The Winners

(Click to enlarge)

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Jury prizes

  • Best Buffalo wing: Bleu Bayou wing, Abigail's, Seneca Falls
  • Best novelty wing: Black Betty, Rusted Route, Watertown
  • Best barbecue wing: La Nova, Buffalo
  • *Manhattan's best Buffalo wing: Mudville 9
  • *Rochester's best Buffalo wing: Jeremiah's
  • Auburn's best Buffalo wing: Parker's

*picked by hunt's seven judges plus 40 members of the public on August 18 (Manhattan) and August 25 (Rochester)

 

Method:

       Seven judges rated 64 Buffalo wings in nine categories. View scorecards here.

       'Overall taste' was weighted 40 percent, followed by sauce (30 percent), meat quality (10), and aroma, appearance, greasiness, and skin (5 percent each).

 

Note on best Buffalo wing:

         Three of seven judges wanted to exclude Abigail's 'Bleu Bayou' from contention for best Buffalo wing because its sauce contains blue cheese (note: although blue cheese has always been part of the Buffalo wing experience, it traditionally comes on the side).

         Debate on how to categorize the Bleu Bayou lasted 30 hours. Finally, judges returned to Abigail's, ate another batch and concluded Bleu Bayou delivers first and foremost a traditional Buffalo flavor.


Note on discrepancy between Manhattan/Rochester titles and judges' Top 20: 

         In Manhattan and Rochester, members of the public joined the hunt and voted on those cities' best wings. At the same time, the hunt's core judges continued to rate wings for consideration in their world Top 20. In both cases, the judges and public had slightly different preferences:

          Manhattan's Atomic Wings placed 14th among judges, ahead of public winner Mudville 9 (24th among judges), while Rochester's L&M Bowling (11th) squeaked past Jeremiah’s (12th) among judges but lost the public vote.