Best Chicken Wing Quest - Update 4

Submitted by wcmotel t3_yfpv8u in baltimore

Original Post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/baltimore/comments/u85jms/best_chicken_wing_quest/

A bro and I have set out on a quest to answer an extremely important question:

Who makes the absolute best wings in Baltimore?

We will judge each buffalo/hot wing order on a 5 point scale (average of the two reviewers) on the following parameters:

Appearance: Size, quality, and consistency of the wings
Taste: Overall deliciousness, heat to expectations
Sauce: Consistency, creaminess, acidity, flavor, quantity, attachment to wing
Crispiness: Crispy exterior, appropriately cooked meat pulling off the bone, not dry
Convenience/value: not weighted, used for tie-breaking
Restaurant: Look and feel of restaurant environment, not weighted, used for tie-breaking

2 locations added for this update:

​

Restaurant Appearance Taste Sauce Crispiness Convenience Restaurant **Overall**
Delia Foley 5 2.5 3 2.5 5 4 **13**
Magerks 4.5 3.5 3 4.25 5 4.5 **15.25**
Hudson St Stackhouse 4.75 4 4.25 3.5 5 3.75 **16.25**
Dont Know Tavern 4.5 4 5 5 5 5 **18.25**
iBar 4 5 5 4.5 5 4 **18.25**
Kisling 3 4 3.5 4 4 4 **13.25**
Nepenthe 4 3.75 4.5 3 4.5 4 **15.25**
Charles Village Pub 3.5 2 2 0 0 0 **7.5**
Lighthouse Tavern 4 4 4.25 3 4.5 5 **15.25**
Claddaugh 2 4 3.25 2.25 3.5 5 **11.5**

**Delia Foley**: Very disappointing. Not nearly enough heat, overcooked, some horribly dry. Great scene though.

**Magerks**: These were okay. Good consistency, okay taste, not enough sauce, could have used some more heat. Good crispiness. Good scene.

**Hudson Street Stackhouse**: Really good classic buffalo flavor. Good amount of heat in an appropriate amount of sauce. Could have been a little crispier. Super convenient and high value ($10 during happy hours) but a bit of a claustrophobic ceiling. Place still is great.

**Don't Know Tavern**: Damn good wings. Very good consistency, just right in size and quality. A little mild for a hot wing, but oh boy that sauce. Perfect creaminess from the butter, sticking to the wings, and enough acid to bite the back of your tongue. Perfectly crispy. I would be remiss to mention that on Mondays and Wednesdays an order of wings is $6. Which is almost unthinkable for the quality you are getting here.

**iBar**: Also damn good wings. A little bit of variability in the size and quality of the product. Had 2 broken flats in a single order. Perfect heat for an order of hot with great creaminess and attachment. Perfect amount of sauce with just the right bite. Ordered both regular and fried hard orders. Feel like the absolute perfect crispiness is somewhere in between the 2.

**Kisling**: I live near Kislings and have eaten hundreds of wings from here. I was VERY disappointed this evening. Had 2 broken wings and varied in size, sauce was good but WAY too much of it and they were overcooked. It was also grimey, far worse than normal. Not sure I'll be back anytime soon, also forgot to photo these.

**Nepenthe**: Pretty good overall. Mostly good consistency in quality, 2 were a little too big, and the order itself only had 8 wings. There was no heat to the sauce, but the sauce was good, good consistency and creaminess. On advice of this sub, we ordered them crispy and thank god we did. Because even ordering them crispy they were not at all. Feel like they would be rubber on a normal order. Overall tasty but not executed terribly well.

**Charles Village Pub**: Not going to bother scoring the restaurant because its bad. Absolutely terrible. Reasonable consistency in size and quality. Terrible and broken sauce, no creaminess, no heat. The order came out cold and we sent them back. The kitchen refried the entire order, including the half eaten wing that I left on the plate. Somehow they came back still luke warm but I didn't bother eating them. The waiter was also terrible. These were the worst wings I've ever had, and that's saying something.

**Lighthouse Tavern**: The first thing you notice on these is that they have grill marks. Turns out they are baked, fried, grilled, then sauced. I'm not sure why all of that is necessary, but it adds up to a very tender and well cooked wing. If you closed your eyes it would be hard to tell the difference between these and Nepenthe with slightly better execution. A good wing, with a good consistency in sauce, could use more heat and be a bit crispier.

**Claddaugh**: I used to get beer tubes and wing platters here back in the day and remember these wings being better. The quality was not good - the size of the wings was all over the place. Some were so big they could have been turkey legs (bottom right in photo), two were broken. The sauce seemed to be Frank's with a little vinegar added and quickly broke, definitely needed more fat and better emulsification. They were not crispy at all.

