The best wings in Dayton?
Feb. 5th, 2012 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1I've already talked about subs and pizza here. Now I need to cover the third item in the "holy trinity" of great tavern food: chicken wings.
Having come from Buffalo, I know chicken wings. I know all about their history -- how they were first invented at the Anchor Bar in 1964, and spread through the town like wildfire. I can't remember when I first had them, though -- probably high school. But I've grown to love them. And you'll notice that I don't call them "Buffalo wings".
When I return home to visit family and friends, I try to go to a wing place and have some real wings while I'm in town. My first choice is usually Duff's in Amherst, but I often can't find a parking space there.
In college, a good friend and I used to frequent Rootie's Pump Room, in Getzville, for a meal of wings, fries, and a pitcher of Pepsi. Even if we used a coupon, we'd get another coupon to use for our next visit. But Rootie's is no longer there.
When I first moved to Dayton in 1989, I found a little hole-in-the-wall place called the L.C. Wing Company, in Kettering. The owner was an expatriated Buffalonian (same as myself), so he knew how to cook wings "the right way" -- drop them in the deep fryer for about 12 minutes, take them out to drain, put them in a bowl of melted butter and Frank's RedHot sauce, close the bowl, shake it up, and serve. Unfortunately, the business went under a few years later.
So where do I usually go to get my wing fix? There are several places around that serve wings.
Beef O'Brady's, in Centerville and Beavercreek. Good, meaty wings, but their sauce is a little on the vinegary side.
Buffalo Wings & Rings. I thought this was a regional chain, based in Cincinnati, but apparently, it's not. I first discovered this chain while working in Cinainnati. The one in Centerville opened a couple of years ago. Their sauces are good, and there's quite a variety, but their blue cheese dressing is missing something.
Buffalo Wild Wings. They used to be called "BW-3's (which stood for "Buffalo WIld Wings and Weck"), before they dropped the beef on weck -- Buffalo's other culinary contribution -- from their menu. I used to not like them. Their wings were small. I used to joke that they came from rock cornish game hens. But they now have bigger, meatier wings. I used to be able to handle their hot sauce, but it's too hot for me now. So I'll stick with medium when I go.
Quaker Steak & Lube, in Beavercreek or Fairborn. (I honestly don't know which side of the town boundary they're on.) I like their wings, but they're a little far for me to travel for lunch. They also have a lunch buffet with several different flavors/sauces of wings. For their hottest sauces (atomic and triple atomic), you'll have to sign a waiver of liability. Seriously.
Wing Street is Pizza Hut's foray into the chicken wing market. There isn't one near me, so I've not been able to sample them.
Hooters has wings too, but they bread them before cooking. That's not the proper recipe. The "eye candy" is nice, but it seems to me that all the Hooters girls have similar or identical measurements. Where's the variety?
Fricker's, a local sports bar chain, breads their wings and leaves the wing tips on! That's not right either! So I don't go there.
BC Rooster's. There's one near me, by the Dayton Mall. Their wings aren't bad, just mediocre.
I know that a steady diet of wings isn't good for me. But once in a while is OK. More often than not, I'll have boneless wings, which are made from breast meat.
Having come from Buffalo, I know chicken wings. I know all about their history -- how they were first invented at the Anchor Bar in 1964, and spread through the town like wildfire. I can't remember when I first had them, though -- probably high school. But I've grown to love them. And you'll notice that I don't call them "Buffalo wings".
When I return home to visit family and friends, I try to go to a wing place and have some real wings while I'm in town. My first choice is usually Duff's in Amherst, but I often can't find a parking space there.
In college, a good friend and I used to frequent Rootie's Pump Room, in Getzville, for a meal of wings, fries, and a pitcher of Pepsi. Even if we used a coupon, we'd get another coupon to use for our next visit. But Rootie's is no longer there.
When I first moved to Dayton in 1989, I found a little hole-in-the-wall place called the L.C. Wing Company, in Kettering. The owner was an expatriated Buffalonian (same as myself), so he knew how to cook wings "the right way" -- drop them in the deep fryer for about 12 minutes, take them out to drain, put them in a bowl of melted butter and Frank's RedHot sauce, close the bowl, shake it up, and serve. Unfortunately, the business went under a few years later.
So where do I usually go to get my wing fix? There are several places around that serve wings.
Beef O'Brady's, in Centerville and Beavercreek. Good, meaty wings, but their sauce is a little on the vinegary side.
Buffalo Wings & Rings. I thought this was a regional chain, based in Cincinnati, but apparently, it's not. I first discovered this chain while working in Cinainnati. The one in Centerville opened a couple of years ago. Their sauces are good, and there's quite a variety, but their blue cheese dressing is missing something.
Buffalo Wild Wings. They used to be called "BW-3's (which stood for "Buffalo WIld Wings and Weck"), before they dropped the beef on weck -- Buffalo's other culinary contribution -- from their menu. I used to not like them. Their wings were small. I used to joke that they came from rock cornish game hens. But they now have bigger, meatier wings. I used to be able to handle their hot sauce, but it's too hot for me now. So I'll stick with medium when I go.
Quaker Steak & Lube, in Beavercreek or Fairborn. (I honestly don't know which side of the town boundary they're on.) I like their wings, but they're a little far for me to travel for lunch. They also have a lunch buffet with several different flavors/sauces of wings. For their hottest sauces (atomic and triple atomic), you'll have to sign a waiver of liability. Seriously.
Wing Street is Pizza Hut's foray into the chicken wing market. There isn't one near me, so I've not been able to sample them.
Hooters has wings too, but they bread them before cooking. That's not the proper recipe. The "eye candy" is nice, but it seems to me that all the Hooters girls have similar or identical measurements. Where's the variety?
Fricker's, a local sports bar chain, breads their wings and leaves the wing tips on! That's not right either! So I don't go there.
BC Rooster's. There's one near me, by the Dayton Mall. Their wings aren't bad, just mediocre.
I know that a steady diet of wings isn't good for me. But once in a while is OK. More often than not, I'll have boneless wings, which are made from breast meat.
