The Observation Deck

A summer festival has been planned to not only find out who serves the best wings in Lakewood but also to give the city a great reason to go to Lakewood Park and raise funds for the youth programs in Lakewood. As with anything, the first year presents the most challenge. What better place to spread the word than here.
Contestants (licensed Lakewood establishments only please) are still being accepted for the first annual contest to be held on June 18th at Lakewood Park. Along with having the chance to compete for the title, each contestant will retain all sales. A trophy will be awarded to the overall winner as well as plaques by category.
Throughout the day there will also be a Softball and Sand Volleyball tournament as well as events for the kids. We will also have live music featuring local artists on the bandstand from 3-7pm.
Proceeds from refreshment sales and registration fees will go to benefit the youth programs in Lakewood. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Promotions will begin soon.
For further details please contact Shawn Juris at lakewoodjaycees@netzero.com or just ask on the board. I'll check back in to provide more specifics as needed.

I nominate Sullivan's wings with their Guiness-based b-b-q sauce.

A meeting will be held on Thursday April 20th at 5:30 PM at the Lakewood Women's Pavilion. This meeting is open to all registered contestants and any Lakewood restaurants who are interested in participating. We will answer any questions to ensure the success of this new event.
We will discuss cost, staffing, equipment and Health Code regulations.
I hope to see a good showing of Lakewood's Finest Wing Chefs there ready to support Lakewood's Youth Programs.

I nominate 2 places:

- Around The Corner
- Winking Lizard

At this point the restaurants who have confirmed their participation are; Lakewood Village, Harry Buffalo, Crazy Rita's, Carlucci's and the Kenilworth. We are waiting for the following to confirm; The Old Stand, Around the Corner, Rush Inn, Pug Mahone's, Cronies, McCarthy's, Bottom's Up, Sullivan's and Merry Arts.
Those who turned down our invitation were Angelo's, Winking Lizard, Pacer's, Geppetto's, Fat Billy's, Roman Fountain, Pizza Pan, Drink Cafe, Riviera and Donato's.

Give Mama Mia's on Madison a call. It's a relatively new enterprise, where the old Krauss Pizza had been located.

Kenneth Warren

My Kitchen

I miss the old Chicken and Ribs Galore and not just for the Honor Blackman allusion. When Steve Davis lived up on Wyandotte, he had paint for his porch deck mixed to match the C&RG wing sauce so he wouldn't have to mop up spillage. This was in the days before he was a liberal demigod.

We vote for the Riverwood!

Mike and Rhonda Loje

Thanks for your suggestions. We have added the Riverwood and Cronies to the list of contestants for this year's competition. Time is running out to be included in this year's contest. Locations on the fence include Rush Inn, the Old Stand, Around the Corner, McCarthy's and Pug Mahone's. Space is available for just 3 more entries.

I would say either Geppetto's, Pacers or Carlucci's..


and david david david, the Winking Lizard?! their wings have a plain taste in wings, because when I had them it was like eating over-fried stale hard-rock bread.

if that makes any sense.

There's a brewery in Columbus that smokes their wings instead of grilling or frying them... and my lord those are the best wings I've ever had. Plus, they're the size of oranges!

Ivor Karabatkovic wrote:and david david david, the Winking Lizard?! their wings have a plain taste in wings, because when I had them it was like eating over-fried stale hard-rock bread.

Not a fan of the Lizard wings, eh? I guess different people have different tastes in Wings...

I lived in Buffalo as a college student during the 70s. I still return there every so often and find the Chicken Wings there are generally superior to what I can find in Lakewood for some reason or another.

For my taste and recall Around the Corner comes closest to hitting the Buffalo mark.

Why are so many places missing the mark?

I conjecture an aspect to the sauce preparation may be missing in wings falling short of the standard set in many Buffalo joints.

Generally it seems that an unheated sauce with too thick a consistency is glopped onto the chicken wings.

The critical steps that may be missing could be: 1) melt butter in saucepan, add hot sauce to taste and vinegar. 2) Pour hot sauce over wings and mix well to cover.

It seems to me the heated butter hot sauce with vinegar holds a thinner consistency that penetrates the wings in a seamless way, the way I recall from Buffalo days.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Or do you prefer a thicker sauce served over the wings at room temperature?


Kenneth Warren

I'm a drenched-in-sauce wings kinda guy...

Yeah, David I do have to agree that the Winking Lizard BBQ sauce is a good one, but the meat itself is fried off the wing itself.

I don't like my sauce too thick, because then you find yourself full from the sauce and no wings..!