In 1964, at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, Teressa Bellissimo cooked chicken wings in hot sauce. Wings were then a cheap part, used for stock or thrown away.
Her son Dominic told the story to The New Yorker in 1980. It was a Friday night, and he wanted something for his friends at midnight, when Catholic patrons could eat meat again.
The claim is disputed. John Young had served breaded wings in his own Buffalo restaurant since 1961. In 2013 the wing festival put him in its Hall of Flame.