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CU Showdown
buzz tests out CU wings
4:00 am Aug 6 - by buzz editorial staff
Related Venues
Gumby's Pizza »Address: 1409 S. Neil St. Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 355-3278
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Joe's Brewery »
Address: 706 S. Fifth St. Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 384-1790
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Black Dog Smoke and Ale House »
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Buffalo Wild Wings »
Address: 907 Marketview Drive, Ste. 5 Champaign, IL 61822
Phone: (217) 378-4400
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Esquire Lounge Inc. »
Address: 106 N. Walnut St. Champaign, IL 61820
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White Horse Inn »
Address: 112 E. Green St. Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 352-5945
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Iron Post »
Address: 120 S. Race St. Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: (217) 337-7678
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Hooter's of Champaign, Inc. »
Address: 1706 S. State St. Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 355-7682
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Wings. An American favorite. Coupled with any sporting event, small gathering or just an ice-cold beer, these little bite-sized snacks are great for any occasion. But who has the best in town? With so many places in the CU area, choosing where to dirty your bib is no easy task. To make that decision easier, the buzz staff checked out eight different locations around town in order to determine who has the best wings. Here’s what we thought:
Joe’s:
Price: $6.50 for 12
Meat: Small price, small wings. These were the smallest wings we tasted. They were also rather boney.
Sauce: We ordered mild, but even that had a bit of a kick. It was just salty enough to compliment the wings and could be tasted all the way through the meat.
Fall-off-the-bone Quality: The meat was rather hard to pull off the bones. We struggled to bite through the skin.
Black Dog
Price: $10.75 for 12
Meat: These wings were good sized. Not too big or too small. The meat was tender and juicy.
Sauce: These babies were not dipped in typical wing sauce, but smoked, leaving us with a hint of charcoal and barbecue taste. It’s like we were eating them straight off the fire.
Fall-off-the-bone Quality: Pulled right off. They were melt-in-your-mouth tasty.
Buffalo Wild Wings
Price: 12 for about $9
Meat: Though these wings were on the smaller side, the meat was relatively tender. It wasn’t good; it wasn’t bad.
Sauce: This place is all about the sauce. With 14 different sauce options all ranging in level of spiciness, you can really make your wing experience what you want. We went with the Mild and the Honey BBQ sauce. The BBQ was sweet and added a new dimension to wing eating. The Mild sauce was your standard wing sauce. If you’re going here, we recommend being adventurous and avoiding the Mild.
Fall-off-the-bone Quality: Tender, but eating them still required a little bit of work. Again, not good; not bad.
Gumby’s
Price: 15 for $10.50
Meat: These wings were huge, each with a significant amount of meat on them. On top of that, the meat was tender and juicy.
Sauce: With the option of mild or spicy, we opted for spicy. We know that “spicy” is subjective, but among a group of eight, we didn’t find the sauce that spicy. Still, the wing taste was present without being overwhelming.
Fall-off-the-bone Quality: No work required. Easy to eat. Gumby’s left us wanting more.
Esquire Lounge
Price: 9 for $7.50
Meat: The meat was flavorful, but a little on the chewy side.
Sauce: pretty much sauce-less.
Fall-off-the-bone Quality: We had a little difficulty eating these. The meat was a little hard to pull off the bone. The lack-luster taste wasn’t worth the struggle.
White Horse
Price: 6 for $10
Meat: The wings run on the small side, but they’re lean and meaty.
Sauce: We opted for the mild sauce. It was tasty, with just the right amount of tang, but we all agreed we should have opted for the spicy option, as wings still tasted a little bland.
Fall-off-the-bone Quality: Pulled right off. No hassle involved.
Iron Post:
Price: 10 for $12
Meat: These were our least favorite. The wings were meaty, but the meat tasted purely of fat to the point where the meat was almost liquefied. Not cool.
Sauce: Not a lot of sauce or taste, but we did really enjoy the bleu cheese dipping sauce.
Fall-off-the-bone Quality: Liquid meat. Enough said.
Hooters:
Price: 10 for $7. 50
Meat: These wings were hit-or-miss. Some were meaty. Some were all bone. On top of that, we found the amount of breading to deceiving and overwhelming. These wings looked meaty, but some were entirely all breading.
Sauce: We chose the second spiciest sauce. Don’t let the first bite deceive you. The spice kicked in about 30 seconds after the initial bite, and boy did it kick.
Fall-off-the-bone Quality: The meat was tender, but we had to nosh through a lot of breading to get there.
And the winner is:
1st Place: Gumby’s – By far the best deal. You get a lot of wings for a low price. On top of that, every wing is loaded with juicy meat and the sauce is good.
First runner-up: Black Dog – Though not your typical wing, we really enjoyed the smoky barbecue taste.
Second Runner-up – White Horse – Lean meat and tasty sauce. However, we’re going with the spicy sauce next time.
Sound Off
Last post: Aug. 11, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Mike (unregistered user) said on Aug. 11, 2009 at 3:34 pm:
Shocked that you did not consider or award the winner to Farren's Pub and Eatery! Defintely has my vote for best in town, though I like Bloack Dog as well for something different. Do not understand BBW wings at all, mine are always raw and slippery.