Whether it’s game day or a random Tuesday night, eating chicken wings is almost never a bad idea.
Eat This, Not That recently compiled a list of the best places to get wings in every state.
“Not only are they a staple on sports bar menus, but you can also find them on the appetizer menus at fancy restaurants,” the website said. “Creative chefs experiment with wet sauces. And dry rubs. And frying techniques and batters. If you’re a purist, though, the classic buffalo wing remains a perfect bite: a crunchy, deep-fried exterior drenched in a tangy-spicy sauce; juicy chicken; and an obligatory dunk in creamy blue cheese.”
There are dozens of chicken wing spots in the Peach State, but Eat This, Not That says that one Atlanta-based staple has them all beat.
J.R. Crickets deems itself the Atlanta buffalo wing tradition and with 60 million wings sold, it’s easy to see how it landed on the list of the best chicken wings in every state.
“This Georgia institution has been slinging wings since 1982 when the first J.R. Crickets opened in midtown Atlanta,” Eat This, Not That said of the award-winning wings, adding that the restaurant “keeps things simple with a handful of sauces done right.”
Here, you can stick to the original buffalo wing sauce or choose from buffalo barbecue and Southern sweet style barbecue sauces. You can also choose the lemony pepper seasoning, or elect to eat it the way Paper Boi and his pal Darius received theirs in a first season episode of FX’s “Atlanta:” lemon pepper wet.
However, the custom order wasn’t originally an official menu item at J.R. Crickets, which has locations throughout metro Atlanta.
“We just thought it would be funny to see somebody get hooked up at J.R. Crickets by getting that option that isn’t even really available,” Stone Mountain native and “Atlanta” screenwriter Stephen Glover told the AJC in 2017 of the famed scene. “That would be like the best of both worlds. The box glowing just helped sell the feeling of how magical that would be.”
That’s not to say they didn’t always offer the treat, however. Nick Juliano, a lobbyist and one of the owners of J.R. Crickets, told the AJC that the fried wings tossed in their original buffalo sauce and sprinkled with lemon-pepper seasoning has been a long-time request from patrons. In recent years, however, the demanded lemon pepper wet option has been officially added to its menu.
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