Some people are in it for the commercials, others for the betting and a rare few even care about the football, but during the Super Bowl no one can resist reaching for a snack, and what’s better during a game than wings? But where should you get your wings for maximum tastiness and all around happiness? We solved this conundrum so you can spend your time worrying about the game instead of scrolling through EatStreet in search of sustenance. Here are the results of our super scientific taste test:
1. Yorkside Pizza and Restaurant
photo by Sarah Strong
I’ve been known to order a side of buffalo sauce to go with my pizza at Yorkside so I know they have it and I know it’s good, but for some reason our buffalo wings were almost completely sauceless. These wings were breaded and, although tasty, I would categorize them as fried chicken as opposed to wings. They’re crispy and have plenty of meat on them (they were the biggest wings we tested) but when you order buffalo wings they are not what you envision. There was a hint of sauce on the bottom of the plate along with a few pieces of soggy lettuce and a side of ranch, but if you actually want buffalo wings make sure you ask for an extra side of hot sauce.
Our Verdict: These wings are for the wimps who can’t handle much or any heat or for people who want a meaty, breaded piece of chicken and don’t mind adding their own sauce.
2. Alpha Delta Pizza
photo by Sarah Strong
How could the home of the Wenzel deliver anything but amazing buffalo sauce coated wings? These were more along the lines of what we were thinking when we ordered way too many chicken wings. The sauce is just what you want — sweet, spicy, tangy and (in the opinion of one taster) fruity. The drawback here was the size and texture. These wings were decidedly on the smaller side with not very much meat and in the process of trying to crisp up the skin the meat inside gets a little dry. These weren’t breaded and were what we expected from our order, but there’s still room for improvement. We dipped some of the sauceless Yorkside wings into the sauce from Alpha Delta (of which there was plenty so extra points for that) and that was a winning combo, but ordering wings from one restaurant and just sauce from another seems like a little too much work.
Our Verdict: Better than Yorkside in terms of meeting our expectations but the perfect sauce couldn’t make up for their size and dryness.
3. Wings Over New Haven
photo by Sarah Strong
We expected a lot from a place dedicated to wings and they delivered (literally, they delivered so quickly). Wings Over New Haven offers 20 different sauce flavors (maybe don’t order from here if you’re indecisive) and each one is better than the next. These wings were pretty much perfect. They had a good amount of meat on them and the inside stayed tender while the not-breaded skin got nice and crispy. We tried the Cruisin’ Altitude sauce, their second level of spiciness, on the wings and one taster exclaimed, “this tastes like passion!” The sauce was tangy but still very spicy and made my lips tingle but not so much that I couldn’t taste anything else. If you don’t want to taste anything else try their After Burner sauce, it starts mildly spicy and when you swallow it hits you like fire down your throat. Wings Over also sells boneless wings (aka breaded chicken tenders), which I ordered on accident, that are also delicious when you don’t want make a mess of yourself trying to eat wings politely.
Our Verdict: WINNER! These wings were everything we wanted: meaty, spicy, tangy and crispy. Wings Over has a sauce for everyone and with additional small sides of sauce costing just .75¢ you can amp up the heat for everyone’s palate. When you specialize in wings you better do them well, and Wings Over New Haven lives up to the challenge.
photo by Sarah Strong
Good news: from February 2nd through March 1st when you mention this article and show your Yale ID to the cashier or delivery driver at Wings Over New Haven you will receive $2 off your order of $10 or more!
The only thing left is to practice eating wings without making a fool of yourself.