John Young: The Real Chicken Wing King
The National Chicken Wing festival will be held in Buffalo on August 30 at Sahlen Field the home of the Buffalo Bisons. Every year I write an article on the man who made chicken wings popular in Buffalo. I want everyone to know that the originator of the chicken wing concept was an African American businessman named John Young. John Young owned a restaurant at 1313 Jefferson Avenue at the corner of East Utica Street in the 1960s.
When he first opened the restaurant, he sold the famous “Wings and Things” with the delicious Mambo Sauce. People lined up around the corner by the hundreds to buy his wings. In an article written by the food editor Janice Okun, of the Buffalo News on February 6, 1996. She told the story of the chicken wing and how the idea got started. She wrote that John Young came from a farm in Alabama. He was one of 14 children. In the early days Blacks ate wings and other parts of the chicken that no one wanted. In fact, wings were thrown away. Even before the Civil War Blacks ate what the slave masters gave them. The wings were the least desirable part of the chicken. Today what we know as Soul food came out the struggle of Blacks to survive.
John Young made chicken wings popular, and he was hurt that he did not receive the credit for it. I was encouraged to write about John Young again because there was an article on the front page of the Buffalo News Sunday about chicken wings and the Anchor Bar. The article brought up the question of who originated chicken wings in Buffalo. I am glad that the News brought up this discussion. It gave credit to John Young as the first person to fry the wings and serve them with the popular Mambo Sauce.
We need to know the history of the wings in Buffalo. John Young’s daughter Lina Brown Young is quoted in the article. She stated that, “It isn’t a coincidence that the Anchor Bar started selling wings the same year as my father. She reflected that her father always believed that he was the first one to sell chicken wings, and he wanted more credit. Lina Brown-Young sells bottles of her father’s original mambo sauce in local grocery stores and shares her his story on a bike tour to keep his memory alive: “until my dad passed, he kept fighting for his position and where knew she should be as far as the chicken wing history of Buffalo,” said Lina. Drew Cerza, the founder of the wing festival in Buffalo inducted John Wing into the Wing “Festival’s Hall of Fame” in 2013. In the Buffalo News article there is a picture of John Young frying wings in his Buffalo residence in the Fruit Belt.
The following is some of the history of John Young that I wrote in my original article. In 1982, the Buffalo Common Council presented him with a Proclamation that gave him credit for creating the great Mambo Sauce to go with his wings. It was a secret family recipe. Jim Pitts, a Councilman at the time called the sauce: “a lip-smacking, liver quivering sauce that was felt down to your toes.” Many famous people came to John Young’s restaurant including Cookie Gilchrist of the Buffalo Bills and George “Hound Dog” Lorenz, a famous D.J. from the 60’s. I spoke to Mr. Young on a few occasions, and he told me that all he wanted was the credit that he never got so that his grandchildren would know what he did. I have written to the organizers of the Chicken Wing Festival and requested that John Young be recognized. Years ago, they held a luncheon in recognition of his contributions. They also included a short piece about him in the booklet that was published for the festival. There is also a book at the Buffalo History Museum giving him credit for the chicken wings.
John Young always said that the Anchor Bar was the first to cut the wings and serve them with celery and blue cheese. But the original idea of the chicken wings as a delicacy with the Mambo Sauce was his!! There should be a Historical Plaque at the corner of Jefferson and East Utica Street citing John Young as the REAL CHICKEN WING KING OF BUFFALO! We must never forget our history