chicken wings

Chicken Wing Challenge WINNER!

by Stephanie on July 20, 2012

in American, challenge, chicken wings

It’s time.

Here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for.

It’s been ten weeks in the making.

I’ve eaten enough chicken to last me the rest of my life. Can I tell you a secret? I don’t want to see another wing for a long time! Smile

Last Saturday, the Marathon Chicken Wing Eating Extravaganza took place. Over the course of the day, my friends and I visited my top three picks for the best chicken wings: The Post, Trainwreck, and The Shaved Duck.

First up? The Post. Sam, Patrick, Chung, and Joselyn (not pictured) gave The Post’s Spicy Garlic Wings a try.  

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These wings were tasty, but they weren’t as good as when I had them the first time around. I asked everyone to rate the wings on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best). The results from round 1?

Joselyn – 7

Chung – 6

Sam – 6

Patrick – 6

Me – 6

Average: 6.2

Round two led us to Trainwreck. Time for some wreck wings! This crowd was a bit larger; John, Patrick, Sam, Chung, Joselyn, Laura, Doug, Drew, Sarah, Derrick, and Stephanie joined me this time around.

 

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Bring on the meat!

 

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Round 2 results:

Joselyn – 5

Chung – 8

Sam – 8

Patrick – 7

Doug – 7

Laura – 7

Drew – 4

Stephanie – 8

Sarah – 6

Derrick – 4

Me – 5

Average: 6.3

Trainwreck beat The Post, but just barely. The wings at Trainwreck are a bit salty, which some people loved. Others weren’t a fan of the salty taste of these wings.

Our final stop was The Shaved Duck. Sam and Joselyn joined me at this stop (the only two to come to all three places! Way to go, guys!), along with John, Barb, Drew, Patrick, and Charles (unpictured).

Round 3 results:

Joselyn – 9

Sam – 9

Barb – 8.5

John – 9

Charles – 9

Drew – 9

Patrick – 9

Me – 9

Average: 8.9

Folks, we have a winner!

The Shaved Duck’s smoked wings with habanero mango sauce? These were the clear winner. Everyone fell in love with the smoky flavor of these wings, and with the sauce, they were unbeatable. These were my favorite, and I’m glad everyone seemed to agree with me!

Overall, the chicken wing challenge was a success. I had a lot of fun exploring St. Louis restaurants and sampling wings from all over the city. I hope you all had just as much fun reading about my adventures. I’m already thinking about my next challenge…any suggestions? Winking smile

See you next week!

{ 5 comments }

Chicken Wing Challenge, Week 10: The Shaved Duck!

by Stephanie on July 4, 2012

in American, challenge, chicken wings, Dinner, Lunch

Why hello there! Hope you’re having a happy 4th of July! Any fun plans? I have the day off, so I’m relaxing and catching up on some much needed sleep…and eating delicious food, of course!

So…this is it.

This is it.

Week 10 of the Chicken Wing Challenge is here! I can’t believe it’s over already. I plan on doing a recap of all of the places I visited (along with my top 3 picks!) this Friday. But for now? Let’s talk about Week 10.

This week I visited The Shaved Duck. It’s located in the Tower Grove East neighborhood of St. Louis.

You might remember that I blogged about The Shaved Duck before. Aside from their amazing bread pudding, I also fell in love with their smothered fries.

Calories? Screw calories! These were heaven on a plate!

I was thisclose to ordering the smothered fries again, but I had to focus on my mission: chicken wings! Keep your eyes on the prize, Steph. ;)

I ordered the smoked chicken wings. These wings were slow smoked and were served with a mango, ginger, and habanero sauce.

Don’t they look absolutely amazing?

Okay, so they looked delicious. But how did they taste?

Wow.

Wow wow wow.

I know that I tend to use a lot of hyperbole in my reviews, but I’m not even kidding when I say that these wings are some of the best I’ve ever eaten. In my life. IN MY LIFE!

Everything about these wings were pure perfection.

Crispy and flavorful skin? Check.

Juicy, flavorful meat with a slight smoky flavor? Check.

A mind-blowing dipping sauce?

Check! Winking smile

I ordered these wings to go, but I couldn’t wait to get home to dig in; I had to have a few while I was in the car! I gobbled a few wings down, and when I got full, I stored them in the fridge for later.

Guess what? These babies were even good cold! Now that’s some good chicken.

So there you have it. Week 10 is in the bag. But what are my top 3 picks? I’ll announce those this Friday! I’ll also provide more details about the judging panel to help decide the winner. That’s right — I’m leaving it up to you. It’s going to be fun! You may want to clear your schedule on July 14th. Winking smile

That’s enough chatter from me — enjoy the rest of your holiday! Hopefully some BBQ chicken is on the menu for today!

