5 Crazy Things Restaurants Have Done With Chicken Wings
Chicken wings are an insanely delicious snack, and the classic Buffalo-style wing recipe has basically been etched in stone by this point: deep-fry the wings until they're golden brown, then toss them in a mixture of hot sauce and butter. While the classic recipe definitely suffices, there are plenty of other ways to get your wing on. Here are five crazy things that restaurants and food trucks are doing to their wings.
2 Fat 2 Fly Kickstarter
This Columbia, South Carolina, truck specializes in stuffed chicken wings, created using a top-secret method. Varieties include jambalaya, nacho, and even a Thai selection stuffed with sausage, cabbage, carrots, rice noodles, and ginger. The truck is such a success that there's a to help the owners open a restaurant.
Mott Street, Chicagohopping restaurant
This from a former chef at Chicago's acclaimed Ruxbin is kicking wings out of the park with its Asian night market-inspired menu. Their "Everything Wings" are double-fried beauties, glazed with soy and dried chiles before being tossed with sesame and poppy seeds and fried shallots. It hits notes that those who like everything bagels will be familiar with, while kicking it up several notches of deliciousness.
Calypso Wings, Atlanta, Ga.Calypso Wings
A Pa'Zing might sound like Pizza Hut's newest limited-time-offering, but we doubt the chain would ever venture into this territory. Atlanta restaurant rolled these out last summer, and they instantly won the internet: their wings are breaded and fried, then topped with marinara sauce, melted mozzarella, pepperoni, and sliced cherry tomatoes. Why didn't we think of this before?
NOLA, New OrleansNOLA
A Vietnamese cook prepared these wings for Emeril Lagasse in 2000, and he enjoyed them so much that he added them to the menu at his restaurant and hasn't taken them off since (they're on there as "Miss Hay's Stuffed Chicken Wings.") First, they're stuffed with ground pork, chopped shrimp, cilantro, celery, mushrooms, onions, and fish sauce. Then they're baked, fried in peanut oil, and served with homemade hoisin sauce and jalapeños.
Pok Pok, Brooklyn, N.Y. and Portland, Ore.restaurantBrooklynPortlandWhiskey Soda Lounge
Ike's Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings are so good that Pok Pok chef/owner Andy Ricker opened a (now closed) in New York that served only them. Today they're available at the Pok Pok locations in and as well as Ricker's Brooklyn bar , and are one of the most popular items on the menu. These wings, inspired by ones eaten at a roadside shack in Vietnam, started it all, and helped raise Ricker and his restaurant to national prominence. To make them, Ricker marinates wings in a fish sauce-garlic mixture, twice-fries them, then tops them with more garlic and fish sauce. They hit all the right sweet, spicy, salty, and tangy notes, and before you know it you'll have ordered a second round.