Celebrate National Chicken Wing Day on Monday, July 29

July 28, 2013

Whether it is snack time, game day or happy hour, it is likely that chicken wings are on the menu. This all-American finger food is enjoyed for a variety of occasions, often times coated in hot sauce and usually served with cool bleu cheese.  It’s only right that a food this popular be recognized with a holiday. This year, we celebrate National Chicken Wing Day on July 29.

Wondering how the wing came to be a thing? The year was 1964 and Terressa Bellissimo from the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York cooked leftover wings in hot sauce as a late-night snack for her college-aged son and his friends. The boys liked them so much that the Bellissimos put them on the menu at Anchor Bar the next day. That’s one story. Scholarly debates rage, no doubt over beer and wings, about the exact history of the chicken wing and of course, multiple theories exist. Fast-forward to current day and Americans consume more than 25 billion chicken wings each year.

Flaming honey mustard

Dirty Birds in Pacific Beach is the wing headquarters for San Diegans. This restaurant is tossing up the best wings west of Buffalo. Wing lovers choose from 30 different flavors, with classics like Buffalo, BBQ, and Habanero, or original flavors like the Ninja sauce that is a sweet and spicy Asian-influenced barbeque, the Margarita is a sweet and salty mixture of reduced tequila and fresh lime, or their 3 Pete BBQ, it is a 3-step wing that is baked, fried, tossed in BBQ sauce, fried again, then tossed in buffalo sauce.

Garlic parm

This year, Dirty Birds is paying homage to a special friend and patron with their PMP Warrior Wing. The PMP Warrior Wing is coated in Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce with the just the right touch of light amber honey and rates at a level four on the hotness scale. The actual warrior is Matt Youmans, a close friend of SanDiegoVille, who is battling a rare form of cancer, called Pseudomyxoma Peritonei or PMP. Dirty Birds will donate $1 from every order to support the PMP fund. Learn more about his fight at www.pmpwarrior.org.
 
National Wing Day specials at Dirty Birds include:
• 3 Free *wings from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. with check in on Four Square or Facebook
*Wings come with ranch dip and are limited to one order per guest and to three flavors of the restaurant’s choice
• ½ off regular priced wings from 3:00 p.m. until closing time
 
Other places to take the flock for National Wing Day specials include:

Brazen BBQ in Hillcrest offers 12 smoked wings for 14.99 with 5 different dipping sauces – ranch, Creole mustard, B.R.A.G. BBQ, buffalo sauce, and the new Brazen Barn Burner sauce.
Check out The Duck Dive’s nearly world-famous Dragon Wings this August 1 for ½ off all day in honor of National Wing Day. Choose either duck or chicken wings, which come double-fried in duck fat, glazed with Asian inspired spicy mahogany chili honey lime sauce. The Duck Dive also serves ‘em up with Frank’s Red Hot or house-made BBQ sauce.