Photos (Lighthouse first): https://imgur.com/a/lK0H2Wm

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Comments

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sleaziep t1_iu4y9cm wrote

The thing is, iBar Chef Style is the way to go. I think it still qualifies as a traditional buffalo sauce, though it walks the line. Even better than the standard buffalo style, making it the best wings I have had in Baltimore. That being said, it is sad that Bmore can't do better.

Also, don't sleep on chef stlye from Joe Squared.

Is Chef Stlye a thing in Baltimore that I am not aware of, or is it just these two restaurants making bangin wings in this unique stlye in the Staiton North area?

19

wcmotel OP t1_iu57uhk wrote

Yeah I like the garlic parm buffalo too. The cheese adds just a bit of fat and allows for better emulsification and better coating.

3

Chum-Chumbucket t1_iu5cace wrote

If you want to stray to the northern edge of the city, try Swallow at the Hollow. Their wings were featured on the food network.

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basswave64 t1_iu7r5w8 wrote

29th st tavern also. I think it's owned by the same people?

3

nknecht1 t1_iu4v6cy wrote

Thanks for these. I don’t know why it’s so hard to find such a popular food done well in a city like this but honestly I’ve been her 15 years and have never found a single place that competed with my favorite places in other states and small towns. It’s kind of mind boggling. Learn how to fry a good wing Baltimore. It’s not hard.

5

YoYoMoMa t1_iu4u4ky wrote

Damn. Kislings is usually so solid.

3

TheCaptainDamnIt t1_iu52o11 wrote

Kisslings has really been dropping the ball lately. Last time I had them they were really disappointing too. Worst part is though they keep rising their prices even as the price of chicken wings has gone down. It's now $18 for 10 wings! While just up the street Happy Hour Haven has what I think are much better wings and are 8 for $10 and 75 cents each on wed.

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JOATMon76 t1_iu4wa58 wrote

have not had all of these but can confirm iBar is legit. Don't know is on my todo list.

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SPinz121 t1_iu50xzo wrote

Please give 1157 Bar & Kitchen in Locust Point a shot.

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wcmotel OP t1_iu5jvat wrote

They are Korean fried, and while excellent are outside the boundary for this quest. Buffalo style only.

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suburban_paradise t1_iu5y14q wrote

Where does it say that only traditional Buffalo style is being considered? Original post? Up top just says chicken wings. Also why not evaluate takeaways? Seems like you’re excluding a lot of places that way.

−4

player_9 t1_iu66hc4 wrote

I’m just happy someone is doing this. Nothing is stopping you from taking the torch and doing your own research and posting a standardized scoring system like OP, and then you can include whatever you want.

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wcmotel OP t1_iu6bw8x wrote

Original post says only Buffalo and takeaways excluded because crispiness wilts and it would be unfair to the takeaways (believe this is also in original post in the comments).

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suburban_paradise t1_iu6d8fe wrote

Thank you for answering my question OP unlike some other jackass who told me to gfm

0

brownshoez t1_iu5j95o wrote

Thank you for your service. I've been hearing about Sally-O's wings?

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wcmotel OP t1_iu5k5o1 wrote

Yeah, they are great but definitely not Buffalo style, so not in quest.

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jeffrrw t1_iu66hea wrote

Not in the spirit of this guys review but they are incredible!!!

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miketunes t1_iu7d80y wrote

His would you describe the style/flavor vs buffalo?

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jeffrrw t1_iu7qyso wrote

Appearance: 5

Taste: 5

Sauce: 4.75

Crispy: 3

Convenience: 4

Restaurant: 4

So removing the convenience and restaurant for the weighting I would have 17.75

I would describe it as a spicy Peruvian sauce with a hit of Thai flair. If you are not familiar with the nuances and floral notes of SA sauces you will find it very similar to a sriracha bases buffalo sauce

Buffalo is a classic American sauce as it rather tiresome tbf at times and this everytime I have them knocks my socks off. I dont care for super dry crispy wings before being doused in sauce. Id rather them be air dried and fried or baking soda coated than dredged in flour.

The mouthfeel is incredible, the flavor out of this world and the only complaint about the sauce is I wish there was more sometimes. I could bathe in that. I also love Peruvian food and their sauces.

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6ixOutOf10 t1_iu6a3qu wrote

A true Baltimore hero…. Thanks!

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terpmd05 t1_iu578rf wrote

Local fry in Hampden is solid

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wcmotel OP t1_iu57oqu wrote

Local Fry is more of a takeaway, so not being included in quest.

