Cuomo: Chicken Wings Not Enough Food for Bar to Serve Alcohol

Democrat New York Governor Andrew Cuomo attempted to defend his food-with-drink mandate on Thursday, saying chicken wings are not substantial enough food for a bar to serve alcohol.

“There is no bar that only serves alcohol,” Cuomo said at a press conference on Thursday in response to a question regarding the New York Post‘s front-page story that labeled him “Drinktator” for his efforts to close bars that do not serve food with alcohol purchases.

“To be a bar, you had to have food available — soups, sandwiches, etc,” Cuomo claimed. “More than just hors d’oeuvres, chicken wings. You had to have some substantive food — the lowest level of substantive food were sandwiches.”

Cuomo also claimed it was a state law that food be served with alcoholic beverages, saying it went back to “the old days.”

“This is a law going back to the old days,” Cuomo said. “The bar had to have food available, soups, sandwiches — even Cuomo chips were not enough.”

Cuomo’s comments on the matter came one day after the State Liquor Authority began the requirement of  “substantial” snack purchases in order to sell alcohol.

Buffalo Wild Wings, a popular restaurant chain across America, also weighed in on Cuomo’s remarks with an emoji questioning his decision.

Earlier this week, Cuomo threatened to shut down bars and restaurants across the state if large gatherings of people continued amid the coronavirus pandemic. He also announced that bars would not be allowed to serve alcohol without the purchase of food.

“We will have to roll back the bar and restaurant opening if the congregations continue, if the local governments don’t stop it, that is what is going to happen,” Cuomo said.