We walked into Duff’s late one evening with the sole mission of tasting their wings.  I’ve been told in the past the Duff’s is far superior to Anchor Bar, so it was time to see for myself.

Unlike Anchor Bar, Duff’s doesn’t shove its fried history down your throat.  The restaurant has been serving up wings since 1969 and has a large army of fans.  We sat down at a modest black table and perused the menu while waiting for our waitress.

Duff’s sticks to the usual tavern fare of burgers, fries and salad or two.  The wings are obviously the highlight, and most of the menu place is dedicated to wings and wing sauce.  A large warning adorns the front page and the back of the waitstaff’s shirts:

WARNING!
Medium IS HOT
Medium Hot IS VERY HOT
Hot IS VERY, VERY HOT

I found Duff’s system of spice a bit strange (why not just make mediums medium and hot hot?) but I anticipated the wings nonetheless.  We ordered a pitcher of Duff’s Microbrew and some wings, half medium and half medium hot. 

The beer came out and I was pleasantly surprised.  The beer is made by Custom BrewCraft in Honeyoye Falls, NY and sports a pale yellow hue and a thin white head.  There was nothing in the glass to blow me away, but the brew was nicely hopped and I assumed it was created to quench the fire and complement the wings.

About ten minutes later the wings came out and I could finally see how they measured up to those at Anchor bar.  A grabbed a medium-hot, took a bite and..

..and I was severely disappointed.  The wings were swimming in a deep orange-red sauce that was entirely too hot.  I understand that at Duff’s medium is hot but a hot wing should have a balance of heat and flavor.  These wings, on the other hand, were an exercise in pain tolerance.  Besides the extreme spice, the wings were smothered with their thick sauce.  The wooden bowl was a pool of sauce with a several meaty wings floating on top. 

Duff’s had little flavor, a lot of spice and a terrible consistency.  I left disappointed and with a fire raging on my tongue.