I don’t eat buffalo

This Wednesday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch had a feature comparing different restaurants’ buffalo wings.  The newspaper selected four judges to sample the wings at Planet Wings, Out of Bounds, Hooters, Caliente, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Mojo’s.  I have eaten at all of these places except for Planet Wings, but have only eaten the wings at Hooters (yes, I went there once, and it wasn’t as bad as most females think it is – the waitresses seemed to have a down-to-earth sense of humor about their professions) and BW3.  The newspaper tried to match 3 chain restaurants (Planet Wings, Hooters, and BW3) with three locally-owned establishments (Out of Bounds, Caliente, and Mojo’s).  They also paired specific types of wings (barbecue, Asian-flavored, and hot).

I did not like the wings at Hooters – I think they were fried first and then coated in spicy sauce, causing the breading to be soggy. I like the different flavors at BW3 – I think they have over 20 different sauces you can have on your chicken.  And I have to say that their spicy garlic sauce is highly addictive.  But their wings never seem to have much meat, and they always seem to be served on the cool size (meaning temperature, not spiciness).

I believe that the newspaper had one major omission from their list.  The wings at Legends are phenomenal.  They are huge, meaty wings, the spices are rubbed in, and then they are grilled.  Frankly, besides their excellent beer, the only edible item on the menu is the wings.  So, go to Legends, order up some wings, and wash them down with a Brown Ale. 

What restaurant do you think has the best wings?

If you are a wing aficionado, you just missed attending the National Buffalo Wing Festival.  If you had gone, you could have watched 100-pound Sonja Thomas gobble down 173 chicken wings in 12 minutes.  Good times!