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What the cluck? |
I am a chicken wing fanatic. Between the ages of 16-19 I would estimate that I consumed roughly fifty chicken wings per week. I'd say my all time chicken wing count is somewhere around seven thousand. Literally scores of chickens have perished for my gluttony. At some point I realized I was going to get gout/diabetes/heart disease and I slowed down a bit. That being said, I regret nothing.
I love a good chicken wing. I consider the perfect wing to be medium sized, crispy and well sauced. (Bonus points for amazing/unique sauces.) I truly like Harris Grill, in particular I like their draft selection, outdoor seating, staff and bacon night. I even really liked the jerk chicken wings I tried which were very well seasoned and prepared. However, the spicy buffalo wings just didn't cut it. They didn't have nearly enough crisp - this alone can ruin a wing experience. But even worse, they were under-sauced and the sauce was rather bland and runny. Something about non-crispy wings just makes the experience of covering my face in sauce and chicken disgusting.
I've had chicken wings at almost every place you can imagine in Pittsburgh - I believe our city has some of the best wings in the country. As a matter of fact, I usually don't get wings when I'm outside of Pittsburgh as I can't stand sub-par chicken. My short list for wings includes: Wings Suds and Spuds, Wiggy's, Rugger's, Birmingham Bridge Tavern, Sidelines, and Talerico's. However, there are at least a dozen other places that all make really great wings.
I came across this article last week,
When You Learn What’s Really in Your Food, You May Stop Eating Altogether. None of the "secrets" in this article bothered me at all except that chickens tested by Johns Hopkins University were found to be loaded with antidepressants. This provides a rather unique explanation as to why I choose to drown my sorrows in crispy delicious chicken wings.
What are your favorite wings in the city? Why? And finally, should we go there for happy hour?