Asheville’s Best Wings

Success is a dish best served with blue cheese, as the thousands of entrepreneurs who’ve cashed in on the national chicken-wing craze have discovered. The bewitching blend of butter and hot sauce that Anchor Bar co-owner Teressa Bellissimo legendarily concocted in 1964 to quench raging teenage appetites has become big business, with nearly three-quarters of casual-dining restaurants adding the sloppy snack to their menus.

Playing chicken: Our intrepid judges, from left to right, John Fisher, Susan Fisher, Dave Desmelik, Chris Smith, Larry Hawkins, Phillip Banks, Kelly Stamey and Mark McCloud. photos by Jonathan Welch

But wing snobs won’t stoop to eat the boneless “wings” fashioned from breast meat available at most family-friendly chains. Just like foreign-car owners and chronic toothache sufferers, serious wing eaters prefer to seek out specialists. Fortunately for them, half-a-dozen wing chains—where you can order anything you like so long as its fried and sauced—have sprung up over the last decade to stanch the country’s cravings. Entries in the Southeast market include Wingstop—a 550-outlet behemoth that closed its Patton Avenue location last year—and Wild Wing Cafe, an Atlanta-based operation with just less than 30 stores in six states.

Asheville’s Wild Wing Cafe has stayed busy since its 2004 opening, and—according to a panel of experts assembled by Xpress—with good reason. Its wings were judged tops in a recent blind tasting, easily besting the wings served up by favorite locally owned haunts. Goliath didn’t just beat the hapless Davids in our competition: He stomped on them, ground his foot in their chests and poked his fingers in their eyes. All hail the franchise (especially on Tuesday nights, when dine-in customers can take advantage of a “buy one dozen, get one dozen free” deal).

But our judges took the coronation process seriously, carefully considering nine other contenders before awarding Wild Wing’s wings (known to them only as “Wings Number Six”) the vaunted crown. They meticulously graded wings on appearance, texture, taste and accompanying blue cheese. And somehow they managed not to get too messy.

The scoring process: Judges tasted a wing and drumette from each establishment, and rated them on a five-chicken scale. The four categories were weighted for final tabulations, with appearance counting for 10 percent of the score, texture and blue cheese counting for 20 percent each, and taste contributing a hefty 50 percent.

The judges: Our judges were so dedicated to finding the best wings in Asheville that they ventured out in a snowstorm that shut down schools and closed roads to take their places at the table (furnished with hundreds of wet-naps and a bone jar for discards—but no beer, much to our judges’ dismay). “Neither rain nor snow shall keep me from a wing,” said judge Dave Desmelik.

Kelly Stamey says she prefers “a wing with some meat on the bone.”

While there are objective criteria used on the competitive wing circuit—wings should be, among other things, no larger than a business card, crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and not too rubbery, buttery or overly fried—our experienced eaters had their own ideas on wing perfection:

• Mark McCloud, owner of Orbit DVD: “I look for plumpness. I don’t like taking a bite and hitting a bone. You get a lot of that out there.”
• Susan Fisher, N.C. House Representative, District 114: “I look for a wing that has some meat, but that’s juicy and falls off the bone.”
• John Fisher (Susan’s husband and a last-minute replacement for community activist Orlene Simmons, whose driveway was too icy to maneuver) deferred to his state congresswoman on what makes a great wing.
• Dave Desmelik, local musician: “I like a wing that’s not too hot, but has a little bit of kick to it.”
• Chris Smith, assistant general manager of the Asheville Tourists: “I enjoy a wing that’s not too tough.”
• Larry Hawkins, general manager of the Asheville Tourists: “I like them crispy on the outside.”
• Phillip Banks, reference librarian at Pack Memorial Library: “I’m looking for a wing to be a carrier of spice. I also love blue-cheese dressing.”
• Kelly Stamey, aka “Dixie Wrecked” of the Rebelles: “I like a wing with some meat on the bone.”

And now, on to the chicken-wing challenge.

Mack Kell’s Pub and Grill

160 Tunnel Road; 253-8805

Our trusty experts judged these wings average in every way. While they might be the perfect accompaniment to a cold beverage, these stout, honey-kissed wings couldn’t quite stand on their own, and drew a yawn from nearly every taster.
MM: “They’re kind of basic.”
DD: “I’m not blown away.”

Ruby’s BBQ Shack

251 Tunnel Road; 253-5018

Ruby’s wings are adorably tiny: It’s easier to imagine a petite pigeon flapping these miniscule wings than a brawny barnyard chicken. But what these hickory sticks lacked in size, they more than compensated for in the taste department: The entry scored admirably, losing points only for a lingering oiliness. Although Banks called their appearance “dark and mysterious,” their smokiness impressed John Fisher and McCloud.
CS: “Those were better than the first ones.”
JF: “Smoky.”

Northside Grill & Bar

853 Merrimon Ave.; 254-2349

As all hunters know, orange is an attention-getting color. It certainly works for Northside Grill’s wings, which Banks described as a “golden delight.” The wings’ taste nearly lived up to their blindingly bright billing, earning a “liked the heat and the sting!” from Desmelik. But the wings were sunk by their accompanying blue cheese, which was variously described as “runny,” “thin,” “watery” and “soupy.”
SF: “The flavor doesn’t go all the way through. It’s only on the top. I don’t want to prejudice anybody.”
MM: “I was trying to find those words, actually. I mean, they’re the best-looking wings.”
JF: “Yeah, they look like they’re right where they need to be.”
SF: “Definitely too greasy.”
DD: “Being a musician, I haven’t eaten for days. So if I don’t talk much …”
JF: “I’d like to see the smokiness of the second wing with the sauciness of this one.”
MM: “That would be a great wing, wouldn’t it?”

Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company

675 Merrimon Ave.; 254-5339

Perhaps not surprisingly for a restaurant that doubles as a movie theater, these wings won the visuals contest. Even the winning Wild Wing Cafe couldn’t match APBC in the appearance category. Unfortunately, these bulky wings created expectations they couldn’t match:
DD: “I think this one looks better than it tastes.”
PB: “I’d rate the appearance of this one a five. They look like wings.”
JF: “The blue cheese tastes a little bit too much like salad dressing.”
SF: “Right, it has no chunks.”
DD: “It’s like tartar sauce or something.”
LH: “Hope you saved the best for last.”

Hannah Flanagan’s Irish Pub

27 Biltmore Ave.; 252-1922

These wings received uniformly high marks from our judges, scoring higher than any other entry on Desmelik’s disposable plate. Stamey described the taste as making her “lips tingle with excitement.” Although Smith detected “slimy” notes, Hawkins praised the tenderness and aftertaste. “They have a zing,” McCloud wrote.
DD: “These have a smell to them.”
KS: “Don’t they?”
PB: “These wings shine like mackerel in the moonlight.”
SF: “Are these hotter than the other wings?”
DD: “These are pretty good. I think these are the most consistent wings so far.”
MM: “This is what you expect from a wing.”
JF: “I think they’re very precisely cooked. Well-cared for.”
LH: “Maybe they saved the best for last.

Wild Wing Cafe

161 Biltmore Ave.; 253-3066

These wings have legs. Six of the eight judges gave these gently sauced wings their highest marks, with a sizeable lead in the taste and blue-cheese categories. Judges scribbled adjectives like “excellent,” “best” and “very good” on their score sheets. Smith, who admitted he recognized the plump wings, wrote he could “eat a lot more.” With his ballpark just a juiced ball’s throw from the restaurant, he probably will.
DD: “This is the best blue cheese.”
SF: “Mmmmm, what did they put in the blue cheese? It’s an herb.”
JF: “This is the best so far.”
MM: “The wing and the blue cheese together are great.”

Jack of the Wood

95 Patton Ave.; 252-5445

Here’s where wings and people diverge: Wings can be naked or breaded. And nobody seems to like looking at a naked wing. Breaded wings, like those cooked up at Jack of the Wood, generally win the most points in the appearance category. But the wings’ taste struck Susan Fisher as fatty, and Desmelik called them “blah.”
DD: “Well, that had good appearance, but taste is the ego of wings for me.”
SF: “Sorta mushy?”
DD: “Yeah, bland.”
PB: “Straight out of the box.”
DD: “The blue cheese wasn’t bad. But I wasn’t blown away.”

Digable Pizza

794 Haywood Road; 255-8586

Digable’s blue cheese is swimming with chunks, a heartening sign that had Banks jotting down fancy-pants French words like “roquefort.” But the word most judges used to describe these low-scoring wings was “tough.” Tasters were also skeptical of the vinegar-saturated sauce: “The sauce would catch up with you,” Smith wrote. “I doubt you could eat too many.”
MM: “Wow.”
CS: “This is way more blue cheese than I want.”
KS: “Tastes like mayonnaise.”
DD: “I’m not sure about the appearance. They look glazed.”
MM: “Have you ever seen a drive-in theater concession stand, where the hot dogs are atomic? Just glowing? That’s what these remind me of.”
DD: “They don’t taste bad to me. I don’t know if I could eat a dozen of them, though.”
JF: “I just taste vinegar.”
DD: “We’re brutal judges, aren’t we?”

Westville Pub

777 Haywood Road; 225-9782

These handsome wings tied Wild Wing Cafe’s entry on texture—right down to the fourth decimal point—but lagged behind on taste and blue cheese. Still, Stamey saved her highest score for these tender wings: “These set my engine humming!” she wrote. While other judges were more reserved, they liked the consistent saucing and subtle end-kick.
SF: “I could definitely eat more of these.”
MM: “They’re not hot, but they’re pretty good.”
SF: “They have a little bite at the end.”

Hooters

518 Kenilworth Road; 253-4660

Banks, who refused to give these wings a single point for their appearance or prepackaged blue cheese, had seen these breaded monstrosities before: According to his tasting notes, they looked liked “fried chicken in a shoebox on a bus in South Carolina.” These wings received the day’s lowest score for their overwhelming greasiness. “I’m not very impressed,” Smith wrote.
SF: “That’s fried chicken!”
MM: “It does not taste like a hot wing.”
JF: “I hate to say it, but for me, these are the worst.”
CS: “These have to be Hooters’ wings.”

Ain’t no thing but a chicken wing

As Hooters’ poor showing proves, franchises might not have the last word on wings in Asheville. Indeed, our judges suggested quite the opposite trend: Scampering home after a final group photo (at least as quickly as they could, having ingested two dozen wings apiece), some wondered aloud whether they couldn’t make better wings in their own kitchens. Super Bowl Sunday could be just the day to find out.

The Scorecard: Final Results of the Chicken Wing Challenge

After the last wing was sampled and the final ballots were tallied and compiled, here’s how the contestants in the challeng fared overall.