Duff's, located in Buffalo, NY, sells 12,000 pounds of wings
every week. Compare that to The Anchor
Bar, who only sells 1,000 pounds a week, and you understand why we
dispatched a couple of ace reporters to check the place out...
We visited Duff's at lunch on a Monday to check out their products.
The place was packed. Duff's has been serving wings since 1969, and at the
rate they're selling them, we figured they must be doing something right.
We looked over the menu, and were pleased to see Buffalo Wings as the main
attraction. Unlike The Anchor Bar, Duff's has a limited selection of
sandwiches and sides to go along with the wings. You won't find a lot of
Italian food clutter here, just the simple menu you might expect a true wing
joint to carry. As a bonus, you will find a fried Bologna sandwich on the
menu.
We lucked out by visiting at lunch-time, as they have a lunch special that
is almost too good to be true. We ordered a ten piece wings with fries and
a salad for only $7.19!!! The regular menu price on a ten piece wings is
$6.99, a full dollar less than The Anchor Bar.
They say you can judge a restaurant by the quality of the salad, and after
getting served our expectations for the rest of the meal took a quantum leap up,
as the salad was quite good.
The wings arrived, along with the fries, celery and blue cheese dressing.
The hot wings were literally swimming in hot sauce in a bowl. We had
ordered a container of Super Hot sauce to dip the hot wings in, and it was a
nice-sized container, although they did charge us an extra dollar for the Super
Hot sauce. They also served a white plastic bucket to throw the bones
into.
On the first bite, we knew we had found the better wing destination in
Buffalo. The Anchor Bar may have invented Buffalo Wings, but Duff's took
them to the next level. These crisp wings were of decent size (although
some might find them approaching too large) and were properly cooked.
Flavor was good, but a little too salty for our everyday taste. In spite
of all the warnings about the Super Hot sauce, we found them to be more salty
than hot.
One thing that disturbed us about the quality was the lack of drummettes in
the orders. My order only had 3 of 10 pieces, and my partner only had 4 of
10 for a total ratio of only 35%. Anybody knows that any ratio less than
50% is entirely unacceptable. Even more disturbing was the notice printed
on the take-out menu: We cannot guarantee equal amounts of drums & flats
on any order of wings. That shocking statement kept Duff's from joining
Quaker Steak & Lube and
Wingstop on the second level of The Great Wing
Pyramid, and relegated them to level three. Too bad.
The bottom line of the whole visit is that even though Buffalo Wings were
born in Buffalo, NY, they were perfected elsewhere. Buffalo is not the
wing mecca - that distinction belongs still to Cafe
Hot Wing 8 in Marietta (Atlanta), GA.
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