With the Southern Hot Wing Festival and Contest coming up Saturday, it’s a good time to revisit the chicken wing, something we haven’t written about extensively in 10 years or more. But it was clearly too big of a job for one person, so we split the work four ways: GoMemphis editors Chris Herrington and Mark Richens, Michael Donahue and I each took a list and got to work. Of course, those lists grew — and grew — every time we mentioned what we were doing, because everyone wanted to tell us about their favorite place.
In the end, it came down to a few things: No chains. (Sorry, Rick Ross.) No fast food. And then it came down to reputation. We couldn’t possibly go everywhere — literally hundreds of places serve wings — so we narrowed our list down to about 40 places known to be good and picked our favorite 20 of those. Did we miss something? No doubt we did, but we’re going to count on you to weigh in at gomemphis.com and tell us your favorites.
Here’s our list, in alphabetical order. Hope you have your Wet-naps ready.
Mosa Asian Bistro (850 S. White Station; 901-683-8889): I only knew Mosa served wings because I happened to be reviewing the restaurant while we were out tasting wings. They’re excellent, and super crisp. They come in an order of flats and drummies and you can get Sriracha or barbecue sauce on the side. It’s for dipping so these wings stay crisp. And if you love the Rainbow Panang curry, you’re in luck: You can get Panang curry wings, too. — JB
Source: Commercial Appeal/GoMemphis.com
by Jennifer Biggs