Wing nuts

Photos:

Photo tour: Yak-Zies

With football season about to start, there’s only one thing on our minds. And this year, for once, it’s not a quarterback controversy. No, this season we finally can focus on real game-day essentials—like where to find the best wings to satiate our half-time hunger. We’ve lined up 16 contenders; now we’re looking to you to make the final call. Which Chicago spot serves the best wings?

Voting has closed. Look for the results here on metromix.com Sept. 17.

Wild Goose Bar & Grill
Regulars at this North Center spot swear by the wings (10 for $5.95; 10 cents Mondays with a 10-wing minimum and drink purchase required), available in hot, mild, medium, barbecue, chipotle-barbecue or teriyaki. The chipotle-barbecue wings took second place in the barbecue category at Wing Fest 2009; Wild Goose also scored second in the mild category this year.

Wings Around the World
Indecisive diners are in for a challenge at this South Side spot, which offers wings with 55 sauces from nine countries (five for $4; 10 for $6.99). They won best of fest and took home exotic honors for honey-lemon pepper wings at Wing Fest 2008.

Mahoney’s Pub & Grille
This West Town Irish pub entered its spicy barbecue wings (10 for $8.95; 25 cents Wednesdays with a 10-wing minimum) in Wing Fest 2009 on a whim and walked away with best of fest honors. Fittingly, Jameson is the secret ingredient.

Hops & Barley
Hand-battered and never frozen, the wings (10 for $8; 25 cents on Sundays with an eight-wing minimum) at this Portage Park pub—honey-barbecue and garlic-parmesan are among the most popular—have been a hit since the spot’s 2005 opening.

Yak-Zies Bar and Grill
Perhaps Chicago’s most celebrated, the wings (10 for $7.50; half-price Mondays) at both locations of this sporty spot are made from the same recipe the owner commandeered during a road trip to Buffalo, N.Y., in the ’60s.  Locations in Lincoln Park and Wrigleyville.

Wings O’Flavor
At this new Lakeview spot, owner Errol Batts’ wife Arlene marinates wings (five for $4.99; 10 for $7.50) in a secret mixture of Caribbean seasonings passed down from her mother and grandmother in Jamaica. They’re available in seven sauces.

Wingstop
This Texas-based chain specializes in speed and choice, with a quick counter-service setup and a lineup of nine different sauces, from Cajun to teriyaki, for your wings (10 for $6.39). Locations on Milwaukee and Western avenues.

Goose Island Brewpub
Though much of the menu at this Lincoln Park staple got an overhaul this year, they knew better than to touch the wings. The classic buffalo wings (one pound, or 8-10 wings, for $9), served with blue cheese sauce, haven’t changed a bit. (If you’re OK with change, try the Sriracha-sauced version with wasabi aioli.)

Bull & Bear
Though it’d been open for just a month at Wing Fest 2009, this River North bar took top honors in the exotic category with its Asian-inspired barbecue wings and won third in the hot category with its jalapeno-spiced maximum wings (10 for $11; half-price 3-6 p.m. Monday-Friday).

Timothy O'Tooles
Of the seven sauces smothering the wings here, the spicy wings, made with a secret combination of peppers that ranks above “mild” but just below “volcanic,” won first place in Wing Fest 2009’s hot category (10 for $7.99, $5 Tuesdays).

Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap
Talk about hot stuff: The XXX wings (10 for $11.95) at this River North spot come dressed in a sauce made from bhut jolokia, otherwise known as the Indian
ghost pepper, purportedly the hottest pepper in the world.

The Fifty/50
Traditional buffalo is this Division Street bar’s best-selling style, and they stand out thanks to made-from-scratch hot sauce that’s aged in-house for eight weeks before it’s slathered on crispy-fried wings (eight for $9).

Mullen’s on Clark
This Wrigleyville bar’s cheesy garlic buffalo sauce is so popular people sometimes order it on the side with a sandwich. Seven sauces are available for wings (six for $5; 12 for $8), with the cheesy garlic and Southwest buffalo placing at Wing Fest for the last five years.

Buffalo Wings & Rings
Nine sauces and five levels of heat, ranging from mild to atomic, ensure ultimate freedom of choice at this Bridgeport franchise, which hand cuts wings (10 for $8.49; 49 cents Tuesdays; 49 cent boneless wings Wednesdays) to maximize size.

Junior’s Sports Lounge
Junior’s “cans-cut” wings (eight for $7; 35 cents on Mondays) pull the meat to the top like a large lollipop. Choose from three sauces, including the must-try Jack Daniel’s barbecue sauce, house-made and simmered for hours.

Reggie’s Music Joint
Double-breaded, coated in a house-made rub, then dipped in regular, barbecue or “on fire” secret sauces, these wings (eight for $8; 25 cents on Tuesdays; half-price on Wednesdays) are known more for unique flavor than size or heat.

>>Don't see your favorite wings in Chicago listed here? E-mail nightlife producer Lisa Arnett at lmarnett@tribune.com to plead your case (or post a comment here) and we'll add them to our poll.

Lisa Arnett, Lisa Balde, Matt McGuire, Matt Pais and M. Kathleen Pratt are Metromix producers.  metromix@tribune.com