The 2018 Chicken Wing Battle Royal
In June 2018, we hosted our 2nd Chicken Wing Tournament.
Let’s try this again, shall we?
In March 2017, we had an ambitious plan to complete a 64 seed Chicken Wing bracket to find the best wings in the greater Buffalo area. It was a pretty big hit. Tens of thousands of votes were submitted on twitter polls and Bar Bill Tavern in East Aurora destroyed the competition, ultimately beating out Getzville’s Elmo’s in the final.
In March 2018 we tried to launch the tournament again but found that it’s now impossible to handle these on twitter. It’s not very hard to buy fake votes on twitter (it’s also not that expensive) and we quickly could tell that fake votes were being bought in mass amounts and the polls were unreliable. So we cancelled the tournament and tried to figure out how to re-do it.
Starting next week, we are going to try this again but this time we are taking the polls to our Instagram and Facebook accounts via “stories”. Instead of the shorter window, these polls will last for a full 24 hours each time and we’ll be able to get an exact vote count, as well as list of who voted for who.
We’ve also changed the brackets to be a geographic showdown, we tried to combine the Southtowns restaurants with fellow Southtown restaurants. The winner of the two Burbs brackets will face off versions the winner of the two City brackets.
The Burbs (South-ish):
1. Bar Bill Tavern (East Aurora) vs 16. Brunner’s (Boston)
2. JP Fitzgerald’s (Hamburg) vs 15. Ebenezer Ale House (West Seneca)
3. Mammoser’s (Hamburg) vs 14. Macy’s Place (Cheektowaga)
4. Bases Loaded (Blasdell) vs 13. Bella Pizza (Lackawanna)
5. Big Tree Inn (Orchard Park) vs 12. Nino’s (West Seneca)
6. Buffalo Sports Garden (Orchard Park) vs 11. Blasdell Pizza (Blasdell)
8. Striker’s (West Seneca) vs 9. The Now Pizzeria (Hamburg)
The Burbs (North-ish)
1. Elmo’s (Getzville) vs 16. Snyder Bar & Grill (Snyder)
2. Duff’s (Amherst) vs 15. Pesci’s Pizza (Williamsville)
3. Amherst Ale House (Getzville) vs 14. Audubon North (Amherst)
4. Sal’s Lounge (Depew) vs 13. Vito’s Avenue (North Tonawanda)
5. Judi’s Lounge (Niagara Falls) vs 12. Loughran’s (Amherst)
6. Sawyer Creek Hotel (Wheatfield) vs 11. Wagner’s (Lockport)
8. Klimek’s (North Tonawanda) vs 9. Dwyer’s Irish Pub (North Tonawanda)
The City
1. Gabriel’s Gate (Allentown) vs 16. Wing Kings (North Buffalo)
2. Anchor Bar (Downtown) vs 15. Imperial Pizza (South Buffalo)
3. Kelly’s Korner (North Buffalo) vs 14. Sports City Pub (West Side)
4. Mister Goodbar (Elmwood) vs 13. Essex St Pub (West Side)
5. Cole’s (Elmwood) vs 12. Duke’s Bohemian Grove Bar (Allentown)
6. Wellington Pub vs 11. La Nova (West Side)
7. Mister Pizza vs 10. The Dalmatia Hotel (Riverside)
8. Voelker’s (North Buffalo) vs 9. Central Park Grill (Buffalo)
The City
1. Nine Eleven Tavern (South Buffalo) vs 16. Bada Bing (Downtown)
2. Doc Sullivan’s (South Buffalo) vs 15. Ricota’s (First Ward)
3. Gene McCarthy’s (First Ward) vs 14. Lovejoy Pizzeria (Lovejoy)
4. Adolf’s Old First Ward Tavern (First Ward) vs 13. Specialty Wings (East Side)
5. Wiechec’s (Kaisertown) vs 12. Blackthorn Pub (South Buffalo)
6. Swannie House (First Ward) vs 11. Pearl Street Grill & Brewery (Downtown)
7. Sportsmen Tavern (Black Rock) vs 10. Abbott Rd Pizza (South Buffalo)
8. Potter’s Field (South Buffalo) vs 9. Washington Square (Downtown)
Elite Eight: 6/27/18
1. Bar Bill Tavern defeated 15. Ebenezer Ale House (1,647 to 145)
2. Duff’s defeated1. Elmo’s (1,242 to 669)
1. Gabriel’s Gate defeated 11. La Nova (1,305 to 623)
1. Nine Eleven Tavern defeated 2. Doc Sullivan’s (930 to 775)
Final Four: 6/28/18
1. Bar Bill Tavern defeated 2. Duff’s (1,412 to 767)
1. Gabriel’s Gate defeated 1. Nine Eleven Tavern (1,254 to 868)
Final: 6/29/18
1. Bar Bill Tavern defeated 1. Gabriel’s Gate (1,456 to 573)