And, The Most Worthy Wing Goes To...

 And so it begins.  Or ends.  However you want to look at it.  We have gathered together for one final round of judging to see who has the most worthy wings in all of Lawrence.  Our judges: me, Tailgate Ted on the far left, followed by Just Wings Judy, Al aka Heisenberg, No Nonsense Nancee, and Turbo Teri; your Wing Nutz ladies and gentlemen.  Cool shirts too that Nancee had made for us (thank you, Nancee). 

 

Our "tourwing" took us to 17 local establishments in Lawrence.  If you have been following us from the beginning you know that we excluded the national chains and wanted to support and promote local businesses and owners.  Lawrence is very fortunate to have so many great eateries.  When it comes to wings, there were five establishments that really separated themselves from the pack and so we are giving them one final go around.  That's right; a wing off!  Why a wing off? Why not?!  Besides giving us the excuse to get back together and pig out on wings again, we only hit these places one time and the scores of the top 5 are very similar.  This gives them another opportunity to show us what they got which will give us a bigger overall sample to judge.  

 

But before we begin, let us take a moment to look back and reflect on those that sacrificed so much in support of our passion for wings.   

 

 

 Carrot sticks are another good option with wings!

     Jefferson's and some serious celery stalks!

 

 Slow Ride - take it easy. 

 Johnny's Original.  I can smell the vinegar just looking at this!

 Set'em Up Jack's itty bitty wingy committee.

 Saints Pub.  15 out of 50 wings we sampled were broken.  This one was the most gnarly. The flavor and texture/tenderness of the wings were really go though.   

   

Paddy O'Quigley's

 You know my name...Heisenberg at Bigg's BBQ.

 Buffalo Bob's wings and curly fries special.

 6 Mile Tavern with shaved celery and carrots

 Thank you one and all.  Your sacrifice was not in vain. 

 

 And now to recap the overall standings; here we go:

 

17.    4.275  Biggs BBQ  Several broken bones, over smoked, texture and tenderness (TnT) not good.
16.    5.5      23rd St. Brewery  So much black pepper ruined them. Please, hold the pepper.
14b.  5.82    Paddy O'Quigley's  "O'Fail".  Good size, no heat.  Flavors didn't match description.
14a.  5.82    Wayne 'n Larry's  Many of the wings were overcooked that night.  Sauces okay.
13.    5.9      Set'em Up Jack's  Itty bitty wing committee.  Overcooked and dried out.
12.    6.075  The Bird Dog  Good size but no crunch to them.  Homemade buffalo sauce very mild.
11.    6.08    Slow Ride Roadhouse  TnT was hit and miss.  Flavors were so-so.
10.    6.53    Saints Pub   Flavors and TnT were great.  All the broken bones were not great!
9.      6.67    Johnny's Tavern (Original)  TnT was really hit and miss.  Basic Frank's Hot Sauce.
8.      6.84    Yacht Club   Really good sauces helped overcome lack of appearance and TnT. 
6b.    6.9      The Jayhawker   Good looking wings, flavorful, and tasty.  TnT a little inconsistent.
6a.    6.9      Dempsey's Irish Pub  Good flavors and prices. TnT a little inconsistent.
4b.    7.825  Jefferson's   Lots of great flavors.  Really good TnT.   Turbo double dipped!
4a.    7.825  Henry T's Like Jefferson's, great flavors, good TnT.  Get them with grill marks.
3.      7.94    Johnny's West  Lots of great flavors.  Classic and Flaming combined is really good.
2.      8.325  Conroy's Pub  They told us their wings were the best in Lawrence.  They could be right. 

1.      8.36    6 Mile Tavern  Booyah!  Crimson Fire sauce will light you up.  Smoky buffalo sauce.

As said before, there is a clear separation from the top 5 and rest of the field and so we selected these for our mighty wing off.  If you have followed us all along then you know we judged on 3 criteria: appearance, texture and tenderness (TnT), and flavor weighting each criterion.  Appearance only counts for 10% of the overall score, TnT 30%, and flavor being the most important had the heaviest weight accounting for 60% of the overall score.  But for the wing off we opted to have each judge simply rank each place they liked best from 1 to 5 and then assign a point value.  So, 1 = 5 points, 2 = 4 points, and so on.  The establishment with the most points accumulated is the winner of our little contest.  And in the event that there is a tie for first, then the highest original point score/ranking in the preliminary round is the tie breaker.  And now that you know and understand the method to our madness, onto the judging. 

 

Five places, one day to decide the most worthy wing.  We started early and paced ourselves throughout the day and evening taking breaks to watch basketball and football.  We split orders of wings amongst us too so that we would always be a little hungry leaving one place to go to another.  And in the end, we had a winner to declare, but honestly they are all really good! 

 

So, here it is:

 

Conroy's Pub comes in as the least favorite of today's top 5 wingers we visited with a score of only 7.  As said before, they do a classic buffalo style using Frank's hot sauce cut with butter.  Nothing wrong with that, but nothing special either.  The wings could have been crispier too today. 

