We arrived in Buffalo, checked into the hotel and asked at the concierge desk for something close and non-chain for dinner. I had The Anchor Bar on my list because it is allegedly where Buffalo wings were invented so when he suggested it, we jumped.

They have a large parking lot and lots of seating. The bar was pretty busy but we chose to sit in a table. The walls of the entry are covered with license plates from all over the place (I saw 2 from NH right away without even having to look around) and the walls of the dining room are covered with laminated articles and pictures and a huge painting of Christopher Columbus as well as a massive magazine cover with Tim Russert eating their wings.

Although the bar was busy, the dining room only had 3 tables filled but for some weird reason they sat us all right next to each other so it seemed crowded. There was a guy and girl at the table next to us who seemed to be on a date. He did all the talking at extreme decibels in some unknown (to me) language. It was such a relief when they finally left.

We ordered the wings at medium heat and a tomato and onion salad. They also delivered a small loaf of sourdough bread (warm) which I used to sop up the balsamic dressing from the salad and the extra wing sauce. I could have gone for more heat, but the wings were delicious and what you generally expect of hot wings plus they were very meaty. They were served with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks.

I ordered a local beer on tap – Gennesee Cream Ale from Rochester, NY. It paired well with the wings.

We did not buy any of the wing related crap that was for sale at the gift shop such as hot wing shaped hats and bumper stickers.