Jefferson's Wings Soar

Jefferson's is another long time establishment and popular hangout in downtown Lawrence.  Well, okay maybe not long time compared to the Eldridge Hotel, but for as many restaurants and pubs that come and go on Mass street, 13 years is a long time.  For those of you that have never been, a cool tradition is to deface a US dollar bill in some colorful and creative way and pin it to the wall or ceiling.  It makes for a creative décor and they don't have to ever paint their walls and ceiling.  There was a fire a few years ago and everyone was like, “Oh no, what happened to the dollar bills?!”  But happily they were able to salvage most (if not all) of the dollar bill artwork.

Jefferson's is known for their juicy burgers, gulf coast oysters, and most of all, their wings.  So much so, they claim they use to run out they were in such demand in their beginning.  Wings come in orders of 10 to 50 pieces. They divide wings into two categories: temperature (mild, medium, hot, turbo) and flavors (lemon pepper, bbq, teriyaki, double dipped).

Jefferson's most popular flavor we are told is the double dipped.  Double dipped is a wing fried, then dressed in turbo sauce, and then “dipped” again in fry oil.  The result is a very crispy and palatable wing without much heat.  The extremely hot turbo sauce is cooked off during the frying process.

Double dipped is a good flavor for the masses, however, since it is not sauced it cannot be officially judged since wings being sauced is a requirment.  I know; rules, rules, rules!  If you disagree, start your own wing judging team and contest.  :-)

So, no surprise, Wing Nutz judged their version of classic hot wings.  They did not disappoint.  These wings were consistent across the board.  Colorful, flavourful, crispy on the outside, juicy inside, just the right amount of heat, and of good size.  Appearance rated a 7.75, T-n-T rated a 7.5, and most important, Flavor rated an 8.  All together Jefferson's wings scored a 7.825; second only to Johnny's Tavern West score of 7.9 thus far.

And even though we only scored their classic hot wing, we tried them all.  All flavors were really good.  Personally, I think taking the double dipped “dry” wing and dipping it again in their classic hot sauce makes a great, great wing.

Other things of note (but again, have no factor in scoring) are the generous amounts of celery, carrots, and pub chips that come with your order of wings.  In lieu of chips, you can get fries for $1 which you will appreciate if you sample the turbo wings.  Those potato fries help absorb that sauce lingering in the pours of your tongue and mouth.  Them wings are hot!  Also, the moist towlettes come in really handy after eating a mess of wings – wish more places did this.

So there you have it.  Very good wings and something for everyone at Jefferson's.  Bring your dollar. They supply the crayons and markers.