Dunn Tire Park, Buffalo, NY
Web: 2008 National Buffalo Wing Festival
Phone: 716.565.4141
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Buffalo Chicken Wings
Rather than looking at wings themselves, the second part of our four-piece series on the 2008 Buffalo WIng Festival focuses on some surprising wing-inspired dishes, things that appeared to be wings but weren't, and items that were nice complements to the wings. We're not going to tell you that most of these items were really interesting, but there were a couple (Buffalo Wing Pretzels and Hawg Wings) that we found compelling, so read on if these topics interest you. Otherwise, go straight to Parts 3 and 4.
Famed pretzel company Snyder's was giving away samples of its Hot Buffalo Wing Pretzels, which were about as different from traditional pretzels as one could imagine. Served as "pretzel pieces" rather than full nuggets or twists, these were shattered chunks of small sourdough pretzels that had been soaked in hot sauce and dried to a cracker-like finish. One of us really liked the flavor and crunchy consistency, the other liked the texture but thought the flavoring was nothing special.
Yancey's Fancy was giving away cubes of its Buffalo Wing Cheddar Cheese, which added flecks of hot wing sauce to a traditional cheddar, as well as small cups of curds. The verdict? "A little tangy." Take that for what it's worth.
A huge display of sauces was the major draw at Burning Asphalt's booth, ranging from the obvious spicy habaneros to a bunch of barbecue flavors - apple, Louisiana, mesquite, honey smoked, and others. Regrettably, nothing was available to actually sample when we stopped by.
O'Connell's American Bistro was offering Buffalo Wing Mac & Cheese, cardboard cups filled with a spiced up version of classic macaroni and cheese. Once again, we passed on trying it; we came closer to trying the Buffalo Chicken Wing Soup from Danny's until we found that it was hugely made up of bleu cheese.
We were intrigued enough by the BBQ Hawg Wings from Pesci's Pizza & Wings to give them a shot. It turns out that these are just pork riblets cut into a vaguely wing-like shape and slathered with either standard or spicy barbeque sauce - an invention of Braun's restaurant in Newstead. While the ribs might have had a chance to win something at a barbecue contest, they weren't what the typical wing fan would expect. But they were definitely good; we preferred them to the BBQ chicken wings we tried at WingFest.
Chiavetta's, maker of the increasingly ubiquitous local vinegar chicken marinade, showed up to offer BBQ Chicken, which we skipped tasting here only because we're extremely familiar with it already. Some people love Chiavetta's, which breaks with some chicken barbecue conventions by offering a flavor that's sour and salty, not sweet or syrupy. We're sort of lukewarm on the flavor and the typical results, but it was nice to see this unique local product represented here.
The Clarence establishment Falletta's Restaurant had a wing-inspired Chicken Wing Rice Ball, which didn't sound too exciting, but we were sucked in by the Mrs. Falletta's Famous Cannoli, which had the word "famous" underlined on the sign. Priced steep at $4, the cannoli wasn't worthy of the name or the price, but did have a nice fresh soft ricotta filling that we enjoyed.
A couple of other semi-noteworthy stands were Mrs. Coffee, which offered drinks and smoothies, as well as Melanie's Sweets, which came with a number of old-fashioned Crystal Beach carnival treats, including sugar waffles, suckers, and slices of cake. We grabbed one of the suckers, which was fine but pricey at $2, and one of Mrs. Coffee's Blueberry Lemonades. As a note for chicken wing fans: resist the temptation to mix lemonade and hot wings - it's a guaranteed stomachache. But we enjoyed the Blueberry Lemonade nonetheless.
In Parts 3 and 4, we'll look at traditional and non-traditional wings, the items we found most interesting at WingFest '08. Read on.
