LORD OF THE WINGS
When you’re not sure what you’re in the mood for, you can never go wrong with wings. Sally Coates finds five restaurants where you're welcome to wing it
LESTER AND EARL 1097 GOLD COAST HWY, PALM BEACH
Get your yee-haw on at Lester and Earl with a big plate of chicken wings. The southern American eatery have just what you need after a long day of cattle herding and rodeo riding – or if you’re just craving some good wings. “We’re pretty traditional American with our wings. They’re a whole wing and being American themed everything we do is pretty generous,” owner John Dunlea says. “We’ve got Frank’s traditional hot sauce, one of the first recipes out of Buffalo New York, then we’ve got sweet sticky bourbon. We twice cook our wings so they’re nice and crunchy then the sauce goes on top, so they’re a good mixture of crunchy and saucy.”
THE LAKE BREWHOUSE 235 VARSITY PARADE, VARSITY LAKES
James Lee came to Australia from Canada, where they take wings seriously. When he opened The Lake Brewhouse, he promised to deliver “the best chicken wings in Australia” and regulars have not been disappointed. Saucy or crunchy, they come in a huge range of flavours including sweet chilli, Thai honey garlic, lemon pepper ranch, caesar parmesan, hot smoky barbecue and hot blue cheese.
ZE PICKLE 37 CONNOR ST, BURLEIGH HEADS
When it comes to wings, Ze Pickle coowner Aaron Wilson almost speaks his own language. “Well 12 taps of craft beer requires chicken waaangs. It’s a vicious cycle: park up, have some beers then you hear ‘we need a bite to eat’. Order some waaangs ‘these waaangs are making me thirsty, more beer!’ The rest is history. They’re carb-conscious (no bread) and maximum flavour, but a terrible first date graceful eating idea.”
EASY STREET DINER 12/2563 GC HWY, MERMAID BEACH
Manager Mercedez Price says Easy Street’s traditional buttermilk batter Southern fried chicken wings bring people to tears. “We do sticky barbecue, hot ’n’ spicy and then there’s the hellfire wings. I’ve seen grown men cry eating these wings and I’ve seen a 75-year-old lady chow down five without even blinking. We have a regular who comes in every two weeks to try to defeat the hellfire wings but they cry every time.”
JAMROC JAMAICAN JERK CHICKEN Q SUPER CENTRE, BERMUDA STREET, MERMAID WATERS
Usually you want to steer clear of jerks, but not when it comes to chicken. “Jerk is a Jamaican cooking term as well as a seasoning,” manager Cassandra Fowler says. “What makes our chicken different as well is we steam it in the oven then charcoal grill it, so it’s not oily like fried chicken. We have mild regular barbecue, spicy jerk barbecue and plain hot.”