I'll research the earliest documented references to chicken wing pizza, including its first known appearance in print, media, or restaurant menus. Additionally, I'll look into its origin story—where and when it was first served. I'll update you with my findings soon.
Earliest Documented Mentions of “Chicken Wing Pizza”
The idea of combining pizza and Buffalo-style chicken has roots dating back several decades. In Buffalo, New York – home of the original Buffalo wings (created in 1964 at the Anchor Bar) – pizzerias were early to pair pizza with wingsitalianamericanherald.comtheeagle.sths.org. La Nova Pizzeria in Buffalo reportedly began bundling pizza orders with Buffalo wings as far back as 1957italianamericanherald.com. However, the concept of a true “chicken wing pizza” (a pizza topped with wing-style chicken and sauce) appears in print a few decades later. By the early 1990s, specialty pizzas featuring Buffalo chicken had begun appearing on menus in New York. For example, Joanne’s Gourmet Pizza in Roslyn, Long Island – which opened in 1992 – claims to have been the first pizzeria to create a Buffalo chicken pizza, over 30 years agowww.longislandpress.com. In a 2024 news article, the Joanne’s owners recall introducing their “infamous” Buffalo chicken pizza in the early ’90s, noting that if they had trademarked the name back then “we would be billionaires by now”www.longislandpress.com. Similarly, in upstate New York, family-run pizzerias were offering Buffalo wing pizzas by the ‘90s – Peter’s New York Pizzeria (est. 1991) even touts a “famous Buffalo chicken wing pizza” as a house specialty on its menuwww.petersnewyorkpizzeria.comwww.petersnewyorkpizzeria.com. These examples indicate that the term “chicken wing pizza” was in regular use on restaurant menus by the early 1990s, if not earlier.
Early media mentions corroborate this timeline. In a 2013 issue of Bakersfield Life magazine, a writer noted that at the Pizza Barn in Kernville, California one should “Try buffalo wing pizza… Brad, the owner, invented it. So good!”issuu.com. This suggests that by 2013 at least, the restaurant (whose owner claimed to have invented the dish) was locally famous for a Buffalo wing pizza – implying an origin sometime earlier. By the mid-1990s, the idea had spread widely enough that national pizza chains took notice. (Notably, Domino’s began heavily promoting Buffalo wings as a side item during the 1994 Super Bowl, cementing the wings-and-pizza combo in American cultureblog.mtiproducts.com– and soon after, Buffalo chicken pizzas themselves became common in chain menus.) In summary, the earliest documented appearances of “chicken wing pizza” as a menu item or print reference cluster in the late 1980s to early 1990s, with multiple pizzerias in New York (and elsewhere) claiming to have pioneered the dish during that periodwww.longislandpress.comissuu.com.
Origin Story: Who First Created Chicken Wing Pizza?
Because the Buffalo wing itself was invented in 1964, it wasn’t until afterward that creative cooks tried it as a pizza toppingtheeagle.sths.org. As Buffalo-style hot wings gained popularity through the 1970s and ’80s, the “Buffalo chicken pizza” emerged as a natural fusion of two bar-food favorites. Exactly who first served a chicken wing pizza is debated. One prominent claim comes from the Dimaria family of New York: they assert that Frank Dimaria and his son Rino invented the Buffalo chicken pizza at Joanne’s Gourmet Pizza in Roslyn, NY around 1992www.longislandpress.comwww.longislandpress.com. According to a Long Island press report, Joanne’s became a local staple with this creation, and the family humorously wished they had trademarked the idea given its eventual nationwide popularitywww.longislandpress.com. On the other side of the country, another colorful origin story credits “Brad” of Pizza Barn in Kernville, CA with inventing the chicken wing pizza – a 2013 article flatly states that this owner “invented it”, suggesting he had been serving it for years by that pointissuu.com.
In Buffalo and Western New York – the wing’s heartland – the concept likely developed organically in multiple places. Local pizzerias had long served wings alongside pies, so combining them was an obvious next step. While no single Buffalo pizzeria is conclusively documented as “the first,” by the early 90s several were offering pizzas topped with spicy wing sauce, diced chicken, and blue cheese. This local innovation was a “moment of inspired culinary brilliance,” as one Buffalo food writer put itfrancospizza.comfrancospizza.com. The typical recipe swapped tomato sauce for Buffalo wing sauce, used mozzarella plus a drizzle of blue cheese or ranch, and added pieces of seasoned chicken – effectively recreating hot wings in pizza formfrancospizza.comforums.egullet.org. Once introduced, the Buffalo chicken (wing) pizza caught on quickly. Pizza fans embraced the spicy, tangy twist, and it soon became a menu favorite far beyond Buffalofrancospizza.comtheeagle.sths.org. Today, many restaurants and chains serve their own versions, but credit for the first-ever chicken wing pizza most often goes to those early ’90s pizzerias in New York who pioneered the idea and put it in writingwww.longislandpress.comissuu.com. Each of those originators helped launch what is now a beloved American pizza style, marrying Buffalo’s most famous bar snack with everyone’s favorite pie.