Nothing says ‘college’ more than feasting on chicken wings and drinking a couple of brewdoggies, right?  Of course, not all wings are created equal, so Pulp has scoured CampusFood.com to bring you four worthy contenders to compete for the title of ‘Best Chicken Wings Around.’ Which wings will win?

Criteria: To make the judging process as fair as possible, I broke it down into five categories, as follows:

Ordering options (5 points): How many different sauce and spice levels are offered? 

Portion size (5 points): You’re a broke college kid — do you get your money’s worth?

Skin crispness (5 points): Is the outside of the wing crisp or soggy?

Juiciness (5 points): Is the chicken moist and tender or dry and tough?

Delivery time (5 points): I ordered using CampusFood.com. Which eatery will send someone to your house right away, and which will leave you waiting?

Wings Over Syracuse:

315 Nottingham Road

Ordering options: 5 points. 21 flavors. Enough said.  

Portion: 4 points. 15 wings, $10.99; 25 wings, $16.99. You can order as many as 120 wings, or as few as seven.

Skin crispness: 3 points. Quite frankly, some of these wings were a little soggy.

Juiciness: 4 points. Some were dry, but others from the same order were especially tender. 

Delivery time: 5 points. It only took 33 minutes to arrive. Not too shabby. 

Comments: The most appealing factor about Wings Over Syracuse is that it offers so many different sauce options. It offers all the staples as well as some unique flavors, like West Texas Mesquite and Garlic Parmesan. The Buffalo-style Red Alert wings, with their intense burn, tasted amazing. Though the texture of the wings disappointed — they just weren’t as crisp as I wanted — I would still order Wings again, just to taste-test delicious Cajun Teriyaki.

Manager Tim Pratt reveals his favorite sauces on the next page.

Cosmos Pizza & Grill:

143 Marshall St.

Ordering options: 3.5 points. There are only six sauce options, but there’s an extra hot sauce for those who feel bold. 

Portion: 4.5 points. 12 wings, $7.59; 24 wings, $14.99. It’s a close second to Acropolis.

Skin crispness: 3.5 points. Not terrible, but nothing to get excited about. 

Juiciness: 5 points. Plenty of juicy, meaty chicken.  

Delivery time: 4 points. The deliveryman just squeaked by his estimated delivery time, taking 44 minutes to arrive. 

Comments: Suspicions have been officially confirmed. Cosmos Pizza and Grill does it all, and it does it all well. I was pleased to discover that Cosmos sells chicken wings because these wings were pretty damn good. We ordered half barbecue wings and half medium, and the medium chicken wings could definitely have been a bit spicier. I guess that’s why the eatery offers extra hot? Overall, Cosmos shined in the juiciness category, and the wings are definitely the most filling. Check out the recipe for the special loaded state fair steak sandwich, another dish that’s sure to impress.

Burgers, Wings and Pirogies:

50 Presidential Plaza

Ordering options: 3 points. The only choices were barbecue, honey mustard, hot sauce or no sauce.  

Portion: 3 points. 10 wings, $8.99.  20 wings, $16.99. There were only two different size options and a slightly higher price per wing than any of the other establishments.

Skin crispness: 5 points. Mastered this category.  There was a nice crunch for each wing. 

Juiciness: 5 points. Although these wings were smaller than ones from the other places, each one had plenty of thick, tender chicken. 

Delivery time: 3 points. Although CampusFood.com estimated a 45-minute delivery time, Burgers, Wings and Pirogies kept us waiting for an extra ten minutes. Moral of the story: Don’t order these after a long night of partying, or you might fall asleep before they arrive.

Comments: Burgers, Wings and Pirogies nailed the perfect combination of skin crispness and juicy meat, creating a texture that was just right. Another perk: Every order comes with a can of soda and a choice of a side (either taters or french fries). Something bizarre: when the wings arrived, the sauce was on the side instead of smothered on top of the chicken. This meant that each wing had to be individually dipped in sauce, which proved to be inconvenient. Yet, as the name suggests, Burgers, Wings and Pirogies also fries a mean potato dumpling. Check out the recipe on the following page.

Acropolis Pizza House:

167 Marshall St.

Ordering options: 4 points.  Eight choices. It has mostly standard flavors, but also offers Cajun flavors and two different varieties of barbecue.

Portion: 5 points. 12 wings, $7.25; 24 wings, $13.95. Best deal out there. You can order as many as 100 wings, or as few as six.

Skin crispness: 5 points. The wings have the ultimate crisp outside. There isn’t even a hint of sogginess. Yum.

Juiciness: 3.5 points. The meat was a bit dry. 

Delivery time: 4.5 points. Technically, it clocked in only one minute slower than Wings.  However, Wings deserves the extra credit, as they had to travel farther than Marshall Street.

Comments: Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby declare Acropolis Pizza House the Chicken Wing Champion!  Although Acropolis did sacrifice some of the chicken’s juiciness for the perfect crisp skin, these wings were the ones I was most excited to scarf down. My dining partners and I ordered the medium sauce as well as the mild sauce, which leaned toward the sweet side.  The medium burned faintly, so if you like a lot of spice, I would recommend the hot sauce. For those craving a more homespun dish, turn the page and check out the spinach pie recipe.

jidonfro@syr.edu

Published on October 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm