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The Great Delaware Takeout Wing Taste Test: Which Holds Up Best?

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Should these wings be hot? asked former News Journal reporter Esteban Parra, sitting in front of a table of Delaware’s favorite hot wings.

It’s not his fault: he’s from Texas, where pain is a way of life. And as far as he was concerned, Delaware hot wings just weren’t a solution to the chili-pepper-tongue torture they would endure in the Lone Star State.

But this was exactly the kind of tough question we all had to answer here. We gathered in the News Journal newsroom to survey Delawareans.

Over the past month, which began in mid-March, we had been asking Delawareans to vote for their favorite wings in the state. We structured Delaware Wing Madness as a single-elimination wing tournament that would culminate with the best wing in Delaware as judged by thousands of online voters.

But once the Wing Madness field was reduced to four, we installed a failsafe of sorts. We tested readers’ top picks against the only 100% objective and accurate benchmark we knew: our own taste buds.

And so on April 10, we rounded up wings from top contenders Kid Shelleen’s, Stanley’s Tavern, Anthony’s Coal Fired, and 2 Fat Guys, and did a little tasting.

Delaware Wing Madness Preview: How We Did It

Some wing spots are known for their hot sauce, and some for their creativity in their wild wing concoctions. And so, for balance, we ordered two types of wings from each of the Top 4 candidates.

One was always the standard ‘hot’ or ‘Buffalo’. The other flavor was what each restaurant told us the other most popular flavor was.

For Anthony’s Coal Fired, this was the “original” flavor with onions on top. At Kid Shelleen’s it was bourbon BBQ sauce. At 2 Fat Guys it was Triple Play. And at Stanley’s it was garlic parmesan with a little bit of hot sauce on the side.

But there was still a problem. A wing is always tastier when it is fresh. So how can we be fair to each wing when tasting?

The strategy was simple. We pre-ordered wings at each place and told each place at the same time we wanted it ready: 1:30 PM. We paid for the wings ourselves and no restaurant was notified in advance of the taste test. Ideally, this would mean that each wing was prepared at the same time.

We then sent several reporters to pick up the wings so that within about 20 minutes all the wings would be back in the office. Maybe, we hoped, the wings would survive the car ride to the office and still retain some crunch and warmth.

Wing of the Hill: Winner of the Great Delaware Takeout Wing Taste Test

It turns out that our in-office taste test doesn’t give a good verdict on the best wings in Delaware. But it was a good assessment of which wings to order for takeout.

When you order them at the restaurant, the floured wings arrive at Kid Shelleen’s with a satisfying crispiness that still feels delicate, and come brazenly loaded with a generous stream of the house’s fire engine red hot sauce. The wings at Stanley’s may still seem to crackle from the hot oil.

These are wings that are made to be eaten fresh at the restaurant, when they are piping hot and crispy. But the wings at these places aren’t necessarily built to go, nor are they all packaged to last. Most did not wrap their wings in foil or some other version of insulation that could keep the wings warm.

By the time we ate them, half an hour later, most of the wings were quite cold. The once crispy wings at Kid Shelleen’s had absorbed all the sauce into the breadcrumbs, which became a soggy blanket for the meat. The naked wings at Stanley’s hardened a bit as they cooled.

And as for Anthony’s? The charcoal-roasted wings retained their char, but the meat and onions both wilted and perhaps became a little bitter.

We have a winner: Voters say these are the best wings in Delaware

Additionally, most wing places were a bit more sparing with their sauces on a takeout order, perhaps because the staff was concerned about the wings getting soggy. And so all of our wings simply weren’t as spicy as usual because they had less sauce to begin with.

This was the problem faced by our intrepid wing taster, Esteban Parra, who wondered whether he would be happier if we had ordered “nuclear,” “dead” or “wicked hot” instead of just “hot.”

Wing taster Molly McVety had the same reaction: there was less heat in Chile than she expected.

But it was the staying power, not the chilli heat, that won the day in this tasting.

Only the well-packed wings from 2 Fat Guys seemed to retain much of their essential character after a 20-minute car ride. Maybe they lost some edge, but they kept their integrity. The balanced sweetness of 2 Fat Guys’ sauces also seemed to work better once the wings were cool, compared to a classic Frank’s-and-butter Buffalo-style sauce that tends to get a bit tart at room temperature.

McVety and Parra both anointed 2 Fat Guys as the wings that tasted best half an hour after they were made.

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As for me, I love the savory depth and bite of the hot sauce at Kid Shelleen’s. I love the downright boldness of the wings as served in the restaurant. And I love the twice-fried crunchiness. I went into this taste test thinking Kid’s might be in the picture.

But this was a takeaway taste test. And 2 Fat Guys was also my favorite takeout wing, making our vote unanimous. If we want to get a large order of wings to watch a playoff game at home even after the wings get cold? 2 Fat Guys is the runaway wing winner.

Readers felt the same way. A week after our takeout taste test, 2 Fat Guys also won the reader vote as the best wing anywhere in Delaware.

2 fat boys: 2 trophies.

2 Fat Guys American Grill is located at 701 Ace Memorial Drive, Hockessin, 302-235-0333; 2fatguys.net.

Matthew Korfhage is a business and development reporter in the Delaware region covering all matters involving land and money. A longtime food writer, he also shows up often with stories about tacos, oysters, beer and wings. Send tips and insults to [email protected].

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