From Buffalo to Bloomington: The tale of a chicken wing

Not too long after he immigrated to Buffalo, N.Y., in the 1970s, Ivano Toscani was hired by Frank Bellissimo to work at his local Italian restaurant, the Anchor Bar.
 
Appearing on the Travel Channel, Ivano gained celebrity status as the head chef of the establishment that invented the staple for every college student and sports fan ­— the Buffalo wing.

"This is the place where Teressa Bellissimo, back in 1964, created the famous Buffalo wing, which everybody has tried to copy and steal from the Anchor Bar,” Ivano said.

Legend has it that Mrs. Bellissimo was in the Anchor Bar’s kitchen when she noticed a batch of oversized chicken parts too big to use for her soup stock.

The following day, her son Dominic and his friends came into the bar and got hungry after several drinks. Upon their request for something unique and not on the menu, Mrs. Bellissimo remembered the unusable chicken meat.

After deep frying the wings and developing a spicy, red hot sauce, Mrs. Bellissimo went to the bar and served her concoction to Dominic and his friends.

The rest is history.

Ivano, who has since taken ownership responsibilities of the Anchor Bar, said his
establishment serves 2,000 pounds of wings a day and that their sauce is exported
internationally.

“We became famous for the wings, of course ... It’s still an Italian restaurant,” Ivano said. “We still have manicotti, we still have ravioli, we still have lasagna.”

Although the Anchor Bar is more than 500 miles from IU, Bloomington has a respectable wing selection from which to choose.

In 1987, former IU student Jay Lieser founded BuffaLouie’s after claiming he couldn’t find desirable wings near campus. After his father lent him money, Lieser opened BuffaLouie’s original location on 17th Street.

Since moving the restaurant closer to campus several years ago, BuffaLouie’s at The Gables has become a popular spot for IU students.

“When students return for homecoming weekend, we are always on their list of things they want to do,” said Ed Schwartzman, a manager at BuffaLouie’s.
 
He said he believes the taste of the wings not only has to be good but also consistent.

“If you like what you had here in 1995, you should still like what you have here in 2011,” Schwartzman said.

Although he declined to mention the quantity of wings sold per day, he said the sweet barbecue sauce is their best seller.

“We have a great rapport with the college students and the Bloomington residents as well,” Schwartzman said.

He is aware of BuffaLouie’s competitors in the Bloomington wing market but said BuffaLouie’s does not concern itself with its competition’s sales.

“There’s not a lot we can do to worry about what they are doing,” Schwartzman said. “Instead we just focus on what we can do and what we can
control.”

Bloomington’s Buffalo Wild Wings shares the same attitude.

“We don’t look too far into BuffaLouie’s or wingsXtreme. We understand they’re in town,” said Buffalo Wild Wings manager Brittany Hill.

Hill said because Buffalo Wild Wings is backed by nationwide advertising, it puts them at an advantage.

However, in terms of their variety of sauces, the playing field is about even.

“Our boneless wing with either Honey BBQ or Asian Zing sauce is our most popular,” Hill said.

Buffalo Wild Wings’ 14 sauces are not made in store but rather shipped in from a supplier.  

This differs from wingsXtreme’s homemade approach.

WingsXtreme has been in Bloomington for three and a half years, and like BuffaLouie’s, wingsXtreme’s sauces are made in store. He said the sauces have a consistent base.

“Most of our sauces start out the same way,” Bearsch said. “They may vary in the amount of spices, garlic powder or Parmesan cheese.”

He said wingsXtreme sells 800 to 1,200 wings a weekday and up to 1,400 wings on the weekend.Regardless of their differences, there is a general consensus between Bloomington’s wing joints — freshness.

“The wings are fresh, never frozen,” Hill said of Buffalo Wild Wings. “We are highly against frozen foods.”

BuffaLouie’s takes a similar stance.
“Our wings come in fresh, that’s one of the reasons why they taste so good,” Schwartzman said.