Apparently, there are two teams throwing some cylindrical thing in the air today.  Here at Wing Diary we have passion for one game only: hot and crispy buffalo wings-the oral mascot of the sport-game-thing called the Super Bowl. However, behind the scenes, when it is not a game day- when it is perhaps 2:37 pm on a Wednesday, there is a team that is always getting it right. This team is: Buff’s Pub in Newton. 2016 was an off year for Buff’s (NOT CRISPY!!), and Clery’s became the first string for wings, HOWEVER…. Buff’s has come back strong. If you want to eat wings, and watch this game, or maybe have no idea what a football is, Buff’s is currently this wing-slingers #1 destination in Boston for hot, crispy, wangs. Be prepared: Cash only.

Happenstance brought me to the Washington Capitals game the day I was brought on by the Wing Diary to cover the chicken game of our nation’s capital. The Verizon Center, in the heart of Chinatown seemed like a good place to start. Walk in the right direction in this neighborhood and you may see dead birds hanging in store- front’s—a glimpse of the old Chinatown before health inspectors and gentrification and something to get you in the chicken wing eating mood. I was not at one of these fine establishments, however I was polishing the oak with my shirtsleeves at The Greene Turtle bar and grille.

The Greene Turtle has strong DC roots. In the early days their humping turtle t-shirts were marketing genius. Every bro from Baltimore to Ocean City down to DC had or wanted one of these. Taking up new digs at the Verizon Center and catering to a more wholesome audience (some of the time) The Greene Turtle has moved away from those vivacious turtles as mascots. But I believe a strong correlation lies between those that might wear a t-shirt with coitus performing turtles and an appreciation for good wings.

As the first period got underway against the Toronto Maple Leafs I was busy testing my wing theory. I choose all wrong, I’ll admit, I bypassed the Old Bay wings—Mid-Atlantic heresy—and went with the “kinda hot” and “Chipotle” flavors.

I’m not huge into spice. The 2013 Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting, according to NBC, came out with a study that says risk takers are spice fans. Anecdotally I’ve heard that spice lovers also make for better actual lovers. Based on my wing taste it seems like I’m a guy that really would rather enjoy well thought out, pleasing yet prompt missionary relations. I don’t know how I feel about that. The turtles of old Greene Turtle fame, haphazardly going at it and definitely spice lovers—not so, and it is then fitting that their “kinda hot” is actually hot as fiery hell. The wing meat was standard, nothing special there although the crisp factor was on point. I respect the crisp factor a great deal. The Chipotle was sweet and could have used more bite. It’s a tough balance to strike—you can’t be too sweet and can’t be too spicy.

I expected much more from the Greene Turtle wings. Not that anything was quite wrong, it simply wasn’t just right. I’ve got to hand it to the cook—excellent crisp. On another day with another order it might be different but GT get’s a 6 out 10 for their performance.

What is better than a great vibe, a solid martini (that comes with excess in a shaker), and a great chicken parm??? Aside from winning a billion dollars or meeting Paul McCartney, nothing, EXCEPT FOR WHEN YOU CAN ALSO GET KILLER WINGS!!!Anchovies is magical. This establishment feels like a place where Freddie Mercury would have been very comfortable and serves up great clams and pasta, and WINGS. The wings are crispy. Crispy, crispy, crispy. And crisp is the foundation of a good wing. Why else are they awesome? The sauce. Super classic. tangy, spicy, nothing fancy, totally awesome. I think I really like this place for wings because its not your typical wing joint. I might even call it a romantic place to wing. Why not??

My only hope for Anchovies is that they start tossing their wings with a little more danger. DON’T BE AFRAID TO COAT! DON’T FEAR A PUDDLE. These wings can be a tad bit dry. Also, tone down the the pre-fry or par-boil….it takes the energy out of the wing. It feels little tired. HOWEVER, all and all these are great wings. They are the oral version of a Boston song you cannot get sick of, even though you’ve heard it since your 8th grade dances, and now you’re old enough to be contemplating/and or producing kids.

Anchovies (.5 awarded for killer martini): 7.5

ALSO PLEASE NOTE: These wings have an ever so slight breading going on. No point deducted for this.

Lots of saucy love,
Alex

Sorry I have been MIA. I’ve been rogue winging. Winging without abandon. Winging and not looking back. Winging with no regrets. But I am back, and I have come to report the fruits of my labor. Now, it was winter, so obviously I ate a lot wings, but I am only going to share the 3 best wangz of late winter. And these 3 are worthy of your money, travel, and potentially first born.

OPUS, your wings are the stuff dreams are made of. If these wings were sonically consumable -Chopin, Brahms, Handel- this is what these wings sound like. Let me tell you why: these wings were perfectly composed. They were crispTASTIC, and they were tossed in, BUFFALO DRY RUB, OH MY GOD. Buffalo wings, tossed in BUFFALO dry rub. MIND=BLOWN. You keep the tang, but don’t lose the crisp. YOU EVEN UP THE CRISP! BRILLIANCE. The only thing to be mindful of whilst consuming these wangs, is water. Make sure you drink plenty of it because these are salty. They are so salty because you are eating wings ROLLED in little granules of buffalo ecstasy. Stay hydrated, keep the party going.

