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WING IT
Written by Jesse Hirsch, Photo by Tom Dudley
In a borough as diverse as ours, your wing varieties should span a wider range than crispy and extra-crispy. So before you make your Super Bowl order with a local deli or Irish pub, have a look at these ethnic variations from three outstanding Queens restaurants.
Unidentified Flying Chickens, 71-22 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, 718-205-6662, www.ufchicken.com
With its silly name and its cute cartoon logo, you wouldn’t be faulted for not taking Unidentified Flying Chickens seriously. But since storming New York’s Korean fried chicken scene three years ago, UFC has proven itself an eatery to be reckoned with. Their lightly fried wings come in four varieties- soy garlic, hot, BBQ mustard, and sweet & spicy - each with a light coating of made-from-scratch sauce that enhances without overpowering. The hot wings pack a punch to rival any Buffalo competitor, with a potent base of spicy Korean pepper. The BBQ mustard recipe is a closely guarded secret, using no less than 15 ingredients to achieve its sweet tang. The sweet and spicy wings derive their complex flavor from a sauce based in four (also secret) fruits. And the soy garlic sauce, a traditional recipe, gives a subtle Asian taste that nicely rounds out the other three choices. Every wing order comes with a choice of five sides, but we strongly recommend the daikon, a Korean pickled radish with a flavor and texture that aptly cleanses the palate between wings.
Debasaki, a Japanese/Korean restaurant tucked away on an industrial side street in Flushing, serves up a slew of wing choices for the daring and the chicken alike. The restaurant’s name is a twist on Tebasaki, a style of Japanese wing prepared with black pepper, sesame and sake. With its mild sweetness and peppery kick, not to mention a reputation in Japan as the perfect beer accompaniment, the Tebasaki could be a strong contender for Super Bowl wing-of-choice. However, if you’re looking to enjoy a wing unlike any you’ve had before, the house specialty Gyoza wings (pictured above) simply can’t be missed. Named after the popular Japanese stuffed dumpling, these boneless wings have a variety of fillings to choose from – corn and cheese; shrimp; kimchi and cheese; vegetables (cabbage, onion and sesame leaves); and hot peppers. You don’t know what you’re getting until you bite into each wing, a less daunting prospect once you realize that every stuffing pairs well with the Gyoza’s thin layer of lightly seasoned skin and meat. And a beer.
Arunee Thai, 37-68 79th St., Jackson Heights, 718-205-5559
By no means is Arunee Thai a wing joint. In fact, many write-ups of this critically adored little restaurant praise its inventive salads. While this may be of little interest to many wing-lovers, they will be glad to hear that Arunee also has a following for its boneless wings, overstuffed to the size of a small baked potato. Bursting with lean white pork, glass noodles, cabbage, carrots and bean sprouts, coated in a thick deep-fried batter, and served with a side of sweet chili sauce, you’d be hard-pressed not to notice this wing’s similarities to an egg roll. But like other snack food marriages, (i.e., the pizza bagel or the maple bacon donut), there is doubtless an audience for Arunee’s indulgent fusion of egg roll and chicken wing, especially on the biggest night of the football season.
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