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Chicken Wing Review/QB Comparison: The Lenox Grill

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You can have Christmas, New Year’s, family time and all that other shit. When I get a chance to come back to Buffalo for any reason, I’m here for the chicken wings.  Since moving to Florida roughly two and a half years ago, I realized how much I took having wings in Buffalo for granted, not to mention what a I creature of habit I was, frequenting the same two or three spots every time.

After quickly learning that nearly every place in Florida that serves chicken wings in Florida sucks, I decided each time I get back to Buffalo, whether for business or pleasure I’m going to hit up as many different wing joints as possible and subsequently power rank them. I fuckin’ love me some power ranking for literally everything. Lots of factors go into the world famous Moran-Alytics Podcast Chicken Wings Power Rankings: atmosphere, price point and service, but of course taste is far and away the most important factor. Whether I go myself or with an accomplice, I generally consume two flavors of wings per visit: traditional medium (or hot in some cases) and either something the server recommends or a flavor I see on the menu and am just feeling that day.

My first trip back in the 716 this week led me to The Lenox Grill near downtown Buffalo. This review and power ranking may come with controversy, as Korean BBQ is their signature wing sauce per the advice of several friends and Twitter followers.  To be honest though, I’m not a fan of oriental food and assumed I wouldn’t be a big fan. Get over it. Therefore, I went with 10 hot and 10 medium barbeque.

How were they? Quit being lazy and read on.

PROS:  Truth be told, I’ve been to plenty of places with all the bells and whistles but at the end of the day, the wings sorta tasted like shit.  The Lenox Grill scored huge for me with their traditional hot wings. I like a kick to my medium and/or hot wings but ain’t trying to need a towel around my head by the time I’m finished.  These wings were spicy but not overly done. Also, bonus points for their fries. My wife and I split an order with our wings and they were tasty. So much so in fact that a few wings were left on the table so we could demolish all the fries.  I’m also a fan of the look and feel with the establishment itself. I don’t know if it’s been around forever but it feels like it has. The men’s bathroom serves as evidence.

CONS: The medium barbeque wings were a bit bland compared to similar wings from several other spots I’ve had, to be honest. It’s not that they were bad, they just didn’t stand out—at all.   As for the hot wings, you may be a tad disappointed if you want your wings very hot.  You’ll probably want to step up to their suicide flavor for that effect.  They also weren’t particularly crispy, which is purely a preference thing and for me a plus. I personally don’t want my wings blazing hot nor ridiculously crispy. The portion size was overall pretty good but three of the medium barbeque wings were tiny. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but if you’re sharing them with someone that’s a third of the order. Not cool, man.

QB COMPARISON: The Lenox Grill is the Andrew Luck of chicken wings. You heard and read so much hype about coming out of college that you expected him to be one of the league’s better NFL quarterbacks before he even took a snap.  That certainly held true, but is he a Hall of Fame gunslinger? I’m not sure he is. Luck’s in the conversation right up there with the best, but does anyone think he’s a top five quarterback in the league right now?

RECORD IF SPORTSCITY PLAYED A FULL NFL SEASON: 10-6 playing in the NFL’s toughest division and competing for a playoff spot.

OUTLOOK: Many told me that the Lenox Grill is a top fiver for them. I’m not going to agree. They score high on the hot wings and mediocre on the more traditional barbeque. Do I regret not having their Korean BBQ wings? Possibly, considering how many told me I should.  All that said, they’re a top dozen wing joint in Western New York for me and the strength of their traditional hot wing alone gives me confidence you’ll leave this place satisfied.

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Chicken Wing Review/QB Comparison: Mooney’s Sports Bar & Grill (Military Rd)

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I’m a big sports bar guy and quite frankly there’s a lack of good ones in Western New York.  Lots of spots slap up memorabilia on the walls and call themselves a sports bar, but Mooney’s Sports Bar & Grill on Military Road actually feels like one. I love going to this place for that alone.

Of course, I’m completing off track and nobody cares about my takes on the authenticity of sports bars.  This is about wings and when it comes to them— is Mooney’s authentically good in that department as well?

PROS: There’s a handful of places for wings in Western New York capable of hitting the spot with numerous flavors and Mooney’s unequivocally is one of them.  Their traditional medium/hot, always what I go by most when evaluating a place may not have knockout power, but they’re good enough to force a standing eight count. As for several of their signature flavors are simply fantastic. The Mooney’s Gold looks and to some extent taste like wings for rich people. The Tropical Thunder were delcious and Italian Style Garlic aren’t far behind.  More importantly the wings I had were cooked to near perfection with a nice balance of crisp and tenderness.

CONS: While certainly far better than average the traditional medium/hot weren’t exactly elite either. That’s not really a “con” but for those unwilling to experiment with fancy flavors who want a regular ole’ Buffalo chicken wing, there’s better places than Mooney’s to get them.

Also not necessarily a con but worth pointing out is the wait being a little long, although in fairness that’s to be expected on a packed Friday night.

QB COMPARISON:  Philip Rivers. He’s never won MVP but you can count on him going to the Pro Bowl.

RECORD IF MOONEY’S PLAYED A FULL NFL SEASON: 10-6.  A favorite to win the division and at least one playoff game.

OUTLOOK: There’s not necessarily an “Oh my God these are heaven” moment with any one style of wing but they come at you in waves of tasty flavors that make this one of Western New York’s more underrated spots.

