If you’ve ever had the pleasure of eating Buffalo wings dripping with butter-infused hot sauce, you’ve tasted food that originally came from Upstate New York. You also might be surprised to learn that potato chips were originally invented in Upstate New York, in Saratoga Springs.
Often overshadowed by New York City’s understandably more famous cuisine, Upstate New York is a meat eater’s paradise, home to such foods as beef on weck (also known as kummelweck), chicken spiedies, white hots, and the amazingly sinful garbage plate.
Buffalo Wings
Originally invented by the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, locals refer to them as chicken wings (or more simply, wings). When we lived in Western New York, our local pizzaria used to sell them with their pizzas, along with soft garlic knots dipped in butter.
Each year, the City of Buffalo holds a chicken wing festival. Last year, a record 27 tons of wings were eaten by 78,000 very happy people. Hopefully, this year’s Buffalo Wing shortage won’t impact Super Bowl parties too severely.
Beef on Weck
Beef on Weck is a juicy roast beef sandwich topped with horseradish and served on a special roll, which is studded with a bewitching combination of caraway seeds and kosher salt.
Once you’ve tried roast beef this way, you’ll find yourself regretting all the years you lost out by not eating this beefy feast on a bun. You can also thank Buffalo, New York for this heavenly food.
Spiedie
Commonly featuring cubes of chicken (lamb, beef, and venison are also used) marinated 24 hours or more in a 
savory sauce made of oil, vinegar, garlic, various Italian spices, and mint, this dish was invented in Endicott, New York.
Cooked shish kebab style, spiedies are often served on Italian rolls which help sop up the extra sauce. Unlike beef on weck, spiedie ingredients are easy to find and make outside of the Upstate New York area. In fact, many supermarkets across the country sell commercially prepared spiedie sauce to make this even easier. Serve some salt potatoes on the side and you can die happy.
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