Fire On the Mountain, hands down the best wing joint in Portland, and perhaps the best wing joint on the entire West Coast is set to open their second location in the near future - hopefully by the end of January.
The new location will be at 18th and E. Burnside.
In an Oregonian article, the owners cite Cluckbucket.com as their reason for coming to Portland...
Platter: Food Finds, Restaurant Reviews and Dining Trends- OregonLive.com
Give the Gift of Wing
Cluckbucket.com proudly presents the 2007 Wing Lover's Holiday Wish List. We've searched high and low for the perfect items that will impress and delight newbie and experienced wing lovers alike. Whether you are looking for something big like a outdoor propane wing/turkey fryer or a stocking stuffer like a three-pack of original Anchor Bar wing sauces, we've got you covered in Cluckbucket style.
> Check out the 2007 Wing Lover's Holiday Wish List
There's a new serving tray that is taking the world of wings by storm. I recently had a chance to do an official Cluckbucket review and was very impressed with how it performed. At first I didn't think it would be all that cool, but then once I started building a boneyard in the middle, I was very amazed.
Check out the review at the link below:
Cluckbucket Review: The SnacDaddy
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
Kettle Foods has just started their annual People's Choice awards (where they let their fans pick the next flavor that they bring to market) and I was able to get my hands on an early batch of the chips to give them a try. This year's campaign, called "Fire and Spice" consists of the following flavors:
I held a taste test with some of my co-workers as well as some of my wing-eating friends at the Oregon State football game, here's how things netted out.
The Clear Winner: Mango Chili
At both tasting parties these chips were pretty much the clear crowd favorite. They have a really nice combination of both sweetness and spiciness and aren't by any means overbearing in their heat. I really thing this chip is a winner, we'll see what happens when the rest of the world votes.
The Runner Up: Death Valley ChipotleThe Rest: Jalepeno Salsa Fresca, Wicked Hot Sauce, and Orange Ginger Wasabi
I can wrap up my comments on these three pretty quickly, good, pretty good, and terrible in that order. The Jalepeno Salsa Fresca had a great flavor and to me tasted very similar to the Death Valley Chipotle but not quite as good. The Wicked Hot Sauce chips were good, but were also just pretty plain, Kettle can do much better. And finally, my least favorite of them all was Orange Ginger Wasabi. I have to admit that I'm not a big wasabi fan to start with, but even the rest of the tasters thought that these were pretty bad.
But, why take my word for it, order up a box for yourself (you can get them online through Kettle's web site for $15/total) and then go to the Kettle campaign website and cast your vote:
http://fireandspice.kettlefoods.com/
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
The Chip and Wing Eating Crew
Me and the Oregon Fryer Commission Chicken
Hi Cluckbucket Friends-
Just wanted to let you know that I've finally come out of the lingering wing coma that I was in following the National Buffalo Wing Festival. Actually, I wasn't just off the wings, but I was also travelling a good amount for work (not to any great wing cities, although I did manage to sneak away to a Wingstop in Las Vegas) so I wasn't able to get much accomplished in the wing world.
That said, I'm back, and had a great wing experience this weekend in Corvallis, OR at the Oregon State/Stanford football game. I was able to test out a couple of different sauces that have been sent out to me and also do a review of a new wing serving tray called the SnacDaddy - very cool.
I'll try to get all of the pictures and the reviews up on the site within the next week.
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
http://www.cluckbucket.com/
Here's an interview with Sonya Thomas that was done a day after she demolished the chicken wing eating world record by putting away an estimated 173 wings in just 12 minutes.
Watch the video.
Mention of the Smash and Small Bone Twist eating techniques have made it as a reference in the buffalo wing entry on Wikipedia.
Take a look for yourself by clicking here.
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
http://www.cluckbucket.com/
A good friend sent this over, we are simple creatures aren't we...especially when there are wings involved.
How to treat a Woman:
Wine her. Dine her. Call her. Hold her. Surprise her. Compliment her. Smile at her. Listen to her. Laugh with her. Cry with her. Romance her. Encourage her. Believe in her. Pray with her. Pray for her. Cuddle with her. Shop with her. Give her jewelry. Buy her flowers. Hold her hand. Write love letters to her. Go to the ends of the earth and back again for her.