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Chicken Wing Challenge, Week 9: O! Wing Plus!

by Stephanie on June 27, 2012

in American, challenge, chicken wings, Dinner, Lunch

 

Good morning and welcome to week 9 of the Chicken Wing Challenge! We’re entering the home stretch, people! Choosing the top three is going to be hard. Choosing the winner is going to be even harder! But that’s where you come in. Winking smile

Anyway, this past week has been amazing. A few days ago, I attended the Saucy Soiree at the Four Seasons. Thanks to Chevrolet for the tickets! I ran into the winners of the pair of tickets I gave away on the blog, and they also had a great time. You really can’t go wrong with free food and drinks, can you? Smile

Sunday also marked my final day with the 2013 Chevy Malibu Eco. The week just flew by! When I returned home from the Saucy Soiree, I took a few final pictures with the Malibu.

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I wasn’t ready to say goodbye, clearly. Winking smile

In all seriousness, it was a fun week, and I had a lot of fun cruising around St. Louis in this sweet ride. Thanks again, Chevy!

 

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Moving right along…

For this week’s challenge, I headed to O! Wing Plus in Overland, a suburb of St. Louis. I visited O!WP a few years ago and fell in love with their chicken. When the chicken wing challenge came up, I knew I had to include this little-known chicken spot.

 

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Much like St. Louis Wing Co, O!WP had a wide variety of flavors to choose from. I stuck to the rules I set for myself, however, and went with the two most popular flavors: Garlic Parmesan and O’s Original.

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Let’s start with the Garlic Parmesan.

 

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These babies certainly looked tasty enough. I liked the fact that shaved parmesan was used. The wings were piping hot. The meat was juicy and tender.

However, I wasn’t a huge fan of the garlic parmesan flavor. There was something off about the taste of it; I can’t quite put my finger on it. The sauce tasted almost sour? I didn’t like that the parmesan flavor overpowered the wings; I couldn’t taste a single hint of garlic.

Next up? O’s Original. These wings were coated with caramelized brown sugar and sprinkled with red pepper flakes.

 

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I loved these wings. Like the garlic parmesan wings, these were piping hot, and the chicken was moist and full of flavor.

And the sauce?

OH…THE SAUCE.

This sauce was pretty fantastic! It was sweet, a little sticky, and had the tiniest hint of spice. It was perfect. I couldn’t get enough of these!

Overall, I was a fan of these wings.

Who’s ready to see an updated rundown of the standings? Of course, a lot could change between now and next week; I still have one more place to try!

1. Southtown Pub

2. Trainwreck

3. The Post

4. O! Wing Plus

5. Poor Richard’s

6. Seamus McDaniel’s

7. STL Wing Co.

8. Culpepper’s

9. Syberg’s

See you next week for week 10 of the challenge!

{ 3 comments }

Chicken Wing Challenge, Week 8: Seamus McDaniel’s! (And a GIVEAWAY!)

by Stephanie on June 20, 2012

in American, challenge, chicken wings, contest

Good morning, and welcome to week 8 of the Chicken Wing Challenge! This challenge is coming to an end in a few weeks, and truthfully I’m a little sad about it! I’ve had so much fun traveling all over St. Louis in search of the best wings. Hopefully you’ve had fun reading along. Smile

Before I get into this review, I have a little something I’d like to talk about! If you follow me on Twitter, you might already have an idea of what it is. Let me give you a little hint:

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No? What about this?

 

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Or this?

 

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Enough of the teases; let me get straight to the point. A few weeks ago, Chevrolet contacted me about participating as a “select VIP” for their Keys to Your City campaign. The purpose of the program is to inspire St. Louis millenials (18-29 years old) to discover and explore the city’s local scene and to reintroduce Chevy as a relevant brand to their everyday lives.

In a nutshell? Chevy gave me the keys to a 2013 Malibu Eco for a week! Today is day three of my sweet car adventure, and I must say that I’m loving it. I don’t ever want to give this car back! Let me keep it, Chevy…please? Winking smile

Anyway, I intend on taking full advantage of this fuel-efficient ride, and I started with (what else?) a trip to one of my favorite St. Louis restaurants for week 8 of the Chicken Wing Challenge! Welcome to Seamus McDaniel’s!

 

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If you’ve been a long-time reader, you might remember that I blogged about Seamus McDaniel’s before. I still maintain that I had the best burger of my life there.

Even though the urge to order a burger was strong, I stuck to my guns. I had chicken wings to eat!

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Show me what you got, Seamus. Winking smile

My wings came out pretty quickly, and they certainly looked tasty.

 

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The wings were lightly coated in hot sauce, and just like the menu stated, they weren’t too hot or too mild. They were just right!

