly rare in the field of Buffalo wing judging hap pens. Cerza and I agree — we’ve saved the best wings for last.

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WINGIN’ IT

Buffalo’s namesake food festival turns 10

In 2001, Drew Cerza stumbled upon a local newspaper column about the movie Osmosis Jones, in which Bill Murray plays a compulsive eater who plans a pilgrimage to the National Chicken Wing Festival. Trouble was, the columnist pointed out, there was no such event.

So Cerza bought 100 turkey fryers, crossed his fingers and taught himself how to cook up some wings (his very first try was opposite Matt Lauer on The Today Show). A year later, the first Wingfest took flight over Labor Day weekend, drawing 40,000 people to Buffalo. Now in its tenth year, here's what it all adds up to:

71,000: hungry wing lovers who flocked to last year’s event from 50 states and 36 countries

2.9 million: wings served to date at the festival (that’s 200 tons)

181: wings that Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas polished off in 12 minutes at last year’s event, breaking her previous record and edging out competitive eating ringer Joey Chestnut

200,000+: dollars the festival has raised to date for local charities

National Buffalo Wing Festival
Sept. 3-4
At Coca-Cola Field 275 Washington St; 716-565 4141; www.buffalowing.com

Duff’s Famous Wings
Six locations in the US and Canada; 716-834-6234; www.duffswings.com

La Nova
Two Buffalo-area locations; 716-881-3303; www.lanova.com

Anchor Bar
1047 Main St; 716-886 8920; www.anchorbar.com

Gabriel’s Gate
145 Allen St; 716-886-0602