How To Treat a Man: Show up naked. Bring chicken wings. Don't block the TV.
Nice work Brew, go '82 Cardinals.
The National Buffalo Wing Festival 2007 was a smashing success. The attendance was the highest ever and over 25 tons of wings were cooked and consumed. We've pulled together some of the highlights of the media coverage so that you can read up on what happened:
Wing Fest 2007 - One for the Record Books
National Buffalo Wing Festival 2007 - Day One Recap - video
Buffalo Wing Festival and beautiful day attract thousands
No ‘wingin’ it’ on sauces for old pals
Wisp of a Woman Is a Wiz at Wing Eating
Wing fest returns for Labor Day weekend
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
http://www.cluckbucket.com/
The Great Chicken Wing Hunt is over, but the media coverage of this epic event/documentary in the making is just beginning. I've complied some of the highlights of the media coverage so that you can follow along with the action:
Central N.Y. restaurant's wings named the best by filmmaker
Seneca Falls chef's wings are winners
Great Chicken Wing Hunt hits Auburn
Group searches for best chicken wing
Man sings about chicken wings
Hunt Minstrel Al Caster sings "All of Me"
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
http://www.cluckbucket.com/
Here are a few random numbers from this past weekend to astonish, amaze, and disturb you:
This post really isn’t a recap of the weekend’s activities (since I think I’ve already done a pretty decent job of documenting the details in previous posts) but is more a few final thoughts on some recurring themes from the weekend and a note of thanks.
Let’s start with the note of thanks. First of all, oh behalf of both Steve and I, we would like to thank our wives (Kama and Allie) for letting us go on this journey. It was a great “activity” for Steve and I to do together and was pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity that we really appreciate you letting us capitalize on.
The next note of thanks goes to the Wing King, Drew Cerza. We are very gracious to Drew for inviting us to be involved in many of the activities throughout the weekend – the pre-party for the festival, the wing judging, the channel 7 news interview, and the event itself. It’s evident from meeting Drew in person that he has a true passion for the wing and more importantly has a heart that is in the right place, even though the main focus of the event is to promote the goodness of the buffalo wing, Drew is really using that as a front to provide a venue that allows the people of Buffalo (and all the rest of us outsiders) to gather for two days and simply have some good family friendly fun – and that is truly something that he should be proud of.
The next note of thanks goes out to all of the places where we consumed wings this weekend. There are too many to name, and while we are happy to have gotten to eat your establishment’s prized wings, we’re also pissed at you because our bodies hurt right now and we don’t want to eat any other wings for a long time… :-)
The final note of thanks goes out to a group of devoted wing lovers who gave up 14 days (plus travel plus bodily recuperation time) of their lives to journey from Manhattan to Buffalo on the quest to find the best buffalo wing in the world. Your mental stamina and intestinal fortitude are truly amazing and we were honored to get to share some of the closing moments of the journey with you. And to Matt Reynolds, the leader of the pack, I think you summed things up pretty appropriately on the phone this morning when you said “it’s nice to meet a couple of guys that are so deeply passionate about the wing – but at the same time are actually pretty normal”. The same goes from us to you. Your outward passion for the wing is obvious, but even more impressive to us are a couple of things that we saw in you that might not always get noticed (1) the amount of time and energy that you have poured into envisioning, creating, planning, and coordinating the Great Chicken Wing Hunt is simply amazing and should not go unrecognized, (2) the quality of the individuals that you brought together and level of friendship that you shared with the hunters – even through the tough times - showed that you are a true leader, and finally (3) your composure under pressure and all of the elements that you had to deal with proves that you are in this for all of the right reasons, because somebody that was going through this process to simply make a buck, would have given up a long time ago. It was an extreme pleasure for us to get to know you and again we thank you for welcoming us into your wing team with open arms.
Now to a few of the takeaways from the weekend and we will intentionally keep this short because we will be following up these concepts with more in-depth discussions on this blog over the next couple of weeks.
