Cluck, Yeah: Our Roundup Of Indy’s Favorite Chicken Wings
As Super Bowl Sunday approaches, we thought we might tackle one of the trickiest aspects of hosting a football party: which chicken wings to order. We get it—the overwhelming amount of choices throughout the city can be maddening. But don’t fly off the rails and tack on a sad, thoughtless plate of buffalo wings to your pizza order. No. Follow our guide to making the most of football’s biggest feast and rule the roost.
Ask any local for their favorite wings, and without a doubt one of the first places mentioned will be Ale Emporium (8617 Allisonville Rd., 317-842-1333), where wings are ordered by weight, not quantity like at other joints. While they offer a number of sauces to accompany your order, stick with the style that sets Ale Emporium apart from the rest by ordering yours with the famous “hermanaki” (think teriyaki) sauce.
Typically mentioned in tandem with Ale Emporium is Indy’s other favorite wing stop, Keystone Sports Review (5602 N. Keystone Ave., 317-251-9902), where takeout orders can be placed online and brought right to your door through the OrderUp delivery system. Served up with the traditional accoutrements of carrots, celery, and ranch or bleu cheese dressing, KSR (as it’s known by familiar patrons) offers 15 different sauces, and three different-size orders: half (5 wings), full (10 wings), and a bucket order (20 wings).
Chatham Tap (719 Massachusetts Ave., 317-917-8425, with a second location in Fishers) is a British-style pub that hosts Indy’s soccer aficionados for matches televised at all hours of the day from Europe and beyond. They also happen to serve up some of the city’s best wings. While their signature sauce is the gold standard at Chatham, wings are also available hot, mild, teriyaki, BBQ, or chipotle-apricot.
The Chicago-inspired menu, a rotating draft lineup, and the laid-back vibe at Fat Dan’s Deli (5410 N. College Ave., 317-600-3333; 410 E. Michigan St., 317-600-3008) may get patrons in the door, but the real showstoppers are the dry-rubbed, three-hour-smoked chicken wings. While Fat Dan’s offers six sauces to choose from, our favorite way to consume them is straight up to get the full smoky flavor.
Don’t eat chicken? Don’t worry. While picking up wings at Fat Dan’s on College Avenue, stop by next door at Twenty Tap (5406-08 N. College Ave., 317-602-8840) for an order of their veggie buffalo wings, a delicious, vegan-friendly substitute to the humble chicken wing. Tempura-battered cauliflower, vegan buffalo sauce, celery, choice of buttermilk ranch, bleu cheese, or vegan tzatziki.
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Who makes your favorite wing in the Circle City? Who did we leave off our list?