I did not get a good picture of these wings and I failed you. BUT I AM GIVING THIS PLACE A 10 so I STRONGLY suggest you go anyways!!!!! 10 10 10 10!!!! WINGS MADE WITH LOVE!!! Crispy! Great blue cheese! But most of all, these wings had THOUGHT put into them. Think, before you wing.

These were YONCÉ WINGS y’all, because they were FLAWLESS!
OPUS: 10

Sometimes you want to eat wings naked, sometimes you want to eat wings whilst watching Downton Abbey, sometimes you want to eat wings while crying. In all three of these scenarios, it’s probably best/easiest/advisable to consume wings in the privacy of ones own home. Personally, I do not believe in delivery wings. Delivery wings become wings you need to rejuvenate and bring back to life via a good broil. The crisp is ALWAYS lost in the commute. So- make your own. Freshness and fun guaranteed!

I scoured and I mean SCOURED the internet for recipes. I wanted them crispy. I also decided that it is important to bake them. I cannot fry wangz to perfection the way wing joints can with their actual deep friers and I also don’t know if I feel comfortable putting meat in a fryer, seeing myself do it with my own eyes, and then putting that meat in my own mouth (I hear “Bootylicious” playing in my mind).

Any recipe not featuring Franks was IGNORED. I ended up thinking that a lot of recipes had good ideas, and that I would merge them into one. Here are the results with PHOTOGRAPHIC PROOF to illustrate the successful cooking operation. I only wish we had access the technology enjoyed by the crew on Starship Enterprise- If only you could touch the screen and have them appear before you:(…

HELLA CRISPY 10/10 HOME WING RECIPE:

-Raw Wings, flats and drumsticks
-Frank’s Red Hot Regular Buffalo Sauce
-Frank’s Red Hot Hot Buffalo Sauce
-Sticks of butter
-White Vinegar (optional)
-Celery
-Blue Cheese

1) Preheat Oven to 450 degrees F and then get a pasta pot, fill it 2/3 full of water salt it. It should taste almost like sea-water. When it boils toss your raw wings in. Do this for 8-10 mins depending on how many wings you’re making. This is called parboiling, it makes them lose some of their excess fat and helps them to crisp later.

2) Next, place your wings over a rack so that they can lose excess water. I grabbed some cookie racks and put glasses under- do what you can with what you’ve got!

3) Place on paper towels to grab any excess moisture, be careful they can get a bit sticky!

4) Prep your sauce!!! This is where personal preference comes in. I personally like my wings to be HOT but not obscenely hot or at that place where your tongue feels numb or tazered. I think a consistent lip sting is a good place to be, maybe a bit of sweat. Ultra-Mild wings are for losers. That said. I bought the Franks normal sauce and Frank’s “HOT.” The hot brings the heat to the table whereas the normal has a TINY bit of sweetness to it. I toyed around with it a bit, but at the end my sauce was about 2/4’s Frank’s “hot” sauce , 1/4 Frank’s regular, and 1/4 butter. Melt your butter, then add sauce, add sauce, then melt… it does not matter.

5) Place your wings on ungreased cookie sheet (butter will help not stick), coat one side, and flip them immediately and do the other. I had a little “sauce wand” but wings can also be dipped or whatever you can imagine, just make sure they are throughly covered!

6) Place wings in oven on a higher level rack. Let wings cook for 25-30 minutes. Remove wings and flip them. Now for a SUPREMELY CRISP WING put back in on higher rack with heat set to BROIL. For a super crispy wing place wings back in over as they were at 450, leave in for an additional 5 mins.

7) When you remove the wings give them a gooooood sauce-toss!! There is no need for a lot of butter this time (as long as you are not a wingloser) because they of their initial coat. This time do hot sauce, a few teaspoons of vinegar (if desired!) toss, toss, toss, plate w blue cheese and wing paraphernalia, and CONSUME!!!!

Crispyyyyy!!

Beautiful!

****NOTE!****** NONE of this would have been possible without my wing partner of the evening, my wonderful MOM!!!! She helped me sauce, flip, reflect!! She is a winglover and TOPNOTCH cook, it was wonderful to have her to consult with throughout the entire process!!!!

White Horse Tavern. Nayyyyyy.

Jamie, Dave (you may know him by his work on his album “Progress Report”), and I were meeting for a wingsesh. Dave and Jamie opted to return to White Horse Tavern for the second time that day. They knew of the Wing Diary and asked me to come along. I was flattered and hungry. I came prepared to do business.

I will say this much, the staff at White Horse is awesome. Truly awesome. Friendly, funny, and full of personality. Their wings… however… were not friendly, were sort of funny, and lacked personality. As usual, I ordered them hot and crispy, with fingers crossed. When they arrived, and I put the first flat wing in my mouth, I felt sad :(. The sauce was meh, the crisp was not present, they lacked freshness- these wings were not worthy of being called “Buffalo Wings.” They were served with a smile, plentiful quantities of blue cheese and celery, and a surplus of napkins -but alas-, no degree of accoutrement can make a blah wing into a hot wing. The Titanic can not be unsunk (sorry if that is insensitive to any readers with an RMS lineage).