1. There seems to be a bit of a divide amongst wing enthusiasts that we believe needs to be debated more thoroughly and that is this seemingly simple question - how far can a buffalo wing sauce recipe deviate from the original ingredients and still be considered a “traditional buffalo wing”? Sub-question – novelty/specialty wing flavors, how far is too far, seriously…?
2. Another question worth discussion – the boneless buffalo wing, is it an abomination of everything that is right about the buffalo wing, or a way to strategically spread the influence of the wing to others that may not be likely candidates to consume real wings”? Sub-question – do people that are introduced to boneless buffalo wings eventually graduate into consuming real wings, or do they simply stay boneless wing lovers for life?
3. And finally (for now), with all due respect to the people of Buffalo (and the rest of the original wing region) I’m going to make a generalization that won’t accurately catch everyone’s opinion but is a reflection of what I witnessed through numerous conversations in my 48 hours in Buffalo – the people of this region do not believe that good traditional buffalo wings can be found pretty much anywhere else in the world other than inside their region. And while I will not argue with you that your region is clearly the home of the wing, and the strongest overall wing region in the world, based on my experience of eating wings in many of the 49 other states and a few other countries – the wings that are being produced there are just as good, if not better in many cases than the ones that are coming out of your region. I know that this statement won’t be a popular one for many people to read, but I simply think that it’s time that we all begin to realize that the buffalo wing is reaching a state of maturity – where eateries in other regions have been able to not only reproduce the amazing work that you’ve pioneered, but they’ve also been able to evolve the wing to new levels that you might not be aware of – but may be pleased to experience…
As I said, much more to come on these three and many other topics, but for now we welcome your comments and thoughts…
Peace, love, and grease!
The Roth Brothers (Scott and Steve “The CluckBucket” Roth)
http://www.cluckbucket.com/
Steve and I at the Anchor Bar - original home of the wing
Day Two Recap:
Day two of our Labor Day extravaganza has come to a close and the crazy ride that began what seems like long time ago (but really was just a day) just continued to get crazier.
Niagara Falls: Today started with a wonderful diversion from the wing subculture with a side-trip to Niagara Falls. Steve and I drove the short distance (about 20 miles) from downtown Buffalo and spent a good amount of time seeing the falls from the American side of the border. Then we headed over to Canada to check out the sights from their perspective – and wow was it quite a difference. Since we were pressed for time we pulled a Clark Griswold at the Grand Canyon stop at a nice vantage point so that Steve could get out and snap some quick pictures. Then it was back to Buffalo only to sit in 45 minutes of traffic trying to cross the bridge and pass back over into the good ole’ US of A. The detour forced us to miss the 0.5K Running of the Chickens, but nonetheless left us with plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the day.
National Buffalo Wing Festival: We arrived at the official first day of the National Buffalo Wing Festival at about 2:00PM to be greeted immediately by organizer Drew Cerza who said “we’ve already got a 5:00 crowd”. Never having been to the festival before we didn’t quite know what to expect but Drew was right, the place had filled up nicely and lines were starting to lengthen. First order of business, find some chicken…
Our First Wings: I have never been to WingStreet before and the line there was short so we decided to head there first. I realize it’s somewhat lame to show up at the one and only wing festival and start off by eating wings from a chain that’s owned by Pizza Hut, but nonetheless, that’s what we did. To my surprise the wings were actually pretty good. We had some medium (they didn’t have hot unfortunately) and some spicy BBQ and the only thing that was a bit off about them was that there was some interesting glaze type of coating on both of the wings – not sure what that was.
