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Business & Tech

Wingstop: It's All About the Saucy

This Texas-based chain offers many chicken wing choices.

First, a little chicken wing history:

It was late on a Friday night in 1964, so the story goes, when Teressa Bellissimo, co-owner of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY, whipped up a snack for her son and his friends. There was not much food left in the bar, but there were some chicken wings. She dropped the wings in the deep fryer until crispy, then smothered them in butter and hot sauce. They were a big hit, and soon wings were on the bar’s regular menu.

They did not become Buffalo wings until they left the city. Even today, if you live in Buffalo, they are just called wings—like the folks in Philadelphia don’t include the Philly part when ordering a cheese steak sandwich. Same goes for a hot dog in Chicago.

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The lowly chicken wing has been rising in popularity, with several national chains now featuring this inexpensive part of the bird. In Lemon Grove we have , along the “mile of meals” on Broadway, for your chicken wing fix. This franchise from Texas has more than 600 locations coast to coast, with four restaurants in our county. Wingstop claims a “wing experts” title and features Troy Aikman as its national spokesperson.

This restaurant has an industrial tin shack look with 10 tables, a counter along the window, and cute aviation pictures on the walls. I do like the fact that the marketers chose to put windows on the kitchen so you can watch your food being prepared.

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My dining partner and I decided to split an order of 10 wings for $6.99, two gliders (think sliders but with boneless chicken) for $4.99, and a regular order of fresh-cut seasoned fries for $1.69. At Wingstop, you have a choice of regular or boneless wings offered in nine flavors. You can mix and match a bit, so we went for half bone-in with original hot sauce, and half boneless with garlic Parmesan. For the two gliders we picked hickory-smoked barbecue for one, and teriyaki for the other.

Everything is made fresh to order at Wingstop, and we were told our food would be ready in 14 minutes. If you are in a hurry, you should order online or by phone. As promised, our food was ready in the allotted time. The counterperson went over our order to be sure all was good before handing us the tray. I found the service exceptional for this type of restaurant.

The food was a different matter. It was hit or miss—and in my book, mostly miss. The wings themselves were tasty, but both sauces were disappointing. The signature original hot sauce was overloaded with vinegar, and the garlic Parmesan was so salty it swelled up my dining buddy’s fingers so much she could not get her ring off 15 minutes after finishing the meal.

The gliders were decent, with the barbecue flavor being our favorite. The fresh-cut fries were acceptable, but the seasonings overpowered the potatoes.

If personalizing your chicken wings is your thing, then this is the place for you. While you are waiting for your order, I might recommend taking a walk next door to to get yourself a healthy  fresh-fruit drink.

Wingstop is located at 6969 Broadway, in the 94 Country Plaza shopping center between Federal Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue. The restaurant is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to midnight. For faster service go to their website to order online, or call in your order to 619-465-1500.

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