Weekly Check In: A Wing Crawl

I was out for dinner with my brother and some friends this past Sunday night, and we were talking about a bar whose wings we loved, that my friend Laura hadn’t been to in forever.  The conversation quickly shifted to what other pubs in that area had great wings.  We said we should make some plans to visit the Orson, the original bar we were discussing, but then lamented that there were so many other places whose wings we would also like to try.

Ten years ago, this wouldn’t have been an issue for us. There’s a high chance we’d be able to pick the four wing joints we were interested in, and knock them all of in a week, making sure to hit each on its respective wing night.  But we’re all old now. None of us go out 5 times a week, and even if our stomachs, livers, and wallets were able to handle it, our schedules wouldn’t.  While I still have a lot of great spontaneous nights out, for the most part connecting with friends these days takes a bit of planning, especially if you want to get a few of you together on the same night. Why not then, we started saying, go to all these wing joints in one day, and sample all the goods.  We’ve done plenty of bar crawls in our day. It’s time to do a wing crawl.

I can eat a lot. I could actually eat a disgusting amount. I don’t know that I could put down 5 dozen wings in a day. I think I might, if I tried real hard, but I’m no sure if I would want to try. Our solution? Depending on how many people attend said crawl (there were four of us discussing it), we’d simply order a dozen or so wings at each bar, everyone would have 2-4, we’d have a drink or two, and then proceed on our way.  There’s no hard and fast rules here, so if one dozen happened to be particularly good, we could split a 2nd one, and it’s not like we can’t go home laden with doggie bags. It’s kind of perfect though, and not nearly as taxing on your stomach or wallet if you were trying for the 5 dozen wings yourself. Essentially, at each bar, someone pays for the wings, and everyone else just covers their drinks.

You know how sometimes you make plans after a night out, or in this case, a Sunday Funday, and wake up the next day thinking that while the plans are funny, you’re not going to go through with them?  I woke up Monday and texted Laura to say we’d 100% doing this wing crawl sometime soon. I’m already excited to plan a 2nd round, in a different locale, after the first is a smashing success. I’m excited for the other possibilities this can spawn: chacuterie crawl? Pizza crawl? Calamari crawl? The possibilities really are endless.