“Thanksgiving Eve” used to be one of the biggest local drinking nights of the year, and no wonder. Everyone’s around, most of us are off the next day and plus — when you wake up, there’s all the bland comfort food any hangover requires.
Another fun thing about Thanksgiving — local rivalries! Virtually every level of football schedules a “big game” for the holiday, and fans look forward to settling old scores. A tradition that started, by the way, in Philadelphia, when the Young America Cricket Club took on Germantown’s Cricket Club, Thanksgiving Day 1869.
In this spirit, we pit wing against wing in East Falls’ shortest pub crawl ever. For decades, two neighborhood bars have peacefully occupied this unassuming intersection at Conrad and Indian Queen Lane. Now — Wednesday November 26th, Cranky Joe and Billy Murphy come out swinging for the Block’s Best Hot Wings title.
Join EastFallsLocal’s Steve & Carolyn for the spiciest (and shortest) pub crawl Conrad Street’s ever seen. The heat kicks off 6:30 pm at Murphy’s, and then shambles over to Cranky Joe’s around 8:00 pm.
Say hello. Try some wings. Fill out a scorecard and check back here after Thanksgiving for our blatantly unscientific interpretation of the results.
Who Died and Made Us Hot Wing Experts?
Palates are subjective, and this “competition” is purely for funzies. However, hot wings are big business; in fact, chicken wing franchises are one of the fastest-growing sectors in the restaurant industry.
The National Buffalo Wing Festival in — where else? — Buffalo NY drew more than 70,000 people last September and offered a variety of contests including: Wing Eating, Amateur Sauce, Bobbing for Wings and even a “Miss Buffalo Wing” crowning (prize = undisclosed $500 “gift package” plus coveted MISS BUFFALO WING sash & crown).
A relatively new dish, Hot Wings only go back to the 1960’s, when two Buffalo bars started getting attention for their spicy chicken wings. One bar served them breaded, the other did not. Devotees today will argue both ways but mostly everyone agrees “Buffalo” is all in the sauce: a simple vinegar and butter-based concoction that’s hot and tangy and a little creamy all at once.
NYC’s Dean & Deluca gourmet food enterprise supposedly tracked down the original recipe to these three ingredients:
1 stick butter
1/2 cup Louisiana hot sauce
2 tablespoons white vinegar
But why grease up the kitchen when you can warm up a bar stool?
Reconnect with old friends and make some new ones at this Wednesday night’s Wing Wars on Conrad Street.
Because we’re thankful for hot sauce, fried foods and that we can sleep in the next day.
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