FIERY!
“Um, are you supposed to eat those?”
That’s what an elderly gentleman asks upon being served a platter of Danny Bowien’s dry-rubbed, golden chicken wings ($10), which sit on a generous mound of Szechuan peppers at Mission Chinese Food, the San Francisco restaurant that opened this spring on the Lower East Side.
“Not really,” the server says of the dangerous looking peppers. “It’s more of a garnish.”
As far as garnishes go, these peppers serve as the same kind of warning Charles II gave when he put Oliver Cromwell’s head on a spike outside Westminster Hall: Be afraid.
Not that these wings aren’t delicious — just fire-alarm spicy. Bowien fries them, leaves them to sit on parchment paper in kosher salt and then freezes them before frying them once more.
“When you freeze it, the wing expands,” Bowien explains. “What we’re doing with the skin is stretching it out” — thus allowing it to better absorb the rub of Szechuan pepper, chili powder, anise, fennel, sugar, salt, cumin and black cardamom. He finishes the dish with fried beef tripe.
One taste and spice demons will rejoice.
154 Orchard St.; no phone, missionchinesefood.com/ny
* 3 out of 4 drumettes
2 of 6
FUSION!
While some Asian chefs might shy away from the Buffalo, NY, influence, Dale Talde embraces it at his eponymous new restaurant in Park Slope. There is a salty, hot-sauce taste to the dressing on these wings that screams upstate New York.
“It’s very Buffalo-esque in terms of flavor,” says Talde.
But the technique is Korean — these wings are coated in rice flour and fried, then re-coated with rice flour, fish sauce and Korean chili flakes, and fried again for a “shatteringly crispy” texture.
But the marriage between Buffalo and Korea is a happy, harmonious one. So happy, in fact, that Talde risked bringing in a third element: He ingeniously slapped a waffle on the side. (Don’t be afraid to dip these wings in the accompanying syrup.)
The end result is a perfect hybrid of Asia, upstate New York and the soul-food restaurants Talde loved in his native Chicago.
Our only quibble with the $14 end result: The wings are only available at brunch.
369 Seventh Ave., Park Slope; 347-916-0031, taldebrooklyn.com
*3 out of 4 drumettes
3 of 6
SAUCY!
One of the great touches that Buffalo, NY, brought to the chicken wing was the celery stalk. It cuts the spice. It adds some crunch. And vegetables are good for you, right? Right?
The vegetables in the sauteed spicy chicken wings are plentiful at Hot Kitchen, the Szechuan restaurant that opened late last year in the East Village.
These wings, which are cooked in a wok and served in a blistering sauce, are so spicy they might leave your lips numb — and rooting through a mountain of Szechuan peppers in search of lotus, potato and anything else to slow the burn doesn’t seem to help. For chili fanatics only.
104 Second Ave.; 212-228-3090, hotkitchenny.com
* 2 out of 4 drumettes
4 of 6
PEPPERY!
Place an order of wings at Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya, the sleek, darkly lit new restaurant in the LES’s Thompson Hotel, and your waiter immediately perks up.
“Good choice!”
Several meaty, peppery wings later ($9 for an order of four; a staggering $35 for 16), we fully agree.
Like Blue Ribbon’s famous fried chicken, these wings are juicy, crispy and golden — though the rub is spicier. A Japanese-style blend, it contains black sesame seeds, nori, orange peel, white pepper, black pepper and sancho pepper.
But there’s a decidedly non-Japanese ingredient in the coating: matzo meal. “We’re definitely breaking new ground there,” laughs co-owner Eric Bromberg, who serves them with homemade miso honey and red chili dipping sauces.
187 Orchard St.; 212-466-0404, blueribbonrestaurants.com
* 3 out of 4 drumettes
5 of 6
GARLICKY!
About seven or eight years ago, Andy Ricker stopped by a roadside shed in Vietnam offering barrels of weak beer and something called “fish sauce wings,” which he loved so much he spent the next year trying to reproduce. Ricker’s resulting wing — sweet and garlicky, plump and juicy — became an instant hit at his Portland, Ore., restaurant Pok Pok. In January, Ricker opened up Pok Pok Wing on the Lower East Side, a modest little restaurant where a half-order of wings will only run you $7.25 (a full order is $12.49). Less than two months ago, he followed it up with Pok Pok, a sit-down Thai restaurant in Brooklyn (full orders only). But a no-reservations policy and routine waits mean the original LES location is the better bet.
Pok Pok Wing, 137 Rivington St., 212-477-1299; Pok Pok, 127 Columbia St., Brooklyn, 718-923-9322; pokpokwing.com
* 4 out of 4 drumettes
6 of 6
SKEWERED!
You feel a little primal when served one of the $2 wings at Biang!, the new comfortable sit-down restaurant in Flushing, Queens, from Jason Wang of Xi’an Famous Foods.
That’s probably because the wing in question is huge and served on two long metal skewers. This is how prehistoric man must have eaten his wings — if only he could have got the flavoring right. The wings are marinated, then “barbecued to order over charcoal, to give it a smoky flavor,” says Wang, who uses a dry spice mix of cumin and red chili powder, applying it when the wing is on the fire. It’s a little bit sweet and a little bit spicy — crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, and it doesn’t even need any dipping sauces. As prehistoric man might have put it: “Mmm . . . Wing good!”
41-10 Main St., Flushing, Queens; 718-888-7713, biang-nyc.com
* 4 out of 4 drumettes
