Tucson's "Best" Wing Fest Mega-Post

I got leied at wing fest.

I know, it's been a while. I've been keeping up with my wing eating, but I've just been too lazy to write about any of them. Some places I could do from memory, but I like to think I have maybe a little integrity.

Today was the day of Tucson's Best Wing Fest at the east Hilton on Broadway and Pantano, from 4pm to 8pm. The event featured a number of Tucson restaurants showcasing what they can do with a wing. The deal was that once you were inside, you were able to sample 2 wings from each restaurant that was being represented. Admission was $15 dollars at the door, but I think that tickets were in pre-sale in other locations for less. Drink tickets were sold separately for $1 each: 1 ticket for a bottled water, 2 for a pop and 3 for a beer. The ticket for the event was also a scorecard where each booth would mark themselves off after you had sampled their wings. The ticket also had 3 categories to fill out: Most Exotic Wings, Best Decorated Booth, and Friendliest Staff. More on those a little later. For now I'm going to highlight my overall impressions and score each restaurant, but I'll have to visit each of these places (or at least, the ones I wasn't too disgusted by) to get an accurate reading of each.

1) Vistas Bar & Grill, at the Tucson east Hilton
They were offering 3 wings, but the ones I tried were their hot wing the "El Diablo" and their Hawaiian BBQ wing the "Maui." The hot wing was pathetic for being called a hot wing. A salt and vinegar potato chip is more intense. The Maui had an OK BBQ sauce, but I was too distracted by how close to being raw the wing was. Absolutely horrible. I took away a pamphlet with their menu highlights, and it looks like a high end restaurant, but it's a shame that the building hosting this event decided to enter, because they sure can't do wings. 0.5 out of 5. I know I said I wouldn't do fractions, but wow.

2) Brushfire BBQ CO., at 2745 N. Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ
They offered a mild and hot variety, so I tried one of each. Their style of cooking (according to their menu) is to gently smoke the wings and then blanch them in a quick deep fry. Well, they need to go for a little longer because once again, I was given nearly raw wings. The flavors didn't vary that much either. Both were slathered in their respective BBQ sauces, but whatever is in them is simply hot just for the sake of being hot, and it's a lasting burn. A saving grace for these wings was that they were the only hot wings in the entire place that delivered on the advertised hotness. 1 out of 5.

3) Wing Street
What can I say but, pitiful? Who brings boneless wings to a wing fest? Don't try to bullshit me, they're chicken nuggets with a different sauce. 0 out of 5. Pathetic.

4) Nimbus Brewery
They served one type of wing. It's sad when you see a place that has so much potential and they just come up short. This was the only booth in the entire place that was serving a celery stick and a carrot stick with the wings. They had so many of the little things right, and then when you finally try the wings, you get a mildly smokey flavor that just keeps progressing to taste like an ash tray. 2 out of 5 for good effort.

5) Wings Over Broadway, 5004 E Broadway, Tucson, AZ
Just when it was looking grim, we get a saving grace in here. I tried their mild and their honey BBQ. The mild is damn close to Buffalo standard and the honey BBQ wasn't bad; not spicy, not too sweet. The wings were deep fried but unfortunately they were a bit on the small side. I grabbed one of their menus and the wings are prominently displayed first and for good prices. This also seems to be one of the only places in Tucson I've seen that offers wings in large numbers (100 and 200). When I tried the mild wing I wanted so badly to give it a 5, but it was just slightly off, and the wings are kinda small. 4 out of 5.

6) American Flying Buffalo, 6300 E Tanque Verde, Tucson, AZ
This place offered a good variety of wings, so I tried their medium-hot and their teryaki flavors. The medium-hot had a pathetic heat for what it was supposed to be, and the teryaki flavor was horrible. I've never had good luck with teryaki wings before, and this was no exception. Not to mention, the one that I got was some kind of mutant reject wing. The saving factors for this restaurant were that the wings were deep fried, and they were a good size. 2 out of 5.

7) This place had no indication of who they were supposed to be.
The man at the booth handed me two wings and told me that they were smoked over mahogany fires. I admit I was curious. Now I know why that cat died. These were like the ashtray wings, but with a crappier tobacco, marinated in lighter fluid, and somehow they were practically raw too. 0 out of 5.

8) Bianchi's Italian, 1110 N Silverbell (corner of Speedway and Silverbell), Tucson, AZ
What can I say? I love this place! It's just a mile from my house and I eat there all the time, so I may be a little biased, but you know what? Biases tend to exist for a reason. On a personal note, this was the first place I ate at when I first moved to Tucson, and they set up a standard for wings that most places down here can't dream of touching. Part of that may be because of the owner, Vincent Bianchi, who I had a chance to talk to and found out that he's from Rochester, New York, so of course he knows what goes into a great wing; he's from Buffalo's backyard. The size, the sauce, the deep fry: all perfect. 5 out of 5 and well deserved.