 

Jefferson's is a great place for wings and things.  Lots of good sauces to choose from.  Our favorite is the Turbo Double Dip which is where they fry the wing, toss it in their Turbo sauce (which is extremely hot) and then put it back in the fryer one more time.  Most of the fire is cooked off and you are left with a very crunchy wing with great flavor.  We like to dip these in their hot sauce for a little extra kick.  Jefferson's received a 12. 

 

Johnny's West with their Flamingo sauce and Simmon's (hot sauce/BBQ combination) are top notch. Very good texture and tenderness.  Their wings definitely do not disappoint.  Johnny's scores an 18. 

 

6 Mile Tavern with their smoky, peppery twist on buffalo style sauce is something else and provides just the right amount of heat.  For the chili-heads, Crimson Fire will satisfy your quest for setting your taste buds aflame.   Consistently good texture and tenderness make these hard to beat.  And an honorable mention for their blue cheese dressing - the best we have had.  6 Mile Tavern comes in with a score of 19.  

 

Henry T's, the place where it all began for us and got us all fired up to go see if anyone could rival, let a lone beat them, as usual, did not disappoint.  Hot wings with their own original sauce, flash fried, sauced, and then thrown on the grill give the wings a nice little charred flavor and extra crunch to the bite.  They've been doing this a long, long time and they have it down.  And with that, T's earns a total score of 19 and they are declared, uh, tied?!

 

Yep, Henry T's tied with 6 Mile Tavern in our judges' rankings from first to worst of the top 5.  And since 6 Mile Tavern had the better overall score in the preliminary round, 6 Mile Tavern is hereby declared to have The Most Worthy Wing of 2013! 

 

Some will read this and demand a recount.  I checked and double checked!  Some will say there are discrepancies in how we score and confusion.  Nope, the process has fidelity and inter-rater reliability.  There are no hanging chads on these ballots and the scoring is fair.  

 

Honestly, they are all great and we were very critical judges throughout this entire process.  You really cannot go wrong with any of them!   And really, this whole thing was more about hanging out with good friends, communing, and sharing our passion for wings together.

 

And we ate a lot of wings...

  And then again, and again...

  And they were all good.  Bone lickin', lip smackin' good!

And we had a lot of fun doing it...

  And maybe even became a little closer to one another in the process. 

And that's really what matters! 

 

Thank you to everyone that followed me and my fellow Wing Nutz on our 2013 "tourwing" and congrats to 6 Mile Tavern.  They're a fairly new establishment in Lawrence next to Famous Dave's BBQ on Wakarusa and 6th Street.  Show them some love sometime and check them out. 

 

So now what?  Well, I still have this blog about grilling and tailgating that I had just started when it got hijacked by the crave to go eat wings all over town and tell people about it.  So, I will get back to that; recipes, advice, and sharing of ideas and experiences.  But I can already sense another food challenge coming on the horizon and maybe branching out regionally, so stay tuned! 

 

Until next time my friends,

 

 - "Tailgate" Ted 

 

 

 

 

Henry T's: Home Sweet Home

It is a bittersweet homecoming of sorts. It signals the end of the great 2013 Tourwing is close at hand, and our long time server Brittainey is moving back home to California for good.  She was one of the best servers we have ever had.  When she saw us coming she would have our drinks already ordered and brought to us.  She always knew our wing order too and our particulars, like grill marks, extra napkins, a communal plate with a pile of celery, and so on.  And now she is gone and we will have to train someone else all over again.  That's the problem with living in a college town, wait staff turns over with every graduation.  Brittainey certainly stayed longer than most.  We will miss her Valley Girl talk, her glowing orange skin from over exposure to UV, and her fun attitude. 

 

Now for the wings.

 

Here's the thing.  Henry T's makes their own sauce which we like because Frank's hot sauce gets a little boring.  We like places that put their own twist on sauces.  And, they make it fresh.  And with this comes variance.  Commercially made hot sauces use pepper mashes to control consistency with the heat.  Using fresh peppers is going to give you variance.  Plus, there will be variance with different cooks preparing the sauces.  So some times the wings are a little milder or hotter than previously.  But generally the flavor profile is consistently the same. 

 

T's recently expanded their flavor profiles and now offer naked, BBQ, parmesan garlic, buffalo, Sriracha honey, extra spicy, or toasted habanero.  Of the new sauces, parmesan garlic is my favorite.  The wings are really crispy and I order additional sauce on the side for double dipping. 

 

Tonight was a particularly good night for wings.  The appearance is an orange-brown with some grill marks, good size.  They could have been charred a little more for our liking but still good texture and tenderness.  And the flavor was really good - just the right amount of heat and tanginess.  Wing Nutz gave T's a score of 7.825 putting them in a tie with Jefferson's. 

 

And with this, we have judged everyone we set out to judge here in Lawrence.  There were 5 places that really broke away from the pack.  Henry T's and Jefferson's rounded out the top 5 tied at 7.825; Johnny's West at 7.94; Conroy's Pub at 8.325; and, 6 Mile Tavern at 8.36.  So, there is really one thing left to do...

 

Wing Off!  The Wing Nutz crew will gather one final time and in one day decide once and for all who has the most worthy wings in Lawrence.   

 

If you want to learn more about Henry T's and all the great food they make, just go to www.henryts.com and check them out.