Pennsylvania’s Finest: Give Me 40 Flavors or Don’t Bother

wings

The deep fried chicken wing. One of those American creations we all hate to love. Sure, some of you might think you’re “too sophisticated” with your foie gras and fancy sweaters, but please, don’t deny it. We all love deep fried wings.

Chicken wings somehow turned into football food (wtf, they’re so messy?), but in my college years, they were every night cheap food. From 10pm-2am the local bar (yes,there was only one restaurant/bar combination) would give you a dozen for $3.50, which we all thought was a good price after a night of drinking.

And then there was the wing buffet…

I’m going to blow my “cheap student” cover here. I actually started attending the wing buffet at this seedy central PA restaurant because my afraid-of-fat boyfriend raved about it, and I figured if this place can convince him to eat deep fried food, it had to be good. Plus, it’s a local hangout of A-list celebrity Davy Jones. On top of all this, my boyfriend even offered to pay. Endless food and a possible celebrity sighting for free! Only then did I realize our check wasn’t even $15.

I’ve never counted, but the wing buffet must have at least 30-40 different wing varieties at a time. Some of them include: plain (ew?), mild, medium, hot, your mom’s hot (although I’ve never witnessed this one, it’s supposed to be their hottest wing), BBQ, honey BBQ, gold fever (cant figure this out either, I think it’s a mix of hot and honey BBQ?), bacon ranch, spicy ranch, bacon cheddar, garlic, parmesan garlic, old bay, coconut, peanut butter, teriyaki, chicken parm, taco, Jamaican jerk….the list goes on and on, and don’t be surprised if there are new flavors each time you visit. The best part? The buffet comes with delicious fries of NJ boardwalk quality, for $5.99 per person. They even give you endless condiments; ranch, blue cheese, and of course vinegar.

I’m tired of popular shows featuring wing places with only a few varieties of wings. Sure, 10 or 15 kinds may seem like a lot, but its really not when half of them are all variations of the classic “hot”.

Turn off your TV and come to Pennsylvania. I swear we’re not all Amish.

(Pic: Wings and Beer)

You may also like

12 comments

  • broadandpattison June 16, 2009  

    yes….yes….YES. who are you? what is your name and phone number? and can i take you out for dinner sometime (i know a great wing place). also, i know this might be heresay since it is a chain and not a local place, but buffalo wild wings actually has a wonderful variety of sauces and the beauty is you can order so few of each wing (as little as 4 at a time) that you can basically try them all. my tops are spicy garlic and hot BBQ – but do not sleep on carribean jerk.

  • ML June 16, 2009  

    But Buffalo Wild Wings doesn’t have any ranch varieties!! Or bacon…

  • broadandpattison June 16, 2009  

    it isnt perfect, i agree. but it has some unprecedented advantages.

  • Yvo June 16, 2009  

    Hey I went to that same place in the pic when I was in PGH. http://feistyfoodie.blogspot.com/2009/05/pnc-park-pittsburgh.html
    And yeah they had a pretty large selection of wing sauces (considering it’s a ballpark) 🙂

  • ML June 17, 2009  

    Lets face it, everything in Pittsburgh is delicious.

  • MLB June 17, 2009  

    As ML’s “afraid-of-fat” boyfriend, I’ll say go ahead but have her home by ten.

  • gansie June 17, 2009  

    why are you afraid of fat? you should be afraid of worms instead. just a suggestions.

  • MLB June 17, 2009  

    What she didn’t tell you is that, since I train for triathlons, she bought me a book on triathlon dieting so she’s half to blame.

    And, just so you know, I am not particularly fond of worms either. I can deal…but I don’t like.

  • Very Very Good Girl June 17, 2009  

    ML my only disappointment is that I didn’t know this sooner as I was JUST around the corner in Lewisburg for 4 years. I was stuck with http://www.lewisburghotel.com/dining.html which was one of THREE whole bars/restaurants in town & the only one with a wing special.

    Correction I have another disappointment – that I didn’t take a picture of any of the Amish buggies tied to lamp posts outside in the walmart parking lot in Lewisburg. The Amish do make some mean woopie pies.

  • Peter Justason June 17, 2009  

    Love the wings. I am working on a best in Bucks Co. PA Top 5 Wings list. The link will should what I have so far but thanks for the leads in the rest of PA. http://petersfoodadventure.wordpress.com/best-of-bucks/best-of-bucks-wings/

  • ML June 18, 2009  

    @Very Very Good Girl- I also regret not taking pictures of the amish, they would tie their horses up outside of my apartment

    We only had four bars in Selinsgrove…only two were acceptable to go to, and only one of those served food. I didn’t find out about the wing buffet until the end of my jr year because my boyfriend grew up there…its definitely a hidden gem!

Leave a comment