Bar-Bill Tavern

In Buffalo, NY, few subjects generate as much heated discussion as which restaurant serves the best wings (nationally known as “Buffalo wings,” locally as “chicken wings”); today, most people agree that visitors shouldn’t pick the distinctively spicy red wing’s inventor (the now-franchised Anchor Bar) as their only stop.

Bar-Bill Tavern’s locations in Clarence (shown) and East Aurora remain at or near the top of local “elite wing” lists thanks to plump, crispy, and historically hand-painted wings that range in heat from mild to suicidal. Extra hot (shown) are Bar-Bill’s second spiciest, neither as mouth-numbing nor as wet with sauce as we’ve experienced on past visits, but still enough to make a positive impression.

Locally famous beef on weck sandwiches are also done pretty well here, using properly tender sliced beef and (too-lightly) salted rolls, while their onion rings are perfectly balanced and quick to arrive as appetizers before your wings show up.