Alton Brown makes amends for criticizing Buffalo’s famed Chicken Wings as he goes on a Tasting Spree

It took chef Alton Brown less than a dozen words to make enemies out of everyone in the 716 area code. During an April 2018 appearance on the YouTube series “First We Feast,” the Good Eats host said “If you want great Buffalo chicken wings, don’t go to frickin’ Buffalo.”

Buffalo residents weren’t at all delighted by that comment, and let Brown know about it. “Disappointing to hear such frickin’ harsh words from you, NEVER trash our fine City and our WINGS,” Buffalo’s “Wing King” Drew Cerza tweeted at the time. And WGRZ anchor Kate Welshofer sighed that Brown “doesn’t need your anger, he clearly needs your help.”

It took four years, but Brown is finally ready to reevaluate Buffalo’s signature dish. “Dear Buffalonians, back in 2018, after eating at all the ‘famous’ places, I complained that I had a very, very bad wing day,” Brown posted on his Facebook page earlier this month. “I’ve been told since that I just went to the wrong places. So I’m coming back to make amends by taking a whole day off to eat wings. You guys basically invented the global wing craze so please set me on the right path.”

But Brown was back in the Queen City ahead of his “Alton Brown Live” tour Wednesday night at Shea’s Performing Arts Center, and he recruited some help to point him in the right wing direction.

Nate Geary from WGR Radio who showed Brown around town. “The thing that I think he appreciates the most about Buffalo is, really just any city that is passionate about a particular food that’s unique to their city, he can appreciate that it’s something people care about. And when you go into a place, when you go try wings at a smaller dive bar or what have you, you know that they’re being made by people who really care,” Geary said about his time with Alton Brown.

According to NewYorkUpstate.com, Brown went to La Nova, Elmo’s Bar and Restaurant, and Bar-Bill Tavern, and he sampled the wings at all of them. (The latter joint, Bar-Bill, was where he ate shortly before he made that “don’t go to freakin’ Buffalo” comment.)

This time, he seems to have gotten it. “I got majorly schooled on #BuffaloWings today by local experts including [Buffalo News Food Editor] Andrew Galarneau,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “I can say, I have had the best buffalo wing of my life and yes, it was in Buffalo. #NowIKnow.”

And, just in case anyone missed that particular mea culpa, he also reiterated it on Twitter, posting a photo of himself with a plate of wings and a stack of La Nova boxes behind him, writing “I was wrong, the best wings are in Buffalo and thanks to @BuffaloFood and @NateGearySports I think I even know where to get them.”

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Photo Credit: Brent Hofacker / Shutterstock.com