Back in the day, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and we cranked up the backyard Weber to celebrate the Fourth of July — the anniversary of our freedom and liberty — we’d cook hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. We’d inhale Everests of coleslaw and potato salad. And Lord knows we would drink beer, lots and lots of beer, from long-forgotten brands with names like Old Milwaukee, Pils, Rheingold, Olympia and Jax. Sudsy memories all.
We still eat our burgers and dogs, and drink our beer in copious quantities. But these days, to the pantheon of great barbecue dishes to consume in clucking heaps come the Fourth, we must add the much-loved Buffalo chicken wing. It’s a relative newcomer, with a nigh-on obsessive following.
The Buffalo chicken wing was invented at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, on Oct. 30, 1964, by owner Teressa Bellissimo in response to an excess shipment of chicken wings ordered by her husband Frank (who had wanted backs and necks for his spaghetti sauce). This spicy deep-fried bar snack went on to become one of the definitive pub foods of the 20th (and now the 21st) century. Along with nachos, French fries and onion rings, wings are the perfect accompaniment to a pitcher of beer and a ballgame on the TV over the pool table — at least it was back in “normal” times.
The dish does offer some bits of confusion, for the hot sauce drenched wings (cut into drumettes) are served with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing. Is the celery to be dipped in the dressing? Is the dressing for the wings? And if it’s anything less than extremely hot, are they really Buffalo chicken wings?
I must admit that I’ve never tasted Buffalo chicken wings within the city limits of Buffalo, New York. The last time I was in Buffalo was in the early 1960s, several years before both the invention of the chicken wing, and before my achieving an age at which I could legally enter a bar and order a plateful, along with that other Buffalonian specialty called the beef-on-weck sandwich.
According to food writer Calvin Trillin, there are several hundred places in Buffalo where you can order Buffalo chicken wings. Trillin tells us that, in Buffalo, ”Chicken wings are always offered ‘mild’ or ‘medium’ or ‘hot’…and they are always accompanied by celery and blue cheese dressing. I ate celery between chicken wings. I dipped the celery into the blue cheese dressing. I dipped chicken wings into the blue cheese dressing. I learned later that nobody in Buffalo has figured out for sure what to do with the blue cheese dressing.”
These days, we have no lack of places to go for chicken wings here in the Los Angeles area. They even do terrific ones at spots as variant as Hamburger Hamlet, Cheesecake Factory and Chicago Ribs. But as ever, I lean toward the smaller places, where wings are semi-religious icons, a ritual consumed all year round — but especially come the Fourth.
And they should be hot — hot enough to cause, as one place says, ”the old runny nose, and sweat on the forehead.” Hot enough that, after half a dozen wings, you’ll start babbling incoherently, and confessing to crimes you hadn’t committed. Thanks to modern agricultural science, there are peppers out there that approach lethality. Beer always helps. And so does the celery and blue cheese. Surely, that’s the point.
And with that, here are my favorite Long Beach area restaurants for chicken wings — which always travel well — for takeout and delivery:
BBQ Chicken
11322 South St., Cerritos; 562-403-2556, www.bbqchickencerritos.com
This generically named Korean chicken shop offers a wide assortment of fried chicken pleasures, including three options for wings — BB, Honey Garlic and Soy Garlic. But possibly even more appealing — and certainly lotsa fun — are the trio of boneless deep-fried chicken chunks, which arrive Golden Original, Secret Spicy and Hot Spicy. A bucketful tends to vanish far faster than expected.
Otherwise, the menu is pretty minimalist, with the only side dish options cheese sticks, onions rings, french fries and sweet potato fries. The concept may be Korean, but there’s no kimchi in sight.
And do take note of the website, which features a chart detailing the global expansion of brand beginning in 1995 as sort of a roadmap. This chicken really is…everywhere.
11824 Artesia Blvd., Artesia; 562-402-5400, www.bellybombz.com
Belly Bombz Kitchen is pretty much perfectly named. In an age of restaurant names that simply ooze healthy, organic, natural, farm-to-table, warm and cozy, Belly Bombz is unapologetically what it claims to be — a casual café that serves dishes that hit you in the gut, and stay there until your body figures out what the heck is going on.
This is a restaurant of belly “bombz” that will make your belly very happy to have been bombed. The fusion here is heavy. The elotes is white corn with bacon and a Korean chili aioli mayo — Mexican-Korean dish that cannot be denied. The chicken skin chicharrones stands somewhere between Latino and Jewish — fried chicken skin is a longtime Eastern European favorite; it comes with garlic salt for dipping, should you need more.
And then, there’s the hot Cheetos mac, which is — yes! — mac and cheese made using Cheetos instead of macaroni, a touch of culinary genius, for Cheetos have crunch, where mac doesn’t. But that’s just a warmup — and it will warm you up.You need to move into the Bombz Zone, which begins with the wings, served both with the bone and without. (I prefer with the bone because it slows down my eating, and gives me something gnaw on).
