Good News in the World of Wings

So if the NFL lockout happens, it looks like the price of chicken wings will drop!

Our growing desire for wings created an increase in the price and in turn an increase in supply. During the football season so many people order wings that, without football, there will be an over load in the supply so there will be nothing left to do but, lower the price. It may be a good but, fattening fall chicken wing season for me.

Here is a link to the Boston Herald article:

http://bostonherald.com/blogs/lifestyle/fork_lift/?p=4537

A little History

Here is some lore via wikipedia, with a link to the page below. I've never been to Buffalo but, think a trip may be in order.

There are four different legends about how Buffalo wings came to be.
The first story is that Buffalo wings were first prepared at the Anchor Bar by Teressa Belissimo, who owned the bar along with her husband Frank. Upon the unannounced, late-night arrival of their son, Dominic, with several of his friends from college, Teressa needed a fast and easy snack to present to her hungry guests. It was then that she came up with the idea of deep frying chicken wings (normally thrown away or reserved for stock) and tossing them in cayenne hot sauce.

• A second version, as told by Dominic Bellisimo (Frank and Teressa's son) to The New Yorker reporter Calvin Trillin in 1980, stated: "It was Friday night in the bar and since people were buying a lot of drinks he wanted to do something nice for them at midnight when the mostly Catholic patrons would be able to eat meat again." He stated that it was his mother, Teressa, who came up with the idea of chicken wings.

• The third version of the origin involved a mis-delivery of wings instead of backs and necks for making the bar's spaghetti sauce. Faced with this unexpected resource, Frank Bellisimo says that he asked Teressa to do something with them.

• The fourth version has nothing to do with the Bellisimos or the Anchor Bar. Calvin Trillin stated in his 1980 New Yorker article that a man named John Young also claimed credit for serving chicken wings in a special "mambo sauce". Chicken wings in mambo sauce became the specialty at his Buffalo restaurant in the mid-1960s. Young had registered the name of his restaurant, John Young's Wings 'n Things, at the county courthouse before leaving Buffalo in 1970.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_wing

Best Wings in Brooklyn Competition 2011

It was a cold day in February twenty aught eleven.

Did I say it was cold?

You know it was even colder if you were standing near a body of water with little protection from the wind. More on that in a bit.

Red Star Bar was hosting, "The Best Wings in Brooklyn Competition" on February 12th, 2011. This was the makings of my dream come true. My gorgeous fiancee, my best friend and his girlfriend and chicken wings.....what's not to love. We were about to taste some of the best buffalo flavored poultry in Brooklyn and for all intents and purposes, the world. All the competitors had come here to put their best wing forward and prove that they were qualified to be crowned king.

Red Star bar is located a block from the East River in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on the corner of Greenpoint Avenue and West Street. As luck would have it, Greenpoint Avenue acts as conduit for people and nature. The wind that rips off that water is perfect on a warm summer day. Not so much if it's the middle of a harsh winter in Brooklyn.  The line was over a block long and we waited for a solid hour with hundreds of other hopefuls for a chance to taste the best of the best. In that hour, the line moved about 1/4 of a block. Did I mention it was a bit chilly?

So after much debate, we decided to get in the car and head to the bar of one of the competitors. We were off the Keg and Lantern. We found a spot and made our way into an uncrowded, warm bar and realized we were back on track.

The beer selection in Keg and Lantern is excellent. They were having Blue Point specials this week so we had a couple of those. They also had a top notch selection of bottles and drafts, they even had cask ales on tap. The wings were frickin' delishes and the waitress was on the ball. She was the only one there for the whole place but, she made it happen like a pro.

Here's a pic and stand by for the rating.....

 

http://www.kegandlantern.com/

Almost Spring, Atomic Wings in the Slope

Today started off right. At lunch (by lunch I mean a post-breakfast snack) I was treated to a bottle of home brewed IPA by my buddy Brian. It was similar to Dogfish 90 but, better. Medium bodied, malty, hoppy and only a few weeks old. Nothing beats fresh, bottle-conditioned goodness. That kind of set the scope for the day....which also consisted of a home-made ice cream cookie sandwich. (I smelled the cookies baking as I rolled in to work)

By the time I got back to Brooklyn after work, it was getting late so we decided to order wings from Atomic Wings on 9th Street and 5th Avenue. In the meantime I finished off what was left of a growler of my own home brew. It was another IPA, lighter in malt but great hop flavor and a clean, fresh taste.

The wings were good and pretty consistent. I ordered the 10 pack but, got at least 13 wings...all for $7.99. Sweet.... I will say, I was surprised at how good they were since I've been to Atomic Wings many times and was never too impressed.  I stand corrected. Good sauce, good size to the wings/drums and no complaints on the portion/price ratio.

 I like to think I have the will power to avoid known sub-par wings but, sometimes that fiend is hard to control and tonight it paid off nicely.

To round the day off right, I cracked a bottle of home brew I had conditioning in my fridge. It was given to me courtesy of my buddy Jeremy who lives down the block. He brewed a bock beer and used lager yeast for cold fermentation. It was a strong, malty beer that tasted fresh and silky.

Word to the mothership....