Traditional Buffalo Wing Sauce Competition: We then proceeded to hit up about three more wing joints as we waited for the first main stage event of the day to get ready to begin - the Traditional Buffalo Wing Sauce competition (not to be confused with the national buffalo wing sauce competition that we judged the night before). This event featured four wing sauce cooking teams (two of which were friends of the CluckBucket – Ric Kealoha and Matt Reynolds from the documentary and fellow national sauce judge/competitive eater/chef/all around good guy Joe LaRue). Not long after the contest had begun we were on stage with Ric and Matt providing some strategic guidance on the direction of their sauce. They were challenged with the time-limit imposed on them as they like to have a while to let their sauce condense and also were facing the odds as they purchased an inappropriate ingredient the night before. Steve stayed on stage taking pictures and assisting while I went booth to booth to find the missing ingredient. After a good bit of searching, a replacement was secured and the team was done with their sauce. The judging occurred and much to the wing hunter’s delight, Ric and Matt’s sauce was crowned the champion. Matt called the entire gang of hunters on to the stage to assist in the acceptance speech and after briefing the crowd on the documentary, plugging the CluckBucket, and allowing Al Caster to play a few chords, the entire crew began to lead the audience in their official chant of “wings (pause) wings (pause) wings wings wings (pause) wings (pause) wings (pause) wings wings wings.”
Competitive Eating: Then it was time for more wings, a stop at a nearby brewpub, a chat with competitive eater Eric Badlands Booker, and then back to the main stage for the competitive eating contest. The contest was an epic 12 minute battle that pitted 15 of the world’s top competitive eaters against each other and their common enemy – the wing. After all was said and done, Sonya Thomas ended up on top by consuming 5.17 lbs of wing meat which translates into approximately 173 wings = and really bad indigestion. Nonetheless, we were there to see a world record broken – and were glad that Sonya could use the ideal eating conditions (75 and sunny) to reclaim her crown.
It was time to cash out the rest of our wing tickets so we loaded up on some very tasty chicken from the Wing Zone before filming some video commentary to wrap-up the day and heading for the exits.
The Anchor Bar: Back to the hotel to grab our car and then we finally headed out to the wing mecca, the birthplace of the wing, the Anchor Bar. Since arriving in Buffalo we had been given so many different perspectives on the Anchor Bar we truly didn’t know what to expect when we arrived. What we did find immediately was an 8:30 crowd that was bursting at the seams but fortunately we were able to snag a couple of seats at a bar table and quickly order up two Bud Lights and a plate of chicken. Now for what was somewhat a surprise to us (based on what others had commented earlier on), Steve and I both found that the Anchor Bar wings were hands down the best wings that we had on the entire trip. The sauce was truly a pure authentic buffalo wing sauce of Franks Red Hot and butter and the chicken was perfectly prepared, perfectly sized, and quickly delivered while it was still hot. Outside of the wings, the experience at the bar was great, it has a good down-home type of atmosphere and the people there were very friendly. Obviously things have changed dramatically for them over the years because of their notoriety, but they still manage to have a really good environment for wing lovers to visit.
A quick stop at the shady Wendy’s next door for some Frosties to cleanse the pallet and then we were off to meet up with the wing hunt team for what we thought was to be their final discussion and crowning of the “best buffalo wing in the world”.
Great Chicken Wing Hunt Deliberations: We found the team at the home of their gracious hosts in somewhat tattered spirits. Al and Ron really wanted the pizza that had been ordered a while before, Thor just wanted to call it quits for the night, and Ric needed red meat (apparently this was a recurring theme for Ric throughout the trip). The scientists/statisticians took a while to show up with the results and Matt finally was able to rally the troops around 11:00. Filming began and the statisticians revealed the findings of the wing ranking data that had been compiled along the hunt. Much like the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) process, the statisticians had devised a way to dwindle the 62 restaurants where wings were consumed down to a list of the top ten. To the credit of Matt and the statisticians, they did a lot of work with the wing ballots to capture questions about the hunter’s mood, general health, etc along the way so that their own personal issues would not influence their rating of the wing. After the top ten adjusted and non-adjusted were announced, the team deliberated and gave their opinions about the seemingly clear number one wing. That is – until I posed the following question – “Are you completely sure that the wing you are about to crown as the best buffalo wing in the world is truly a buffalo wing?” And from there the night seemed to unravel a bit. A pretty heated debate began that forced the wing team to think through what they were about to do and to also revisit the initial intentions and definitions that they had set forward at the beginning of the hunt…
Unfortunately, and this is the part that sucks for you, due to the sensitive nature of the film, I can’t talk in any more details about the deliberations of that evening at this point in time. What I can tell you was that Steve and I left the house at roughly 1:00 in the morning and no conclusions had been made by the team. They decided to sleep on things and gather their thoughts, and to reconvene at roughly 3:00 PM the next day back in Matt’s hometown of Lyons, NY.