The wings come in eight flavors, all of them pretty much over the top, with an outlandish crust, thanks to the kitchen’s taste for coatings like burnt sugar, parmesan and Sriracha. Order too many; they taste good later as well, if any actually survive their first appearance.
There’s a Korean-style fried chicken sandwich — which means the chicken crackles with every bite — along with a bulgogi burger to which you can add a second patty and a fried egg, in case you’re a bit peckish. The truffle burger isn’t expected, but there it is. The pulled pork grilled cheese sandwich is expected, and there it is too. And for those who want to go out in style, there’s a coffee stout variant on poutine, along with pork belly fries.
Cluck & Blaze
4501 E. Carson St., Long Beach; 562-399-9596, www.cluckandblaze.com
Cluck & Blaze offers just one option for chicken wings — but like everything on the menu, it’s potentially hot to the point of joyous Scoville Scale madness. The wings, in this case, arrive (as does much of the menu) with Texas toast (a grand name for white bread toast with butter and garlic!), pickles and “Comeback Sauce” — which is sweet and spicy and, yup, makes you want to come back for more.
But it’s the heat it’s all about. For Cluck & Blaze doesn’t just serve Nashville hot chicken — it challenges you to turn up the heat, and possibly cause some serious internal damage. The spiceless version is called “Chicken!?” Which is clearly their way of taunting those with milquetoast palates. From there, it moves up through “You Can Do Better,” “Better,” “Feel It Twice,” “Call Mom” and the hottest of the hot, the “Death Sauce” — which is the sort of sauce I used to order, before my gastroenterologist insisted on a couple of endoscopies and told me to cut it out, if I wanted to have a stomach. Oh well.
That said, Cluck & Blaze is also properly committed to crispy and crunchy, and then some. If you’re feeding a bunch (socially distanced, of course), get “The Bird” — two breasts, two wings, two legs, two thighs, Texas Toast, pickles and Comeback. The Nashville Hot Breakfast Burrito comes with Tater Tots. Of course it does.
Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken
2580 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach; 562-276-1819, www.gusfriedchicken.com
I like the fact that Gus’s lists its chicken wings under “Snacks” because, really, isn’t that what they are? They fit into my definition of a “snack” — something you eat for the pure pleasure and joy of it, with happiness in every bite.
The wings come a dozen at a clip — as a proper snack should — along with white bread, which is so Southern. The menu says, “Make It a Meal with Baked Beans and Slaw Too!” Something from each of the major food groups…I guess!
Gus’s is a nationwide chain with a history stretching back nearly 70 years to the small Tennessee hamlet of Mason. That’s where the wonderfully named Napoleon “Na” Vanderbilt dedicated himself to coming up with a fried chicken recipe that wasn’t just good — it was iconic. (And where else but in Tennessee do folks obsess over such a thing?)
Na and his wife, Ms. Maggie (and no, this was not scripted by Tennessee Williams!), began selling fried chicken sandwiches, in white bread of course, out of the back door of a tavern. Which led to a restaurant, built with the help of locals on Highway 70 in Mason, called Maggie’s Short Orders. (It still stands to this day!)
In the early 1980s, Na and Ms. Maggie passed on. Their son, Vernon “Gus” Bonner, took over the Short Order, renaming it “Gus’s World Famous Hot and Spicy Fried Chicken.” And with a name like that, and a chicken like that, Gus’s spread from coast to coast — from Maryland to California, with many outlets in the South (29 locations in 13 states).
And what is the secret? According, to Gus: “This is a dead man’s recipe [and] I ain’t telling.” Which isn’t nearly as elegant as the chicken served at the local outlets, where the Southern roots are more than evident. For starters, there are fried pickles (with ranch dressing), fried green tomatoes and fried okra. The Southern notion of a snack does not include a salad, not even slaw. Except with the wings. Which I’m guessing are seen as health food. I do love the South. My cardiologist, not so much.
Krispy Krunchy Chicken
6370 E. Stearns St., Long Beach; 562-597-1011, www.krispykrunchy.com
Krispy Krunchy Chicken is described as “one of the fastest-growing convenience store based quick-service restaurant (QSR) concepts in the nation.” The slogan is “Freshly Made…Perfectly Cajun.” There are branches pretty much everywhere. And though I have an innate leaning toward dedicated chicken shops — both individual and chain — Krispy Krunchy can live up to its name, offering Buffalo wings with a choice of Krispy Sauce, Traditional Sauce and Sweet & Sour Sauce, in groupings of five, 10, 20 and 40.
And hey, since they’re inside convenience stores, you can get a wide assortment of beers and other snacks. They’ve been around since 1989, and they have about 2,500 outlets in 47 states, American Samoa and Mexico. They come with honey butter biscuits. When in need, there they are. Krispy, krunchy…and hot to go.
