The Candlelight Inn is Scarsdale's cash-only, open-till-2-a.m. neighborhood bar, and it has been since 1955. It's also home to some of the most talked-about wings in Westchester. Here's the fun part. The recipe that built that reputation came from a total stroke of luck.
A Neighborhood Bar First
Jack Tracy opened the Candlelight Inn on Central Park Avenue in 1955. Back then it was a straightforward neighborhood bar, the kind of place with just enough food in the fridge to satisfy a health inspector. Wings weren't even on the radar yet.
A Vacation Worth Remembering
That changed thanks to a trip. On vacation, owner John Tracy tried a plate of wings made by a friend's wife, loved them enough to ask for the recipe on the spot, and brought it home to Scarsdale. He started tinkering with it from there. Around that same stretch of time, Tracy's mother retired to Florida and the drinking age went up, nudging the bar toward becoming more of a family spot with a real, affordable menu. The recipe from that vacation found its permanent home on the menu in the early 1980s.
A Family Operation, Built by Three Brothers
Here's a detail most people ordering a plate of wings never hear. The Tracy brothers who built this into a food destination, John Sr. and John Jr., both served as Marines before they were slinging wings on Central Park Avenue. A third brother, Mike, runs the bar and the front of the house. It's a family business in the fullest sense, not just a name on the sign.
A Menu That Actually Gets Tested
Today the wings come in mild, medium, hot, Chernobyl, teriyaki, and BBQ, all built on a base of butter and Frank's RedHot. The Candlelight Inn was a finalist in Daily Voice's regional "Best Wings" contest back in 2015, and the volume backs up the reputation. On one Super Bowl Sunday alone, the kitchen served roughly 8,000 pounds of wings. That is not a typo, and it is not a slow night by any measure.
Still Family, Still Popular
The Candlelight Inn is still at 519 Central Park Avenue in Scarsdale, still cash-only, still open until 2 a.m. every night. A recipe born from one good vacation is now the reason it's one of Westchester's most popular bar spots, and thousands of pounds of wings later, nobody's arguing with how it happened.
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