O’sides NY Best Wing founders head to Buffalo

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The saga of the two Oceanside boys who love Buffalo style chicken wings continues, this time we find them in Buffalo, New York, birthplace of the buffalo wing.

Drew Cerza, known as the Wing King, after he won a wing cook off against famed Chef Bobby Flay, founded the festival. He invited Matt Kourie and Rob Wittman, founders of the NY Best Wings Festival to be guest judges at the National Buffalo Wing Festival. “Being asked to be official judges by Drew Cerza, the Wing King himself is top honors in the wing world and it was an amazing thrill for us,” said Kourie.

The festival owes its creation to actor Bill Murray and Cerza. In the movie “Osmosis Jones,” Murray’s character, mentions a Buffalo wing festival, but in reality there was no such gathering. Murray wrote an article for a local newspaper talking about the need for Buffalo to have such a festival. Cerza said he never saw the movie, but came across the article in a recycling bin while cleaning his garage. He read the article and decided to arrange the festival. This past Labor Day weekend almost 80,000 people from all over the US and 35 countries consumed more than 40 tons of wings at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo.

Kourie and Wittman taste tested over 50 different recipes, consuming over 150 wings each, scoring them on a scale of 1-10.

One of the winners in the wing-eating contest is a familiar name to Island Park and Oceanside. First place went to Joey Chestnut the second ranked competitive eater in the world, eating 205 wings, Miki Sudo of Las Vegas took second place with 170 wings, and Sonya “Black Widow” Thomas was third with 157 wings.

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