These three long-established restaurants promise to conquer your craving for wings, and they all say their sauces play a big part in that continued success.
The Pike Café in Reading: “For the Tough Guy hot sauce,” Corey Hartman shares, “we roast habaneros so that the flavor is all there—not just the heat.” The Spicy Honey BBQ is also made in-house. A super-tasty Parmiyaki sauce comes from Parmesan Peppercorn and teriyaki mixed together. “It’s a fairly new flavor for us, but it’s become one of the fan favorites,” asserts Amy Kern. As for the Lemon Pepper, “It’s a dry rub, and we put a bit of melted butter on the wings to stick to it,” she says.
The Westy Bar & Grill in Hamburg: “My personal favorite is the hot sauce,” says Kerry Mengel, manager. “We mix it and season it ourselves. My biggest disappointment happens if I go out somewhere and order their cayenne flavor, because it’s just straight out of the bottle. We put a lot of seasoning in ours.” His sister, Kelly Lynn, is a fan of “regular hot,” saying, “Our homemade hot sauce—that’s the best!” According to Mengel, it’s cayenne pepper-basedplus butter, and contains The Westy’s secret “bunch of seasonings.”
Flanagan’s Pub in Shillington:Owner Chris Flanagan’s personal favorite saucy wings are traditional hot wings (“but not too hot!”) with blue cheese. But the restaurant’s Red White & Blue variety has, he says, proven to be “one of the most popular styles, with hot sauce, blue cheese dressing and sour cream mixed together”—truly a luscious way to enjoy chicken. “We’ve been here 42 years now,” muses Flanagan. “I remember when wings became a fad back in the ’80s—ten-cent wings!”
