It’s a rare sharp left turn from Buffalo sports talk on Talking Buffalo today as Patrick Moran reveals his wing rankings and tiers for 2024 and is joined by Luke and Tom from the Buffalo Wing Coalition for their thoughts and analysis in a conversation recorded live at Sonny Red’s in Lackawanna.
Ranking and placing wings into tiers is something Patrick’s done at least a handful of times in recent years although it’s been 18 months since he’s done it last. It was a fun exercise that began in 2016 not long after moving to Florida for what would become five years. On his latest list is 92 different wing spots throughout Western New York (although a small handful of them have recently closed shop) and instead of ranking them 1 through 92 he has them broken up into seven tiers: Waiver Wire, Roster Bubble, Depth Chart, Solid Starters, All-Pro, Elite and of course the four-spot Mt. Rushmore.
While these charts are the opinions of Patrick alone, he’s joined by two of the guys from the Buffalo Wing Coalition for their insight. The Buffalo Wing Coalition has grown significantly in recent years and these guys do an outstanding job of highlighting one of the region’s greatest treasures. They talk about when and why the group started, how they go about reviewing the places they visit, their pyramid of wing spots (six tiers of groupings) and not taking themselves too serious yet understanding their outlet has become a vehicle that a lot of wing goers not only often refer to sometimes even depend on when going out to eat.
It’s a fun and certainly different type of Talking Buffalo episode than the norm. Make sure you check out the Buffalo Wing Coalition on Instagram (who excel with food porn level photos from their visits) and a big thank you again to Sonny Red’s—who alongside Nine-Eleven Tavern, Elmo’s and Bar Bill make up this year’s Mt. Rushmore.
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