Wings Reviewed: Crispy Fried Chicken Wings

Genre:Place That Serves Wings

Overview:I missed the UCP Wing Ding St. Louis event on Thursday night because I’d already committed to going out to dinner with my parents & grandparents, in honor of my sister’s short amount of time in town between working at camp and going back to school. Fortunately, we were going to Annie Gunn’s, which some (me, for instance) may say is the best restaurant in St. Louis.

Annie Gunn’s is located in Chesterfield Valley, a dreadful part of St. Louis, but I promise it’s worth the drive… especially if someone else is paying. Entrees are around $30-$40 and glasses of wine-I know I should be talking about beer, and their beer list is pretty great and features some local beers- start at around $10. That said, it’s pretty casual for a fancy restaurant. A golf shirt and some nice shorts will do in the summer. I think my pound of wings was $12. One order might be enough to make a meal out of.

This restaurant is a favorite of my grandparents and I’ve been there way more times than I deserve. I ate these wings a lot growing up, but prior to this visit, I hadn’t had them in awhile. Pretty sure they’ve changed (for the better) in the last few years. I’ve never been in this restaurant when it wasn’t packed, and unless you’re planning on coming at some weird time in the afternoon, you should probably make reservations.

Crispy Fried Chicken Wings

BAD • FAIR • GOOD • GREAT • BEST

First things first: while I did say this place was casual for a fancy restaurant, I was still sitting across the table from my grandparents and felt bad holding my phone over the center of the table and taking a picture of the wings with flash. So, above is the picture of my plate with one wing on it that I took as discreetly as I could.

As you can barely see, these wings are served more like fried chicken than a buffalo wing. The menu says “Crispy Fried Chicken Wings with Chef Lou’s Seasoning Blend, Dipping Sauces, Carrots and Celery.” The dipping sauces it’s served with are a hot sauce and blue cheese. I poured the hot sauce over each wing before I ate it and ignored the blue cheese, carrots and celery.

First off, the wings are very good as-is. This fried chicken has good flavor and great moisture. The seasoning compliments but doesn’t overwhelm the chicken. Also, as advertised, it’s crispy. Serving the wings dry and allowing you to add your own sauce means the wings haven’t had any time to get soggy before they get to you. I consider this a bit of a cop-out, but serving a fully sauced wing is probably not appropriate for this setting and the results can’t be argued with.

Another thing about that might deter the kitchen from coating the wings in hot sauce before they serve them is that the sauce is very spicy. My grandma, who normally eats the wings plain, exclaimed “Oh shit!” when trying the hot sauce. I tried to warn her. I classified these wings as “hot buffalo” but the sauce is closer to just a hot sauce than a buffalo sauce. It’s got a good peppery heat to it that goes well with the seasoning on the chicken, but doesn’t have as much of a buttery feel that you expect in a buffalo sauce.

These wings were bordering on a “best” rating, but in context of the rest of the menu, I’ve got to give them a great. If you need chicken wings, these are great chicken wings… but look at the rest of that appetizers section. The Irish chips are great, they always have shrimp which are incredible, the potato pancakes with bacon are incredible… and then there are entrees. It’s impossible to go wrong on this menu, but if you’ve decided to spend this much money on food, I’d recommend something a little more exciting.

Visited at 7:00pm, 8/22/2013, 16806 Chesterfield Airport Road, 63005