Roscoe’s House of Chicken N Waffles
730 E. Broadway, Long Beach, 562-437-8355, www.roscoeschickenandwaffles.com
There are three chicken wing options on the menu, along with any number of larger chicken platters. “The Oscar” offers a trio of chicken wings, grits, one egg and a “fluffy” biscuit. “Obama’s Special” is the same three wings, but in this case a choice of a waffle, potato salad or french fries. And then, there’s the “Number 20,” three wings again, this time with a choice of greens or potatoes smothered in gravy with onions.
And despite the heft of some of the side dishes, the wing plates are among the most modest on the menu. At Roscoe’s — which has been an institution since 1975 — the chow rules. And it rules large. This is, at once, a restaurant where the choice is easy — and also very complicated.
I suppose the simplest way to go is with one of Herb’s Specials (Herb Hudson is the founder). There’s half a chicken (and a very big chicken), Southern fried in a crust so good that even if you pledge not to eat the crust, you will, served over a pair of the best waffles in town. The waffles and the chicken just drip butter. Or, if you get the adjacent variation, they drip gravy and the sweetest, softest, tastiest onions ever. And that’s just a small taste of the menu.
There is, for instance, the Sir Michael — a quarter chicken covered with gravy and onions, with grits and hot biscuits. Soul food incarnate. Move up to the Lord Harvey, and the chicken grows to a half.
For me, Roscoe’s is all about its namesake — chicken (specifically Southern fried) and waffles. But there’s plenty of additional chicken action to be found here. There is, for instance, a section of the menu dedicated to “New Chicken Chili.” You can get a bowl over rice or beans. You can get it in a bun (“Dave’s Sloppy Chili”). Or you can get it over cheese fries. It’s good. Actually, it’s very good. But I live for the crust, and the waffles. And that’s all there is to it.
SoCal Wings
1800 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach; 562-743-0006, www.socal-wings.com
SoCal Wings is all about the options — and specifically the flavors. You can order your wings on plates stretching from five up to a hundred — and I imagine that bigger orders are certainly not discouraged. But the flavors — 24 wet sauces ands seven dry rubs! — make the options the near side of infinite. Mango Tango! Flaming Phoenix! Fireball! Smokin’ Spice! Dynamite! They’re not all fiery. But then, when you call one of your flavors “Blazing Hot,” you’re pretty well cutting to the chase!
And the choice of side orders is pretty extensive too — more than a dozen, including corn fritters, Tater Tots, jalapeño poppers and fries topped with cheese, ranch dressing and green onions. There are rice bowls for those of modest tastes. I guess…
Wingstop
1806 Ximeno Ave., Long Beach; 562-961-9464, www.wingstop.com
Like BBQ Chicken and Gus’s and Krispy Krunchy, Wingstop speaks volumes about our nationwide obsession with fried chicken in general, and chicken wings in particular. It’s defined by Wikipedia as “a chain of nostalgic, aviation-themed restaurants specializing in chicken wings. Wingstop locations are decorated following a 1930s and 1940s ‘pre-jet’ aviation theme. The restaurant chain was founded in 1994 in Garland, Texas, and began offering franchises in 1998. Since then, Wingstop has grown into a chain with more than 1,000 restaurants either open or in development. The chain is headquartered in Addison, Texas.”
In other words, you can stop at a Wingstop for wings most everywhere in this nation of ours. Forget apple pie — wings are America incarnate. (That said, there are also branches in the United Kingdom, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Colombia and the United Arab Emirates. Culinary colonialism?)
The wings are good, often very good, arriving on the bone or boneless, in flavors like Hawaiian, garlic parmesan, lemon pepper, hickory smoked, hot lemon, atomic, mango habanero, Cajun, spicy Korean and more. And there used to be more — like Brazilian citrus, Old Bay, harissa, Volcano and Dragon’s Breath.
Of course there are Kentucky bourbon baked beans on the side, along with Cajun fried corn. That there are branches in Russia befuddles me. But then, I guess chicken wings and vodka go together pretty well. I guess.
More great options
- The Buffalo Spot: 4740 E. 7th St., Long Beach, 562-296-4365; 239 Los Cerritos Center, Cerritos, 562-402-2250; www.thebuffalospot.com
- Cali Shrimp and Wingz House: 1169 E. 10th St., Long Beach; 562-528-8911, www.calishrimpandwingzHouse.com
- FB Nashville Hot Chicken: Liberation Brewing, 3630 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach; 562-543-3911
- Flying Chicken Pa-Dak: 12238 Artesia Blvd., Artesia, 562-402-7400
- Jay Bird’s Chicken: Long Beach Exchange, 4150 McGowen St., Long Beach
- Kokio Chicken: 13337 Artesia Blvd., Cerritos; 562-802-0200, www.kokiochicken.com
- Legend Hot Chicken: 4131 Woodruff Ave., Lakewood; 562-420-9934, www.legendhotchickenorder.com
- Louisiana Famous Fried Chicken: 2970 Santa Fe Ave., Long Beach, 562-595-8552; 5184 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, 562-984-8450
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.
