7 Best Media Restaurants to Score Wings for Super Bowl Sunday

plumstead wings

Oh, the All-American, almighty buffalo wing. How we love thee.

Mild, hot, nuclear, barbecue. Baked, fried or sauce on the side? Blue cheese, ranch, celery or none of the above?

We all have our own “thing” about wings, but there’s one thing us wing-eaters sure do have in common: We respect how wings have become virtually synonymous with football Sunday. Just add ice cold beer. There’s no doubt that on this upcoming Super Bowl Sunday restaurants, bars and take-outs will be knee-deep in wing orders. Check this out: Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest eating day of the year after Thanksgiving. According to the National Chicken Council’s 2015 Wing Report, we’ll gobble up a whopping 1.25 billion wings during that single day. My belly feels full and mouth’s on fire even thinking about it.

appetites on main wingsSo as you digest this news, my fellow wingmen and wingettes, do you know from whence the wing came? It’s a little-known fact that less than 50 years ago, wings were considered an undesirable cut and throwaway part often cooked into stock. That is until 1964 when Teresa Bellissimo, proprietor of The Anchor Bar in Buffalo, came on the scene.

There are a few accounts of how Buffalo wings came to be. In one version, her husband and co-founder of the bar, Frank Bellissimo, claims it was all a mistake. He said the family received a delivery of chicken wings instead of necks, which the family used when cooking spaghetti sauce. Rather than waste them, Teressa deep-fried and tossed them in hot sauce, thus creating the wing we know today.

Frank and Teressa’s son, Dom, has a more colorful tale. He says it was late on a Friday night in 1964 during Lent when Catholics avoid meat. To satisfy the regulars’ hunger, Dom asked his mom to make something special to pass around at the stroke of midnight. Teressa picked up some wings, which at that point weren’t even thought good enough to feed to barflies, and the buffalo chicken wing was born.

Whichever myth is most accurate remains unknown, but what happened over the next few decades is certain. Buffalo chicken wings exploded in popularity across the U.S.

Media is no exception, where you can find every style from traditional to specialty wings.

Quotations Wings

Apollo PizzaThis take-out and delivery pizzeria offers 10 wings for $7.25. Not a wing fan? They also have Buffalo chicken fingers, Buffalo quesadillas, Buffalo wraps and Buffalo chicken pizza.

Cocco’s PizzeriaFrom its cute little pick-up or delivery spot, Cocco’s serves up wings, boneless wings and Buffalo shrimp in quantities from 5 to 50. Ten wings go for $7.99.

Drawing Room Pizza Pub draws up 10 wings for $7.99, but on Sundays catch the 50-cent wing special (dine-in only). There are plenty of flavors to choose, from traditional to garlic herb, but beware of Texas Bee-Sting!

Plumstead InnA hometown favorite, the “Plum’s” secret sauce wings just may outdo The Anchor Bar. (Shhh, don’t tell them.) A dozen will cost ya $8.50.

Stephen’s on StateStephen’s lists jumbo wings on their bar menu. During happy hour, they’re five bucks, and on Monday nights during Quizzo the price drops to 25 cents each.

Quotationscrispy li’l wings come with the sauce on the side. “Nuclear” upon request. $8.49.

Shere-E-PunjabWhile these aren’t your typical wings, their Tandoori chicken wings may be a welcome change if you’re Buffalo’d out. $9.75.

Quotations and Plumstead Inn wing photos: Lauren Avellino Turton; Additional wing photo: Nina Lea Photography.