Normally White Horse would receive a 5.5, but due to the top notch staff I will give them a 6.

Because life is short and some people say there are other things to life than wings, let’s take a moment and appreciate the musical stylings of David Neves down below! It’s this thing called “Jazz.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t8I_5wy0WI

Sad Wings 😦

The Wing Diary is not an automatic A institution. We are not parents, we do not need to show unconditional love at the expense of honesty. The truth is that some wings are better than others. Some wings are cut out for Varsity and some should be benched for eternity. The “buffalo” wings at the Globe are such wings. Globe, your wings would not have even made the freshman team, sadly, not even the intramural. Why? Because they were soggy, and weirdly slimy almost goopy. Your “Buffalo” sauce had the same amount of heat as 1000 Islands Dressing. And lastly, and not to be totally high school, BUT- they looked weird. Something was off. Long story short, our waitress was great, and so was your blue cheese, but your wings made me want to cry.

THE GLOBE, BOSTON, MA: 0

Intermission. Tavern. Hell. YES.

After a night of great music and a failed über, a friend and I found ourselves outside of Intermission Tavern (near the Wang Theater). I was wondering why the name popped out at me, and then I remembered it was on our Wing Radar. I was a bit hesitant to go in because it looked like they were wrapping up, but we decided to give a go. GOOD CHOICE. Not only did they happily serve us a round, the cook kept the kitchen open a few minutes late just so we could grab some wings. SO HOSPITABLE! I was beyond excited as it was my last meal prior to starting the bi-annual juice cleanse :(.

When the wings came a few things popped out, shit they are breaded! Wow they are colorful! Oh my god they smell good. AND. GOOD. THEY. WERE. They were incredible!! I am not a huge fan of a breaded wing but these were perfectly crispy and saucy. AND THE SAUCE… Maybe the best I have had. These were incredible wings, made with care. I will give these wings and the entire experience 9.5. I WILL BE BACK SOON!! I think Mili will love these wings!!!!!

Quality control is important. Milicent and I have been avid supporters of Buff’s in Newton since our first order of 20 (and side of small nachos, chili on the side). But we realized we need to make sure what we believe to be the best, is in fact the best. So we are back at it, trying new wing destinations, with the hopes of finding a batch of wings in each neck of the woods that can meet the great 3. If you’ve forgotten, or never met us, the 3 stands for: Crisp factor, sauce factor (good heat and vinegar ratios), quality factor (the entire experience: is the blue cheese off the charts? Are there celery, carrots? Too fatty??) Because Milicent lives in the South End, we needed somewhere near her..it was a toss up between trying Anchovies and Clery’s… for this wingsesh we chose Clery’s.

For starters, we had a blond waitress who absolutely ruled. She was a delight, bringing us pumpkin beer with great haste and extreme fall cheer. We ordered our wings hot and crispy and with moderate expectations, we waited.

The wing’s arrived and they were aesthetically 10’s. Seriously, they were the supermodel equivalent of wings. Not too fatty, defined and crisp, steaming and saucy. Blue cheese check, celery check, carrots check, surplus of napkins-bonus! It was all coming together.

The first bite was….. Well, it reminded me of why we do this. So frequently wings are a menu’s afterthought, this is not the case at Clery’s. They were SO CRRRRISPYYYYY, and the sauce, TANGY AND AWESOME. Perhaps, a bit buttery… but it is getting cold out….. These were great wings. You could feel them on your lips, and the sauce commanded attention from my fork (yeah I did it, I’ve used a straw sometimes too. Whatever). Mili agreed that these were great wings and worth a place on our wing map. Clery’s, its gonna be a long winter and we will be back. Please stay so saucy.

ClERY’S, SOUTH END, BOSTON, MA: 9.5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night I felt alive, truly alive. I spent a day with Steph the magnificent (hands featured) in the city, got new jeans (!@%&**^#&$#:):):)), and drove back to Montauk in time for Trivia night. There are few clear and consistent truths in life, and I believe when you discover them it is important to acknowledge them. 1) I am not destined to win Trivia. 2) Wings will always bring me joy.

The week prior we had ordered wings at The Point, and it was not a success. One wing escaped my hand and rolled down every item of clothing I was wearing (but what’s new? #winglife). And the rest that did enter my mouth were not crispy and not ON POINT. So this week we were a bit apprehensive (Steph has been winging w me for 2 weeks now) but said what the hell, and rolled the dice.

This week, the Point’s wings were….. TDF!!! The wings were completely different. It was like a great reveal on a make-over show. Now they were crispy, NOT soggy and slippery! NOW the sauce had heat and distinction! What was that? A mild bit of breading??? Not normally a fan of the breading, but this was unique and gave it more of a heartiness! Way to go Point, way to go. I am not sure of my future with Trivia night, but I am fairly certain I will see you again for your wings.

THE POINT- MONTAUK: 8