On-campus students clamoring for what many consider the “original chicken wing” can now get their Anchor Bar fix without driving downtown.
The famed wing restaurant opened a new location on Transit Road, about a 15-minute drive from campus this month. UB students and Williamsville residents will now be able to indulge in the famous wings without having to drive a half hour to the restaurant’s original flagship eatery.
Although the original Main Street location is still open, brothers Michael and Anthony Schiappa are running the new restaurant together.
“We’re not looking to replace Anchor Bar on Main Street,” Michael said. “We wanted people in Williamsville to have the opportunity to be in a similar atmosphere.”
Although some question the origin of the chicken wing, Anchor Bar firmly calls itself the “home of the original chicken wing.” It’s a story many Buffalonian’s are familiar with: In 1964, Dominic Bellissimo asked his mother to make some food for him and his friends at their Italian restaurant, Anchor Bar. Thinking quickly, she threw some spare chicken parts into the deep fryer. The chicken and her secret sauce became a hit. From that night on the chicken wing industry was born.
Fifty years later, management says they’re preparing the wings the same way.
The new Anchor Bar seats 150 people and has a spacious, bright bar-like atmosphere for Sunday football. The flat screens hanging around the restaurant allow customers to sit and enjoy their meal without missing a game.
Anchor Bar serves more than 70,000 pounds of chicken monthly and sells its bottled wing sauce in more than 5,000 supermarkets worldwide.
On Oct. 1, the Anchor Bar’s new location opened in Williamsville at 7662 Transit Road.
The new location will not only serve the original mild, medium and hot sauces, but also will also have four new wing flavors – garlic parmesan, honey garlic, spicy hot BBQ, sweet and sour and chipotle BBQ.
Ten wings start at $11.75 and the restaurant has 12 beers on tap.
Anchor Bar uses unsaturated zero gram trans fat to fry its chicken wings, according to their website.
Although the new location serves a smaller menu than the original Anchor Bar, the restaurant still offers pizza, soup, salads, pasta and nachos. Chicken wings account for about 90 percent of the orders, according to James Noble, manager of the Anchor Bar on Transit Road. The restaurant also features different drink specials every day.
Michael has been in the food industry for more than 10 years and has also owned many Arby’s franchised restaurants.
“I was looking for something new and exciting and a month later opened up on Transit Road,” Michael said of the famous wing eatery’s new location.
Since the opening, the new Anchor bar has been busy and business has been going great, according to Noble.
Anchor Bar is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays.
“I think the new location is going to help everyone who doesn’t want to go downtown get a chance to eat at Anchor Bar,” Noble said.
Because the new location is near the airport, travelers can get food quickly without having to travel too far. Anchor Bar also has another location in the Buffalo Niagara International airport inside the security checkpoint.
Fifty years later, many wing lovers still rate Anchor Bar among the best restaurants in Buffalo.
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