Wing Quest
| By Chuck Terhark |
|
Even without the choking hazard, chicken wings are dangerous. They require a carnivorous desire to tear flesh from bone, an appetite for lip-tingling hot sauce, a baby wipe for post-dinner cleanup and a willingness to ingest 2,000 calories in a single sitting. Where can Twin Cities gastro-thrill seekers find the best buffalo bites, the One Wing to Rule them All (O.W.R.A.)? Wing Quest will find out.
Our search begins at Fabulous Fern’s [400 Selby Ave., St Paul; 651.225.9414], where the kalbi wings—tossed in a soy-based Korean barbecue sauce—enjoy a somewhat legendary status among locals. And for good reason: The wings came coated in a delicious, tangy, sweet glaze. The problem: The sauce was the star, masking a wing that lacks meatiness and a crisp skin. We encountered the same problem with the otherwise delicious harissa wings at Solera [900 Hennepin Ave., Mpls.; 612.338.0062]. The O.W.R.A. will be meaty, crispy and saucy, all at the same time.
St. Paul is also home to Arnellia’s [1183 University Ave. W., St Paul; 651.642.5975], a bar in Midway with metal detectors at the doors and a guy in the back who sweeps the floors when he isn’t frying the chicken. This was easily the best chicken for our dollar; $10 fed three of us. But it was southern-style, with no sauce, and the wings were whole—the big kind, with the drummies and flats (as they’re known in the biz) connected. Shorty and Wag’s[3753 Nicollet Ave., Mpls.; 612.822.0619] also serves this style of wing, in original and buffalo style. The buffalo sauce was a little underwhelming, but the dry rub, which smelled strongly of cinnamon, was mouth watering, especially when dipped in a side of hot vinegar. Still, the O.W.R.A. will not be whole-wing. Some argue that keeping the wing intact creates a more tender meat, but it’s far messier to eat and the fun of picking out flats versus drummies is part of the joy of eating chicken wings.
Over in Minneapolis, Runyon’s [107 N. Washington, Mpls.; 612.332.7158] wins consistent praise for its buffalo wings. We could see why: It was traditional buffalo in the best way. The wings were cooked crisp with plenty of tender meat inside. The sauce was hot and vinegary, a perfect balance. This was a real contender for the One Wing to Rule them All. But Runyon’s offered buffalo alone, and we wanted wing variety as well as perfection. So we followed a hot tip back to St. Paul and into Eden Pizza [629 Aldine St., St. Paul; 651.646.7616], where the oven-baked wings come in a staggering 15 varieties. We sampled six— buffalo, Thai, golden BBQ, satanic (habañero sauce), bluechero (bleu cheese and peppers) and Jamaican jerk—and there wasn’t a clunker in the bunch. Eden baked their wings twice, the second time with the sauce. Because the wings weren’t fried, the wait was longer (our huge order took about 30 minutes), but the wings were far less greasy than the others we’d tried. We also didn’t get celery sticks, but we were too busy salivating over the wings to notice.
The winner of Wing Quest: Eden Pizza's mouth-watering, twice-baked wings.
—Chuck Terhark
Our search begins at Fabulous Fern’s [400 Selby Ave., St Paul; 651.225.9414], where the kalbi wings—tossed in a soy-based Korean barbecue sauce—enjoy a somewhat legendary status among locals. And for good reason: The wings came coated in a delicious, tangy, sweet glaze. The problem: The sauce was the star, masking a wing that lacks meatiness and a crisp skin. We encountered the same problem with the otherwise delicious harissa wings at Solera [900 Hennepin Ave., Mpls.; 612.338.0062]. The O.W.R.A. will be meaty, crispy and saucy, all at the same time.
St. Paul is also home to Arnellia’s [1183 University Ave. W., St Paul; 651.642.5975], a bar in Midway with metal detectors at the doors and a guy in the back who sweeps the floors when he isn’t frying the chicken. This was easily the best chicken for our dollar; $10 fed three of us. But it was southern-style, with no sauce, and the wings were whole—the big kind, with the drummies and flats (as they’re known in the biz) connected. Shorty and Wag’s[3753 Nicollet Ave., Mpls.; 612.822.0619] also serves this style of wing, in original and buffalo style. The buffalo sauce was a little underwhelming, but the dry rub, which smelled strongly of cinnamon, was mouth watering, especially when dipped in a side of hot vinegar. Still, the O.W.R.A. will not be whole-wing. Some argue that keeping the wing intact creates a more tender meat, but it’s far messier to eat and the fun of picking out flats versus drummies is part of the joy of eating chicken wings.
Over in Minneapolis, Runyon’s [107 N. Washington, Mpls.; 612.332.7158] wins consistent praise for its buffalo wings. We could see why: It was traditional buffalo in the best way. The wings were cooked crisp with plenty of tender meat inside. The sauce was hot and vinegary, a perfect balance. This was a real contender for the One Wing to Rule them All. But Runyon’s offered buffalo alone, and we wanted wing variety as well as perfection. So we followed a hot tip back to St. Paul and into Eden Pizza [629 Aldine St., St. Paul; 651.646.7616], where the oven-baked wings come in a staggering 15 varieties. We sampled six— buffalo, Thai, golden BBQ, satanic (habañero sauce), bluechero (bleu cheese and peppers) and Jamaican jerk—and there wasn’t a clunker in the bunch. Eden baked their wings twice, the second time with the sauce. Because the wings weren’t fried, the wait was longer (our huge order took about 30 minutes), but the wings were far less greasy than the others we’d tried. We also didn’t get celery sticks, but we were too busy salivating over the wings to notice.
The winner of Wing Quest: Eden Pizza's mouth-watering, twice-baked wings. —Chuck Terhark
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