Taste-wise, these wings were pretty decent. I would have preferred a crispier skin, but the juicy meat of the wings made up for it. These babies were flavorful! I can’t say they were my favorite, however. There was nothing wrong with the wings, but nothing really made them stand out. They were a solid middle-of-the-pack choice. Nothing wrong with that, right?

I’m not going to post the standings this week. Instead, let’s talk about a little giveaway!

Chevrolet was generous enough to offer a pair of tickets to this weekend’s Saucy Soiree, taking place on the rooftop terrace of the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown St. Louis this Sunday, June 24th, from 5pm-10pm.

What is the Saucy Soiree? I’m so glad you asked! Smile

Sauce Magazine is hosting a fancy schmancy party for all St. Louisians with a love for local food. At this event, the winners of Sauce Magazine’s annual Readers Choice poll will be announced (before the issue is released on July 1st!).

The most exciting part? There will be 35 top restaurants, wineries, and breweries offering complimentary tastes and sips! Restaurants such as Farmhaus, Annie Gunn’s, Niche, Sidney Street, Pappy’s BBQ, Modesto, Schlafly, Chaumette Vineyards, Prime 1000, Kakao Chocolate, and Eleven Eleven Mississippi will be present to fill your belly with delicious food.

Trust me, you’re not going to want to miss this event.

How to enter the giveaway: It’s super easy! Just do the following:

1. Follow me on Facebook and post a comment here letting me know you’ve done so! In your comment, I’d also like you to finish the following sentence: “My favorite local restaurant in St. Louis is…”

That’s it! I’ll use a random number generator to pick the winner, and I’ll announce it here first thing Friday morning! Good luck, and I’ll see you in a couple of days. Smile

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Chicken Wing Challenge, Week 6: Southtown Pub!

by Stephanie on June 6, 2012

in American, challenge, chicken wings, Pubs

Gooooooood morning! I love Wednesdays. We’re halfway through the work week and I get to talk about chicken! Could things be any more perfect? I don’t think so.

After last week’s disappointing visit to Culpepper’s, I was hopeful that my next chicken wing adventure would be a better one.

It looks like my wish came true. Smile

This week I headed to Southtown Pub with a friend to gobble down some wings. The place itself had everything you’d expect from a pub: loud chatter, a lively atmosphere, and lots and lots of beer.

But I wasn’t here for beer. I was here for this:

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Jumbo dry rubbed & smoked wings? Yes, please! Winking smile

I liked that you could order as few (or as many) as you desired. Since the menu advertised them as “Jumbo”, I only ordered five. I figured we could order more if they were tasty enough (and if we were still hungry!).

The wings took a while to come out, but they were definitely worth the wait.

 

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Oh baby.

Even though they looked amazing (seriously – look at those things!), I was a little disappointed that they weren’t jumbo at all; they were just as tiny as the chicken wings I’ve had at every other place. Not cool, Southtown Pub. If you’re going to call your wings jumbo, you better deliver!

After I recovered from my disappointment, I dug in.

Wow.

WOW.

Everything about these wings screamed perfection. They were piping hot. The skin was crispy and so flavorful, thanks to the dry rub. And the meat itself had a delicious smoky flavor that I fell in love with.

Have I found my new favorite wings? I think so! Move outta the way, Trainwreck!

Here are the new standings (which are subject to change, as always):

1. Southtown Pub

2. Trainwreck

3. Poor Richard’s

4. The Post

5. STL Wing Co.

6. Culpepper’s

It’s going to be hard to beat the wings at Southtown Pub, but I still have four more places to try! A lot could happen in four weeks. Smile

See you next week!

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Chicken Wing Challenge, Week 3: St. Louis Wing Co.!

May 16, 2012

It’s official: Wednesday is quickly becoming my new favorite day of the week. What can I say? I just love chicken wings. Let’s jump right in. For Week 3 of the challenge, I headed to St. Louis Wing Co. This spot has received quite a few good reviews and recommendations, so I was excited to [...]

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Chicken Wing Challenge, Week 1: Poor Richard’s!

May 2, 2012

I’m squealing, you all. Squealing. Ever since I wrapped up the Bread Pudding Challenge, I’ve been racking my brain, thinking about what challenge I would do next. Because after the excitement of picking the best bread pudding in St. Louis, I knew there had to be another challenge. Thankfully, a lot of you threw out [...]

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Are you in or are you out?

August 6, 2010

Well, the In Spot Dessert Lounge is…oh wait. You have to read to the end to find out! I went with my mom and sister for our monthly girls night out event. This time around, it was my turn to pick the place, and I remembered a while ago when Natalie @ The Sweets Life [...]

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