9) Risky Business
This place was offering 3 types of wings, but admittedly the third kind was just a blend of the other two, so I tried one of each of the flavors on their own. They had a hot wing and a whiskey sauce (which just seemed to be their way of saying BBQ). The whiskey sauce was good though; sweet and with a bit of a vinegar kick. The hot wing, of course, was not hot. There was thyme all over this wing. Thyme is not hot. They were deep fried and were a good size, but for some reason they weren't cooked all the way through. I keep thinking that maybe they deserve a 4, but I'm sticking with my original 3 out of 5.

10) Neighborhood Grill, 8838 E Broadway, Tucson, AZ
This booth was offering three flavors of wings: a sunset BBQ, a garlic parmesan, and their "wings on fire." I tried the garlic parm and the wings on fire. The wings on fire carried a mildly hot aftertaste and might pass for a mild in Buffalo, but I failed to be impressed after seeing the woman serving them describe them to another man as if he should bust out his health insurance card before trying them. The garlic parm were very good, and the parm they used wasn't that crap that comes out of the little shaker, no, they were grating a block of parmesan cheese right there and putting it on your wings. Well done. For being deep fried, a good size and for showing some care for their wings, they deserve a 4 out of 5.

11) Frankie's 2574 N Campbell, Tucson, AZ
This booth featured a "classic hot" and a habanero BBQ sauce, so I tried one of each. The habanero BBQ was pathetic. I know most places down here add habanero to their sauces to make them hot for the sake of being hot, but this place even failed to do that. The classic hot was OK, but again, it was more along the lines of a traditional mild, but don't get me wrong, it's still nowhere close to a Buffalo standard. They were a good size and they were deep fried well for a change. 3 out of 5.

12) Wing Stop, everywhere down here
These places keep popping up wherever you look. They offer pretty small wings, but the flavors and the total deep fry is spot on. I just went for my standard picks: the mild and the garlic parm. The mild sauce is done well and the garlic parm were great. I keep going back to these places so they must do something right. 4 out of 5.

13) Hooters, 4385 W Ina Rd, Tucson, AZ
This place is still considered to be in Tucson? I could have sworn it was Marana by that point. As a male, I'm hard pressed to complain about the tarted up college girls wearing spandex outfits, but why is there always that one tolken 48 year old woman whose hair has turned to wicker because she's been covering her brunette hair by bleaching it for some twenty plus years that nobody has the heart to put out to pasture? Oh ya, there was a BBQ and a breaded wing too, which were both simply average. 3 out of 5.

14) East Coast Super Subs, 187 N Park (9th and Park) Tucson, AZ
They offered a medium and a BBQ-medium mix that they call Schreiner. Sure, why not? The Schreiner was alright, but not stellar. The medium on the other hand was another example of a sauce that comes so close and then leaves out that little extra something. They were a decent size but they could have used a little bit of a longer cooking time in the frier. 4 out of 5.

15) Buffalo Wild Wings, 68 N Harrison Rd, Tucson, AZ
I had always heard that there was one of these around here... somewhere off of Ajo Way I think. Nothing surprising here. It's the same as it is in Buffalo. Small, overpriced wings with a big variety of flavors. I had a medium that was average and a Caribbean jerk because I love jerk and didn't know they had that flavor. It was pretty good. I don't know if they have the buy one get one Tuesdays down here like they do in Buffalo, but that's about the only time it's worth shelling out for this place. Still, can't deny them a 4 out of 5.

The categories that I voted in ranked up as follows:
Most Exotic Wings: Risky Business, for their Whiskey wings
Best Decorated Booth: Wing Stop
Friendliest Staff: Bianchi's Italian

My overall impression of the wing fest is that I'm glad that something like this exists in Tucson, but there are a few things that need to change to make it great.
1) Put this place in a larger area. This was held in a room with square footage close to my apartment (about 1600 square feet). 15 restaurants, nearly 600 people...it was chaos. I got there right when the doors opened, so the first hour wasn't bad, but it got worse and worse.
2) If you're going to have a friendliest staff category, that means you have to talk to the staff, which is nearly impossible when you have a live band playing half the time, and then the other half, part of the U of A marching band comes in and starts blaring their crappy fight songs. At least a couple of the pom line girls were cute. Bottom line, get rid of the music.
3) Advertise this event better. I don't have a TV, but I do listen to the local radio a lot, and it took my friend that sorta heard this in passing on a radio station before I found out about it two weeks before the event.
4) This may just be a personal preference, but a more centralized location would be great for this. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy bicycling more than a marathon today, but I'm probably still not rehydrated.

Hopefully this makes up for me ignoring you guys for such a long time. Until next time, just wing it.