Nick on the Town

Sacramento Wing Tour 2010

October 22, 2010 at 11:56 am 5 comments

The hot wing is pretty much universally recognized at Nature’s Perfect Food, but not all wings are created equal. For this reason, Nick on the Town has taken it upon itself to provide the public service of finding the best wings in Sacramento.

Here’s how it worked: On a recent, beautiful  Sacramento day, I gathered up some of the Nick on the Town faithful, hopped on bikes and cruised from Old Sacramento to East Sac rating each wing we found along the way.  There were 7 stops in all, and each judge rated each wing on a scale of 1-10. Scores were then averaged to determine a winner.

The Wing Tour lasted nearly 9 hours and we lost one judge along the way, but it was worth it.

THE JUDGES

Nick
Wing lover, founder of NickontheTown.com who’s more accurately named blog would be NickontheCouchWatching MurderSheWrote.com

John
Former Nick on the Town contest winner and beard-haver.

Sam
The Emasculator, providing the female perspective and making me feel stupid.

 
Ed
A real journalist with a thirst for the truth…and wing sauce.
 

Brian
Resistant at first, Brian has recently succumbed to the power of the wing.

And now, the results of Sacramento Wing Tour 2010!!!

Seventh Place
Bulls
Downtown 
Average Wing Score: 3.2

For me, nothing goes better together than some tasty wings, beer and a mechanical bull. Unfortunately, Bulls only had two out of those three. To be fair, the wings were still tasty enough for us to clean the plate, but the general consensus was that this was the least favorite wing of the day.

We ordered ours plain with a selection of sauces to dip. At best, the wings were just okay.

On the plus side, there was the mechanical bull. Ed and I represented the group in the bull arena and, to its credit, Bulls did have a table full of screaming ladies at 1pm on a Saturday. The ladies hooted and hollered even though we were absolutely awful bull riders who both sustained embarrassing injuries. So bonus points for that.

 

Sixth Place
The Corner Restaurant & Bar
East Sacramento
Average Wing Score: 4.4

This was the most hotly debated stop of the day. John absolutely hated these wings insisting they tasted old and dry. The rest of us, more or less liked the wings.  Had John not scored them a zero, the Corner would have moved up in the final standings, but we here at Nick on the Town stand by our results.

These wings did score high on presentation and with $2 High Life pints and lots of tvs, the Corner is totally cool in my book.

Fifth Place
Headhunters
Midtown
Average Wing Score: 5.3

Here’s a wild card addition to the tour that we did not anticipate. We originally planned on going to Devere’s  Irish Pub, but they were super-packed for a firefighter memorial of some kind. We stayed for a bit and listened to the kilted firemen play bagpipes before moving on.

If you’ve had the wings at Devere’s let me know how they are.

So we hopped on our bikes and traveled down the road until we came across Headhunters which proudly displayed a banner letting us know that Cornerstone restaurant had relocated inside. Not a bad idea.

For those who don’t know, Headhunters is one of the cluster of establishments in what could be called K Street’s popular “gayborhood.” Contrary to what you might guess, the sports watching set-up and wings at Headhunters were both clearly superior to the set-up at Bulls.

The wings here were small and you only got like 6 in an order, but they still scored fairly well.

Fourth Place
Clubhouse 56
East Sacramento
Average Wing Score: 6.0

A newcomer on the wing scene is Clubhouse 56. This is actually a really decent sports bar with a huge HD projection tv, that – if it’s not too crowded – is the best seat in town for sports viewing (or “Murder, She Wrote” viewing if I could get them to turn the channel).

The wings are sauceless, but they will give you a cup of wing sauce on the side if you like – pretty sure it was just Frank’s Red Hot, but mmm mmm, it was tasty.

The décor of the place isn’t really my cup of goo, but the wings, bartenders and drinks make it all ok.

Also, every time I go there the bike racks are completely packed. Good too see East Sac embracing biking culture.

Third Place
Hoppy Brewing Company
East Sacramento
Average Wing Score: 6.25

Hoppy caught some judges off guard. For some reason even though Hoppy is huge, has a great tv set up, good prices and good service they were not fans going in. They were, however, fans on the way out.

The wings arrived looking somewhat dry and overcooked, but that was totally misleading as they turned out to be meaty, juicy and all-around awesome.  

 As an added bonus, Hoppy is also closest to my house out of any of these restaurants.

Second Place
Fanny Ann’s
Old Sacramento
Average Wing Score: 7.25

There are a number of classy restaurants in Old Sacramento such as Rio City Café, the Pilothouse on the Delta King and Ten22, but if you’re looking for wings the place to go is Fanny Ann’s. Sure the place might be full of bikers and you might get confused with the ordering system and the confusingly labeled bathrooms, but that’s all part of its charm.

The walls are covered with wacky collectibles in the vein of TGI Friday’s, but to a much greater and more amusing extent. Also, as an added bonus, while you are waiting for your wings you can play foosball or an assortment of other arcade games.

The wings come in two sizes. The sensible two pound basket and the daunting five pound bucket. Since this was actually the first stop on the 8+ hour wing tour, we opted for the two pounder.

The first thing you’ll notice that’s different about Fanny Ann’s wings is that you get the entire wing as one piece. Its’ not broken up into that little two-boned piece and the other mini-drumstick looking piece.  Most judges were a fan of this system, but John felt it was a bit cumbersome. Also, no veggies on the side at Fanny Ann’s.

Anyhow, we grabbed a stack of “Quality is Us” napkins and went to work.

First Place
Chicago Fire
Midtown
Average Wing Score: 7.9

Here it is, the big winner! While not rating highest on my personal scorecard, Chicago Fire had the most consistently high scores among the group.

When we ordered, I asked the server what she would rank the wings on a scale of 1 to 10 and she said “seven or eight.” Sure enough, I ranked them a solid 7.5.

It should be noted this was also the most lady-friendly wing as our lone female judge handed out the day’s highest score (9) to these wings.

I prefer a non-breaded wing and these came with a bit of breading on them, but apparently you can order them without, so that’s a bonus.

Anyhow, this was a nicely spiced, meaty wing that truly stood out.

Congratulations, Chicago Fire, Nick on officially crowns you the wing king of Sacramento!

NOTE: Did we leave off your favorite wing? Email me and I’ll be sure to add your suggestion the next time I have an entire Saturday to spend eating wings (it happens more often than you’d think).

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