Seneca Falls holds a special place in the hearts of women as the birthplace of the women's rights movement.
Jason Rearick / The Citizen
Chef Columbus Marshall Grady, of Abigail's Restaurant in the town of Seneca Falls was honored by the crew of “The Great Chicken Wing Hunt” with the title of the world's best Buffalo wing.
Chef Columbus Marshall Grady, of Abigail's Restaurant in the town of Seneca Falls was honored by the crew of “The Great Chicken Wing Hunt” with the title of the world's best Buffalo wing.
And now, Seneca Falls will hold a special place in the hearts of men as the birthplace of the world's best Buffalo wing.
Abigail's Restaurant chef Columbus Marshall Grady and his Bleu Bayou Buffalo Wing won that distinction from the crew of “The Great Chicken Wing Hunt,” a documentary chronicling a New York state-wide search for the best Buffalo wing in the world. As the state that birthed the first Buffalo wing - in Buffalo's Anchor Bar in 1964 - New York must also be home to the best, the crew believed.
And after taking bite after bite of Abigail's Bleu Bayou wings, they still believe. Producer Matt Reynolds and his group of wing-hunters rewarded Grady for his creation with a golden rubber chicken that rests on the wall behind the restaurant's bar.
“It's amazing; they went to a lot of places,” Grady said.
Grady bathes his wings in a unique blend of celery, blue cheese and other seasonings and sauces which will remain secret. As the two most common items with which wings are eaten, celery and bleu cheese were ideal ingredients for a wing sauce, Grady said.
Ten years ago he tried preparing his first plate of Bleu Bayou wings, and after adjusting the recipe to remove any excess cheese or grease, he perfected the formula. The celery and blue cheese don't dominate the sauce, but the taste of each is thick enough to satisfy any cravings the chicken may stimulate. The taste of the sauce meshes well with the meat, which is cooked to the most savory balance between mushy white and crispy dark.
The wings' popularity at Abigail's buffet line requires Grady to prepare several batches a day. But when news first hit his kitchen of the “Hunt,” Grady was hesitant to believe his wings were tasty enough to take the top honor.
“People were saying how everyone loves my wings,” he said. “But there are a lot of wings out there.”
Grady estimates he alone has engineered more than 150 types of chicken wings. Because Abigail's serves its wings as part of a buffet in its wide dining room, the chef is constantly looking for ways to diversify them each day.
“I don't want it to get boring,” he said.
On the day the “Chicken Wing Hunt” crew sampled the Bleu Bayou wing, they also took a bite of two other Grady originals: the Roasted Red Garlic wing and the Hot Chocolate wing. The latter's sauce mixes light touches of chocolate with peppers and chilis.
“The younger hunters liked it; the older ones didn't so much,” Grady said. “It was early in the morning, they weren't ready.”
The 7 a.m. tasting took place at Geneva's WNYR radio station, where Grady and other local chefs were invited to prepare their finest wing recipes for the hunters. Even at that early hour, when the thought of eating wings weighs on the minds of few, “Hunt” producer Matt Reynolds and his crew were delighted by the Bleu Bayou wing.
“What separated it is the blue cheese and celery right into the sauce, so you get the whole experience wrapped into the sauce,” Reynolds said. “It could have been a bad thing, but they taste amazing.”
After sampling the wing in Geneva, Reynolds and his crew made a spontaneous stop at Abigail's to try the Bleu Bayou wing in its mild, medium and hot forms. Grady calmly watched as the dozen hunters added piles of bones to their plates and filled their thorough evaluation forms with notes - and a few sauce stains.
“He wasn't nervous about his wings or looking good on film, he was really interested in what we had to say,” Reynolds said. “He had this steady quality that reminded me of someone like the Dalai Lama.”
As the crew headed west to sample the best of Buffalo's National Buffalo Wing Festival, the Bleu Bayou wing remained highest on the hunter's list. That list, by hunt's end, totaled 284 wing types from 63 chefs in New York state and Quebec.
But before the hunters awarded the crown to Grady and his wings, they had to clarify whether the Bleu Bayous qualified as Buffalo wings. The sauce met the crew's criteria by consisting of butter and hot sauce. But they weren't certain whether the wings deviated too much from the Buffalo wing formula to be considered specialty wings, which had their own category.
Thirty hours of heated debate among the hunters and one last visit to Abigail's later, Grady's wings were safely in the winner's circle. As tourists begin to make the trip to Abigail's and the restaurant's buffet line balloons, the chef hopes he will receive a few more fryers to mass-produce more Bleu Bayou wings. But for now he is happy to have them meet more mouths.