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AreWeCowabunga t1_iu5uy4f wrote

Based on these posts I went to Don't Know and Kislings recently, neither of which I'd been to in years. Honestly, I was really disappointed with DK. Just nothing was right about them. Not crispy, sauce was just like nothing to me, and they tasted chickeny in a not-good way.

Kislings was good, but Ibar is clearly superior, IMO.

I just got back from Minneapolis and tried one of their "best wings in the city" places, and it wasn't any better than Kislings and nowhere near Ibar. I think we have it pretty good with Ibar here.

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MiseALepreuve t1_iu63h65 wrote

Seriously? Cause I was questioning based on Kisling’s being so low, but also haven’t been in a while. But iBar did not impress me the two times I had their wings.

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player_9 t1_iu66urv wrote

Did you do chef style buffalo? That is where they excel IMO. And I have family in Buffalo NY, they’re as good as the ones I get up there. The other flavors at iBar are just good, but chef style, buffalo hot, hard fried, is heavenly (not to say I’ve been there on off-days, but when they’re on, it’s great).

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MiseALepreuve t1_iu6fkhr wrote

Yes, I had those. Unimpressed. I guess maybe they’re sometimes good, but if they are this inconsistent, that means they’re bad, not good

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AreWeCowabunga t1_iu68x83 wrote

I've been to Ibar a lot, so I see their ebbs and flows. Sometimes they're definitely having an off night and the wings are just so-so, but a lot more often they're great. I agree with the other guy that the chef style sauce is what really sets them apart. They also do fried hard crispy better than anyplace else, and that's really one of the most important things to me.

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MiseALepreuve t1_iu6fggc wrote

I had them chef style. They weren’t great. They were fried hard, but crispy isn’t really how I’d describe them, there was little meat, and the flavor was underwhelming.

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MbenedictR t1_iu73nig wrote

swallow and the hollow and 29th st tavern have top tier wings

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julyski t1_iu77oyr wrote

The habanero bbq wings at Blue Agave are some of my favorites. Typically I'm a classic buffalo guy, but there is something special about those wings.

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Leonardo_DiCapriSun_ t1_iu84ap4 wrote

Terps Sports Bar on Charles st has some banging garlic parm buffalo wings. Excellent taste, excellent value.

29th street tavern also has great wings for a reasonable price, and I love the atmosphere and the cheap beer.

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wcmotel OP t1_iu8lvf5 wrote

Adding both to list

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Leonardo_DiCapriSun_ t1_iu9kij0 wrote

The other rather disappointing aspect of this noble endeavor is that many Baltimore restaurants seem to be plagued by inconsistency. Going during busy times like weekend nights when the A Team of staff is likely working might help avoid this variable

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backfi t1_iu4sj8x wrote

You gave Delia a 5 but said they were horribly dry?

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wcmotel OP t1_iu4t9ml wrote

Delia got a total score of 13, not sure what you’re talking about.

Edit: assume you are viewing on a phone. Scroll right in the table.

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backfi t1_iu4zepc wrote

True thank you. The mobile didn’t show as a table

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FrancisSobotka1514 t1_iu58x22 wrote

I want to get wings from red hot and blue tonight now .

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Stankoleg t1_iu5cdjp wrote

Have you tried Hilltop carry out? It’s pretty much the only thing they do well

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magick288 t1_iu5gmy4 wrote

I only just saw this post but I'm sorry that the Local Fry wasn't included since they've got the closest hot lemon pepper to my favorite ones in Atlanta. The price is just a bit too much for me to enjoy it every week like I'd like lol http://www.thelocalfry.com/

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Optras t1_iu5ovf0 wrote

City Limits and Swallow at the Hollow are also good considerations

1

Vjornaxx t1_iu6vquo wrote

Curious to see where Zella’s at Hollins Market stacks up

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G_o_O_s t1_iu753qq wrote

How about Mahaffey's pub? I remember them being decent back in the day.

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wcmotel OP t1_iu8ltcf wrote

I’ve had approximately 800 different beers there. They are on the list to be sure.

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riversquidz t1_iu8luuy wrote

Smoked wings at Woodrow’s in Mt Washington are amazing

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bmoreweird t1_iu8q17r wrote

Zen West has these incredible grilled wings that are worth checking out and I really like the wings from Smaltimore. Ibar is still best if you get chef style/fried hard. Cafe 1908 also has really good wings but they're a bit modern/fancy so if you're a traditionalist, it might not be your jam.

1

houdinize t1_iu9b2w6 wrote

Haven’t had them in a long while but Zen West’s grilled wings are amazing.

1