Ironically Mooney’s isn’t even best known for wings and it’s not particularly close either.  Mac & Cheese is their signature dish that patrons near and far rave about it.  They also have a gargantuan hamburger challenge that’s basically impossible to finish in one sitting.

I feel very good about recommending Mooney’s as a spot for wings.

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Wing Review: Imperial Pizza

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Imperial Pizza is the gospel when it comes to pizza and wings for most people in South Buffalo.  Seriously, it’s nearly sacrilegious to speak negatively of it in that part of town and trust me, I’d know. I’m not a fan of their pizza. I’ve considered it quite bland and comparatively overpriced. I’ve gotten into heated exchanges with folk through the years for this stance.  Because of that, I never bothered to have their wings, as I assumed I’d feel the same.  Well, I was wrong—sort of.  Read on.

PROS: If you like you’re wings extremely saucy you’re in luck here. To call them saucy is a colossal understatement (more on that in a minute). For the traditional medium, this worked out great. They were tasty, very tasty in fact. Nice sized wing, cooked well with sauce I savored. I say it frequently and will do so again here—when getting both the traditional medium (or hot) as well as a promoted signature flavor, I’ll always put more weight on the traditional wing because it’s the one where the field is completely level for fair comparison. The medium wings were significantly better than just the typical pizza joint wing.

CONS: To be fair, I did ask for my wings saucy, but these were quite literally the sauciest wings I’ve ever had in my life, ever. My plate was essentially wing sauce soup. You could’ve had a full bucket of wings on the plate and there’d still be too much sauce. For the Char BBQ wings, this was a monumental detriment.  The sogginess absolutely killed any charred flavor they were supposed to have.  These might be great if the sauce ratio was even remotely passable but I wouldn’t know. Very disappointed in what I expected to be a signature wing.

RECORD IF IMPERIAL PIZZA PLAYED A FULL NFL SEASON: 10-7.  Loads of potential there, but they got to clean up a few mistakes.  Imperial Pizza’s certainly capable of having playoff team caliber wings.

OUTLOOK: Let me tell you how blown away I am with the remodeled look Imperial has.  I remember a time where my only experience with Imperial was delivery or pickup for house drinking gatherings.  They’ve transformed themselves into a really trendy spot in South Buffalo over the past few years.  The dining area is plenty big, the bar’s kickass with a ton of TVs and at least during the summer months, the outdoor patio is an awesome luxury.  They had an acoustic band going when I was there so live vibey music is a thing there too. Hell, even the bathrooms are clean and have a small TV near the sink area—having me feeling I was in a trendy downtown spot with that.

Even if you wanted to skip food and do nothing but drink, this has turned into a fantastic place to watch a game or hang out with people. 24-oz domestic beers for six bucks isn’t a bad deal and they also serve wine.  That said, this a wing review and the wings were a mixed bag for me. The medium were far better than expected and on par with upper tier places but the Char BBQ were lousy because of the sauce overabundance.  Not going to crush one cook’s decision of what’s considered saucy one that night but can’t just give it a pass either.

This place has the ability to become a wing spot and day/night out destination that people outside of just South Buffalo can brag about. Hopefully the sauce monsoon was a (very) rare oddity. I’ll find out soon enough because the traditional medium and overall vibe definitely has me eager to come back—so stay tuned for updates.

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Chicken Wing Review/QB Comparison: KO Sports Bar & Grill

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Don’t worry, KO Sports Bar & Grill. I won’t penalize you for being closed on Sundays despite the internet claiming you’re open. It’s a lesson I learned the hard way after an Orchard Park to North Buffalo early Sunday evening drive to KO was wasted.  But hey, I got to see some interesting characters strolling around Delaware Avenue plus, I came back a few days later on Tuesday with my buddy, Casey to bang out two styles of wings on the advice of a few blogger community buddies. Immediately I was impressed by the interior of what I’d consider a very old school sports bar that’s way bigger than it looks from the outside, filled with friendly people.

I love the bars where everyone knows each other and this definitely feels like one.  However, it doesn’t mean the wings are any good and this isn’t a review about the friendliest bar locals in Western New York.  Were the wings any good?

PROS: The KO Spicy wings are insanely good. If you racked up the best non-traditional wing flavor choices: Elmo’s Cajun Hot Double Dipped, Dalmatia Hotel’s Chiavetta’s Hot and La Nova’s Hot BBQ immediately come to mind— the KO Spicy gems can hold court with any and all.  Seriously, these were outstandingly tasty and cooked perfectly too.

CONS: The traditional medium wings were equally pedestrian –and I’m possibly being generous here.  They were not very good, at all.

QB COMPARISON: Ryan Fitzpatrick. One of the most exciting yet inconsistent quarterbacks I’ve ever seen. Go the traditional wing route these borderline suck but spice them up and you’re getting MVP caliber play.

IF KO SPORTS BAR & GRILL PLAYED A FULL NFL SEASON: 9-7 and a quarterback away from contending.

OUTLOOK: First and foremost, when it comes to overall power rankings I can’t have these very high. From day one my rule has always been traditional (medium or hot) wings come first and need to be considered heavily while other items (signature wings, price, vibe, service, etc.) play a slightly lesser role.  Honestly speaking, had I walked in here and gotten only the regular medium wings I’d consider putting KO on blast.  They just weren’t good, man.

That being said, if I’m power ranking the best specialty sauce wings this joint would be extremely high—possibly even top five.

I cannot recommend KO Sports Bar & Grill if you only like traditional wings but if you desire more spice in your life, I can’t recommend them highly enough. Truly a tale of two cities.

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