What I can tell you is this, Steve and I left that evening very tired, but also very happy that we were there to witness all of the events of the day. It was a great day with lots of activity and again way too many wings, but it was very much worth it from both of our perspectives.
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott “The CluckBucket” Roth
www.cluckbucket.com
After a scientific listing of the hunters top rated wings by a pair of statisticians and a lengthy debate by the hunters and the brothers Roth, no decision has been made on the best buffalo wing in the world. Deliberations to continue tomorrow morning.
After a gruelling 12 minutes of gurgitation, the winner has been crowned. Sonya Thomas has sent a new world record by consuming 173 wings in 12 minutes. Here is how the top four ended up.
Sonya Thomas 5.17 lbs
Chip Simpson 4.33 lbs
Brad Shulo 4.1 lbs
Humble Bob 3.4 lbs
The Mighty Thor plowing through his first tray.
Sonya Thomas walks away with the crown.
> See the rest of our pictures from the United States Buffalo Wing Eating Championships.
> See our behind the scenes video from the United States Buffalo Wing Eating Championships.
Peace, love, and way too much grease!
Scott "The CluckBucket" Roth
My money is on Sonya Thomas, just got a pregame picture with her and wished her "good luck". She seemed very poised and focused, but loose and happy.
Sonya Thomas and the CluckBucket
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The CluckBucket" Roth
Just met Mike and Lynn from Buffalo, they bring their own dental floss to the show. Brilliant.
As the opening act for the wing eating competition. Video and pictures will come soon.
Booker and the CluckBucket.
See the rest of our pictures of Eric Badlands Booker.
See the video we took of Eric Badlands Booker rapping. (coming soon)
Hear Badlands rap about competitive eating on his MySpace page.
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The CluckBucket" Roth
He bobbed for wings in a swimming pool of bleu cheese and pulled out 14. He's the winner. Steve was on stage taking pictures.
Scott McLintock poses with his trophy
The smell of bubbling grease outside the fest is intense. They have 20 deep fryers going nonstop with 6 baskets each that hold 35 wings at a time - that means they can cook over 4,000 wings every 15 minutes or over 16,000 wings per hour.
20 deep industrial deep fryers in a row.
Local cooks preparing the wings.
See the rest of our pictures of the deep fryers in action.
Peace, love, and grease (really!)!
Scott "The CluckBucket" Roth
Randomly found friends of the Cluckbucket and people that read about us in the paper this morning. Good break to have a nice IPA and watch the Illinois Mizzou football game. Now back to the fest for the wing eating contest.
Side view of Pearl Street Grill and Brewery
Back view of Pearl Street Grill and Brewery, they had 3 very cool outdoor decks.
After Ric and Matt won the sauce crown Al Caster played the wing hunt theme song and the crowd chanted "wings (pause) wings (pause) wings wings wings (pause) wings (pause) wings (pause) wings wings wings"
Hunters lead the crowd in the "wings" chant.
Al Caster plays guitar during acceptance speech.
Hunters Ric Kealoha and Matt Reynolds just stole the show at the traditional buffalo wing sauce competition (and all four of the competitors sauces were much better than the 30+ sauces we judged last night). Their winning sauce kept pretty true to the original buffalo sauce. Steve consulted with Matt on the sauce flavor while I went booth to both to find missing ingredients, took pictures, and mingled with Eric Badlands Booker. Cluckbucket is being well represented. Pictures to come.
Matt begins to sample the goods.
Matt consults with Steve for his "expert" opinion.
The award winning sauce.
See the rest of our pictures from the traditional sauce competition.
Recipe soon to come on CluckBucket.com.
PLG
Scott
See the article about the wing judging last night:
The Buffalo News: City & Region: No ‘wingin’ it’ on sauces for old pals
Now over on the Canadian side of Niagra Falls, man we really got screwed on this border. Will post pictures tonight so you can see what I mean.
