When it comes to chicken wings, a flavor can define a city.
When asked about the popularity of the iconic citrus heat that had become the wing staple of her city, Atlanta’s former mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms famously declared that, “lemon pepper wings were Atlanta” (although a true Atlantan would know it’s specifically lemon-pepper wet, but that is another debate altogether).
In the same vein, Memphis’s Donald Crump (real name, simpler time) and his Crumpy’s Hot Wings put honey gold on the map in the early 2000s, forever linking the tangy mustard, vinegar sweetness to that southern city. Of course, even the concept of buffalo wings themselves are inextricably tethered to the city of Buffalo, where they were (arguably) invented. Wings, it seems, have innovative touchpoints, creative evolutions, if you will, that are tied to their cities of origin…