What to do to refuel and keep going after an afternoon of tailgaiting, drinking, and football in Buffalo?
The best place to go is The Anchor Bar.
So I dragged the gang there, hoping that they would deliver as they did the last time I was there.
The matronne was there, blowing kisses as usual, promising to deliver steamy tasty chicken wings for all.
We sat in the bar area, catching Sunday Night Football.
Near us, Boston Globe reporter Dan Shaughnessy was chatting loudly with a Buffalo scribe about today’s game at Orchard Park.
Of course, let’s not forget we had a vegetarian with us. Turns out – he believes fish are veggies, because he ordered the fish and chips.
The Anchor Bar calls their fish & chips the “Fish Fry Everyday”.
Rick got a gigantic piece of Icelandic Haddock, served with a healthy serving of crispy french fries and some coleslaw on the side.
The fish was flaky, nicely fried, not greasy at all.
“It was very good fish”, Rick said. “If only they would smother it in chicken wings sauce”.
All in all, Rick seemed to enjoy his vegetables.
But the rest of us were focussed on more serious matters: chicken wings.
After all, this was why I was able to attract them here. But, a little skeptical, they decided to go easy to start: we only ordered a bucket of wings. I pledged for hot – after all, that’s how they were meant to be eaten.
The wings didn’t came in a bucket. There was no chicken bucket. But there were about 50 on the plate, nicely glowing after being tossed in the original hot sauce, with half that number of celery sticks and 4 cups of the blue cheese sauce on the side. But it was no wing bucket.
Now, these are good wings. It had been a long day already, but it seemed to me they were even better than the last time I had them. Medium sized, they were tender and crispy, not dry at all, the sauce was coating them very nicely. The heat was present, cooled down nicely by the blue cheese dip if needed.
As I expected, we ran out quickly – we had to order another bucketless bucket. This time, at Patrick’s insistance, we ordered the medium. Unfortunate mistake – with no sauce to speak of, the second batch was much dryer and definitely not as flavourful.
Next time, we won’t listen to Patrick.