American Falls (Horseshoe in the far background) from the American side of Niagra.
Steve and Scott on the American side.
Horseshoe Falls from the Canadian side of Niagra.
See the rest of our pictures from Niagra Falls.
See the video that we took at Niagra Falls.
Now driving back to Buffalo on the Canadian side. Hopefully we can make it back in time for the running of the chickens, going to be really close.
PLG
Scott
Another beautiful day has begun here in Buffalo. We are off to Niagra Falls for some sightseeing. Wings for breakfast, will post pictures later.
PLG
Scott
I unfortunately need to keep this short because I'm dead tired and about ready to fall asleep. Today started at 5:45 AM Chicago time and it's now 1:00 am Buffalo time the next day and I'm still going, but not for much longer...
First things first, my highest compliments go out to Matt Reynolds and the entire wing hunt crew. If you haven't looked at Matt's site to see the cast of characters that he's pulled together, click here to go there now and take a look - they are a very interesting bunch of folks and all very very cool people. Their stamina over the past weeks is absolutely amazing as each individual has consumed on average 850 wings over the stretch and even hit 11 wing restaurants in one single day. Their collective devotion to the wing is deeper than any that I've ever seen before.
Steve and I had an absolute blast meeting up with the crew for the very end of their tour and I think we were able to give them a breath of fresh air as they came down the home strech. Our time at the first joint was amazing because we got to demonstrate wing eating techniques, catch (or attempt to catch in my case) wings in our mouth in the parking lot, and at one point I was able to have about a 20 minute chat about my love of the wing. It felt like a deep fireside chat about life at a camp or something.
You can see all of our pictures from Day One by clicking here.
Overall, I think Steve and I safely put away over 120 wings during the day today and this is just the beginning. Here's what our agenda looks like for Day 2:
In the midst of the wing judging as we speak, some good, some not so good. But overall a great time! Will post pictures later tonight.
Scott and Steve before judging
During Judging
Scott Judging
At a private ceremony Drew Cerza and the Mayor of Buffalo has just crowned Scott Lowery and his late partner Jim Disbrow as the newest members of the Hall of Flame.
Just leaving the last official stop on the tour, Duffs at the corner of Sheridan and Millersport. Great experience overall, I liked the wings more than Steve did. This was the final stop on the tour and it seemed like a bitter sweet ending. Speaking of endings, The Mighty Thor decided to order up 15 death wings at the very end. They were exceptionally painful for most of us except for Ron who calmly put away 4 wings. To give some perspective the hot were classified as 35000 scoville heat units and the 150000 scu.
Outside of Duffs (they started making wings at about the same time as the Anchor Bar)
The "death" wings from Duffs.
Ron calmly putting away 4 death wings
See all of the great pictures that we were able to get from Duffs
Will post more later, we're off to the baseball stadium for an invite only event put on by the wing king.
Stop number one (Buffalo Brewpub is finished, and wow was it amazing. I really don't know what to say right now it is so surreal. The wing hunters are dragging to the finish line but it seemed like we boosted their spirits a bit. We started off by sampling four different wings. We walked them through several wing eating techniques, had a twenty minute "fireside" chat about the state off the wing industry, and capped things off with some wing toss out in the parking lot. After several failed attempts, Steve actually caught one. Now we are on our way to the next place, Duffs.
Outside the Buffalo Brewpub
Scott with the owner of the Buffalo Brewpub
Scott demonstrating a wing eating technique
Steve catching a wing in his mouth in the parking lot.
See the rest of the pictures from the Buffalo Brewpub.
PLG
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
Saw a sign with that claim already at the airport. Will post picture tonight. 
Decided to rent a car at the airport. 60 bucks per day at the counter, jumped on Priceline and got it for 30 a day. Nice ride, in and out in less than 30 minutes. I love the internet and buffalo.
Steve and Scott in the ride.
Things have gone well so far. Met Steve at O'Hare at about 730 and boarded the flight to Buffalo. Now we're on our way to the hotel to pick up our new Cluckbucket gear and to meet up with Matt and the Chicken Wing Hunt crew at Bar Bill Taven. Will post again from there.