“It's an honor to have the world's best Buffalo wing,” Grady said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
The Bleu Bayou Buffalo Wing
What: The world's best Buffalo wing, as awarded
by the crew of “The Great Chicken Wing Hunt”
Who: Created by chef Columbus Marshall Grady
Where: Abigail's Restaurant, 1978 Routes 5 and 20
For details: Call 539-9300
Abigail's Restaurant chef Columbus Marshall Grady and his Bleu Bayou Buffalo Wing won that distinction from the crew of “The Great Chicken Wing Hunt,” a documentary chronicling a New York state-wide search for the best Buffalo wing in the world. As the state that birthed the first Buffalo wing - in Buffalo's Anchor Bar in 1964 - New York must also be home to the best, the crew believed.
And after taking bite after bite of Abigail's Bleu Bayou wings, they still believe. Producer Matt Reynolds and his group of wing-hunters rewarded Grady for his creation with a golden rubber chicken that rests on the wall behind the restaurant's bar.
“It's amazing; they went to a lot of places,” Grady said.
Grady bathes his wings in a unique blend of celery, blue cheese and other seasonings and sauces which will remain secret. As the two most common items with which wings are eaten, celery and bleu cheese were ideal ingredients for a wing sauce, Grady said.
Ten years ago he tried preparing his first plate of Bleu Bayou wings, and after adjusting the recipe to remove any excess cheese or grease, he perfected the formula. The celery and blue cheese don't dominate the sauce, but the taste of each is thick enough to satisfy any cravings the chicken may stimulate. The taste of the sauce meshes well with the meat, which is cooked to the most savory balance between mushy white and crispy dark.
The wings' popularity at Abigail's buffet line requires Grady to prepare several batches a day. But when news first hit his kitchen of the “Hunt,” Grady was hesitant to believe his wings were tasty enough to take the top honor.
“People were saying how everyone loves my wings,” he said. “But there are a lot of wings out there.”
Grady estimates he alone has engineered more than 150 types of chicken wings. Because Abigail's serves its wings as part of a buffet in its wide dining room, the chef is constantly looking for ways to diversify them each day.
“I don't want it to get boring,” he said.
On the day the “Chicken Wing Hunt” crew sampled the Bleu Bayou wing, they also took a bite of two other Grady originals: the Roasted Red Garlic wing and the Hot Chocolate wing. The latter's sauce mixes light touches of chocolate with peppers and chilis.
“The younger hunters liked it; the older ones didn't so much,” Grady said. “It was early in the morning, they weren't ready.”
The 7 a.m. tasting took place at Geneva's WNYR radio station, where Grady and other local chefs were invited to prepare their finest wing recipes for the hunters. Even at that early hour, when the thought of eating wings weighs on the minds of few, “Hunt” producer Matt Reynolds and his crew were delighted by the Bleu Bayou wing.
“What separated it is the blue cheese and celery right into the sauce, so you get the whole experience wrapped into the sauce,” Reynolds said. “It could have been a bad thing, but they taste amazing.”
After sampling the wing in Geneva, Reynolds and his crew made a spontaneous stop at Abigail's to try the Bleu Bayou wing in its mild, medium and hot forms. Grady calmly watched as the dozen hunters added piles of bones to their plates and filled their thorough evaluation forms with notes - and a few sauce stains.
“He wasn't nervous about his wings or looking good on film, he was really interested in what we had to say,” Reynolds said. “He had this steady quality that reminded me of someone like the Dalai Lama.”
As the crew headed west to sample the best of Buffalo's National Buffalo Wing Festival, the Bleu Bayou wing remained highest on the hunter's list. That list, by hunt's end, totaled 284 wing types from 63 chefs in New York state and Quebec.
But before the hunters awarded the crown to Grady and his wings, they had to clarify whether the Bleu Bayous qualified as Buffalo wings. The sauce met the crew's criteria by consisting of butter and hot sauce. But they weren't certain whether the wings deviated too much from the Buffalo wing formula to be considered specialty wings, which had their own category.
Thirty hours of heated debate among the hunters and one last visit to Abigail's later, Grady's wings were safely in the winner's circle. As tourists begin to make the trip to Abigail's and the restaurant's buffet line balloons, the chef hopes he will receive a few more fryers to mass-produce more Bleu Bayou wings. But for now he is happy to have them meet more mouths.
“It's an honor to have the world's best Buffalo wing,” Grady said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
The Bleu Bayou Buffalo Wing
What: The world's best Buffalo wing, as awarded
by the crew of “The Great Chicken Wing Hunt”
Who: Created by chef Columbus Marshall Grady
Where: Abigail's Restaurant, 1978 Routes 5 and 20
For details: Call 539-9300
Citizen
Hot Jobs
New! Off the Menu
The Citizens' Say
Post your comment - click hereThere are No comments posted.