With nearly 80 televisions flashing in the background and customers arriving to try the 14 wing sauces, a new Evanston restaurant celebrated its grand opening Thursday night.
At the ceremony for Buffalo Wild Wings, 1741 W. Maple Ave., General Manager Nick Tabrizi and Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl cut a ribbon to signify the opening of the restaurant. Before the ceremony, Tisdahl posed with the BWW mascot, a buffalo, in a reclining chair the restaurant uses in its promotions.
“I’m tired, and they’re giving me the chance to sit in a chair and have a buffalo next to me,” Tisdahl said. “It’s a pretty good gig at the end of the day.”
Although BWW opened nearly two months ago, Tabrizi said he wanted to hold the ceremony when students would be in town.
“Northwestern is important because it’s got a pretty big campus,” Tabrizi said. “With Evanston being so walkable, we want to hit them up as much as we can.”
In addition to weekly discounts, BWW offers a 10 percent discount to students during away basketball games. During NU’s last road game at the University of Michigan, the restaurant was “packed with Northwestern fans,” Tabrizi said.
“There’s a big surge of power with everybody cheering for the same team,” he said. “It’s a good feeling.”
Kellogg School of Management program assistant Brian Coleman (Comm. ‘08) said he eats at BWW several days a week. Although Coleman has never been to Evanston’s BWW during a basketball game, he said eating at other BWW locations during a game “was like being at a sporting event.”
“Buffalo Wild Wings is interesting,” Coleman said. “It provides a very state-school, athletic-driven atmosphere you don’t often find at Northwestern.”
The restaurant even offers an NU beer, Cap’n Sig’s Northwestern Ale, Tabrizi said.
“It’s actually called Northwestern Ale and has a purple handle,” he said. “It’s just a coincidence, but people are buying it.”
Evanston resident Nick Lawson, who said he is a “big wings fan” and often eats at Buffalo Joe’s, 812 Clark St., said he enjoyed BWW on his first visit. Lawson called the restaurant “multi-layered.”
“I will come here to eat by myself,” the 39-year-old construction business owner said. “I’d come here for a drink, I’d come here to watch TV and I’d come to do all three.”
Because of NU’s international student population, BWW could devote more television time to other sports, Lawson said.
“There’s a world of sports you could tap into,” said Lawson, who is from Australia. “If they varied that up, I would definitely come back and watch a lot.”
Lawson joked that the restaurant needed more televisions since the restaurant already has 77 televisions, including two in each bathroom.
While other wings restaurants in Evanston offer tasty food, Tabrizi said BWW’s advantage is its atmosphere.
“We’ve got more than 70 TVs, trivia, anything you want at your fingertips,” Tabrizi said. “That’s what sets us apart.”
Coleman said he is glad BWW opened in Evanston since it was not around while he was an NU student.
“I hope that Northwestern bites and that students take advantage of it,” he said.[email protected]
