Foodie Friday: Anchor Bar

The home of the original Buffalo wing has arrived in San Marcos.

Anchor Bar opened this week, bringing with it delicious chicken wings, a wide variety of bar foods and cold drinks.

This new San Marcos eatery has a simple story to its claim to fame. In 1964, Dominic Bellissimo was tending bar at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y. when a group of his friends came to the bar seeking food. Bellissimo’s mother, Teressa, placed chicken wings into a deep fryer and flavored them with a secret sauce.

“The wings were an instant hit and it didn’t take long for people to flock to the bar to experience this new taste sensation,” Anchor Bar says on its website. “From that evening on, Buffalo wings became a regular part of the menu at the Anchor Bar. The phenomenon created in 1964 by Teressa Bellissimo has spread across the globe. Although many have tried to duplicate Buffalo wings, the closely guarded secret recipe is what makes Frank and Teressa’s the proclaimed 'Best Wings in the World.'”

What to get

As a self-proclaimed chicken wing aficionado, Anchor Bar’s opening was much anticipated. The original chicken wing bar didn’t disappoint.

Wanting to go with something a little less messy during a weekday lunch, I selected Anchor Bar’s anchor bites — boneless chicken wings. I went with the snack size, which comes with eight boneless wings for $8. You can also get the anchor bites in a 12-count, 16-county, 32-count and a platter of 80 boneless wings.

I went with all eight of the anchor bites in Anchor Bar’s spicy garlic parmesan and added tater tots to make it a meal. These buffalo bites were as delicious as expected. The buffalo sauce was nice and spicy but not too much heat. The garlic parmesan mixed well with the buffalo sauce to make a tasty combo.

Anchor Bar has a wide variety of sauces, including mango habanero, buffalo lemon pepper, honey sriracha, honey garlic, honey bourbon bbq and extreme (if you dare!). There are also several dry rub options to pick from between Cajun, lemon pepper, garlic parmesan and habanero ranch with lime.

If you’re looking for the traditional wing option, Anchor Bar offers a snack size (five wings for $9), mid size (eight wings for $14), single size (10 wings for $17), double size (20 wings for $34) and a platter of 50 wings for $85.

Fries, tater tots, wedges or broccoli can be added to make it a meal for an extra $2.50.

During our visit to Anchor Bar, my dining companion chose to sample the hatch burger. This 8-ounce patty of brisket and chuck burger came topped with green chilies, pepper jack cheese and a sunny side up egg for $13.49. My dining companion was highly impressed with this burger, saying it ranked among the top three he’s tried during our two years of foodie Friday.

Anchor Bar offers several other burger and sandwich options, including The American, which comes with an 8-ounce patty of brisket and chuck burger with American cheese, lettuce and caramelized onion on a brioche bun; and buffalo tender sandwich – crispy or grilled chicken tenders tossed in the original Anchor Bar wing sauce and served with lettuce, caramelized onions and a side of ranch on a fresh baked Kaiser roll.

There’s also a bbq bacon burger, mac & cheese burger and patty melt.

Maybe you’re in the mood for pizza, Anchor Bar has that too. You can make your own pizza, or you can order from their specialty pies. Anchor bar offers a bbq chicken pizza, buffalo chicken pizza, white pizza, all meat pizza and supreme pizza.

For the health-conscious eater, Anchor Bar dishes up a Cobb salad with mixed greens, avocado, blue cheese crumbles, tomatoes, croutons, crispy or grilled chicken and bacon; a pecan chicken salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, blue cheese crumbles, glazed pecans, croutons and crispy or grilled chicken served with blueberry pomegranate vinaigrette; and a buffalo chicken salad, which is Anchor Bar’s dinner salad topped with grilled or crispy chicken tossed in your choice of Original Anchor Bar sauce.

Anchor Bar has plenty more to choose from. To see the full menu visit: https://anchorbar.com/locations/san-marcos-tx/san-marcos-tx-menu.

If you go:

Anchor Bar is located 1400 Aquarena Springs

Phone: 210-492-WING (9464)

The restaurant opens on weekdays at 11 a.m. until 10 p.m. On the weekends, Anchor Bar is open between 11 a.m.-11 p.m.