One of the Triangle’s best wing joints just opened its first Raleigh location

One of the area’s top wing joints has finally completed the Triangle trifecta.

Beloved wingery Heavenly Buffaloes opened in Raleigh this week, a decade after opening its first location as a tiny shack in Durham.

The new Heavenly Buffaloes is at 6701 Glenwood Avenue in North Raleigh , replacing a former Hungry Howie’s pizza shop.

Heavenly Buffaloes started in Durham with a takeout shack on Markham Avenue near Duke University’s East Campus. It’s since added dine-in locations on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill and Erwin Road near the main Duke Hospital.

Raleigh’s Heavenly Buffaloes will be take-out only, but serve the same expanded menu as the restaurant locations, meaning chicken sandwiches and salads are available alongside the signature wings. There are also take and bake wings for large orders.

Owned by Dain Phelan and Mark Dundas, Heavenly Buffaloes has been a top Triangle wing joint since it opened. In 2022, it was voted Best Wings by readers of The News & Observer.

Phelan said the Raleigh spot represents a bit of a departure for the brand and a bit of a homecoming.

“Originally our plan was to jump around to all the universities, but Raleigh’s is not so much in the university area,” Phelan said. “There’s a lot of community here, a lot of homes and apartments. I used to live across the street from the shopping center many years ago and if Heavenly Buffaloes was here I’d be eating it like four times a week.”

Along with students, Phelan expects the location to attract Raleigh’s young professionals and that he’s seen wings bring together people from all walks of life.

“You’ll have people high up at Duke coming through and then construction workers waiting on the porch for chicken wings,” Phelan said. “We get everybody.”