Let's Wing It!

A SMOKY, SAUCY, SPICY, AND SOMEWHAT MESSY GUIDE TO THE BEST CHICKEN WINGS IN THE SOUTH

- MATT MOORE

Chicken-wing platter at Local Cue in South Carolina

“What’s that on your shirt?”

Tim McGraw once sang about a barbecue stain on his white T-shirt, but I had bigger problems, as my newly minted bride had pointed out. There was a chicken-wing smear on my tuxedo—at my own wedding. Sure, I could’ve been more careful, but when The Loveless Cafe is serving up crispy fried wings in the buffet line, a wardrobe malfunction is worth the tasty reward.

In the South, chicken wings are more than just food—they’re an essential part of weddings, tailgates, cookouts, and even funerals. My cousin Sam Dennis always ensures that fried wings from Valdosta, Georgia’s HipHop Hot Chicken & Seafood show up for all of my family’s gatherings, whether we’re celebrating or remembering.

Buffalo, New York’s Anchor Bar has laid its claim to the most famous chicken wing in America, but as with many beloved creations, the history is not so linear. In 1964, Dominic Bellissimo, the bar’s owner, asked his mother, Teressa, to make a late-night snack for him and his friends. She had some wings on hand (which were usually used in soups), so she fried them up and slathered them in a spicy sauce. This impromptu combination stuck and, over time, became the city’s namesake food.

That’s usually where the story ends, but there is evidence that the Buffalo wing actually has Southern roots. Also around this time, Alabama-born chef and restaurateur John Young opened Wings N’ Things in Buffalo, where he served them deep-fried and dipped in his secret Mumbo Sauce, a sweet-and-spicy tomato-based condiment. His daughter, Lina Brown-Young, now sells it by the bottle, and his story has been added to New York’s chicken-wing canon.