Here's the rest of today's agenda:
Peace, love, and grease (plg)
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
Greetings fellow lovers of the wing. Labor Day 2007 is almost upon us and this year that marks two very significant events for the world of the wing - the exciting conclusion of the Great Chicken Wing Hunt (Matt Reynolds' two-week documentary tour through the wing promiseland) and the 6th annual National Buffalo Wing Festival (Drew Cerza's popular two-day tribute to the wing). Sharing with the excitement and momentum of these amazing events, we at CluckBucket.com are proud to release a new online resource for wing lovers worldwide: u-Cluck-2.
u-Cluck-2 (which stands for University of Cluck 2.0) is a gift to wing lovers worldwide from the Original Brothers of Wing, Scott "The CluckBucket" and Steve "The Vanilla Cluckilla" Roth. In the initial release of u-Cluck-2 you will find seven video demostrations of wing eating techniques that have been paramount to the our enjoyment of wings over our 40+ combined years of wing consumption. In the compilation of videos, classic techniques such as The Smash, The Small Bone Twist, and the Badlands Booker Spin Move are paired up with newbies like The Finger, The Plunger, The Scooby Doo, and last but definitely not least, Scott "The CluckBucket" Roth's own creation and personal/crowd favorite - The Grenade.
In addition to the wing eating technique videos, the initial release of u-Cluck-2 also contains an updated Chicken Wing Dictionary. Back in 2001, the we published the initial Chicken Wing Dictionary which has been used by millions (if not thousands or hundreds) to brush up on their wing lingo and assure that they are constantly up-to-date with the latest wing nomenclature. The current release provides new and old wing lovers alike a chance to standardize their wing commentary on a generally accepted set of terms.
The current u-Cluck-2 site is only the beginning as many more exciting features will be added over the coming weeks and months.
Visit u-Cluck-2
PS: As a side note, you may be wondering to yourself - if this is University of Cluck 2.0, where was University of Cluck 1.0? Well, stop wondering, it simply didn't exist, we just thought that the name "u-Cluck-2" was pretty catchy so we had to make something up...
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The CluckBucket" Roth
http://www.cluckbucket.com/
Here's a great audio/picture slideshow from the Great Chicken Wing Hunt's stop in Rochester, NY.
Enjoy the show!
Democrat & Chronicle: Audio Slideshow
Coverage of the Wing Hunt's stop in Albany, NY.
Capital News 9 24 Hour Local News HEADLINES "Great Chicken Wing Hunt" rolls through Albany
Coverage of the rolling documentary on wheels from Auburn, NY. We'll be there with the crew in just four short days!!! Can't wait, I've already begun fasting...
Wing Hunt WTVH-TV CBS 5 Syracuse, NY Local News
Blog post by documentarian Matt Reynolds about the Roth Brother's participation in The Great Chicken Wing Hunt.
The Great Chicken Wing Hunt: Roth brothers join the hunt
In an announcement long over-due (something that I'll explain later on in this post), I am proud to share with you the fact that myself (Scott) and my brother Steve, The Original Brothers of Wing, will be travelling to join up with two of the most exciting wing events ever to occur - The filming of the documentary The Great Chicken Wing Hunt and the 6th annual National Buffalo Wing Festival.
The Great Chicken Wing Hunt: During the morning of Friday, August 31st I will fly from Portland and Steve will fly from St. Louis to Buffalo, NY. Immediately after we arrive in Buffalo we will meet up with Matt Reynolds, a filmmaker who is the in the midst of filming a documentary about the buffalo wing, “The Great Chicken Wing Hunt”. We will be Matt’s guests of honor and will join a caravan of wing enthusiasts and dignitaries as we sample the deep fried delicacies of five local restaurants. These five restaurants are the culmination of the caravan’s two week journey from Manhattan and Buffalo on a quest to find the best buffalo wing in the world…
The National Buffalo Wing Festival: On Saturday, we will join the “Wing King” Drew Cerza (you may have recently seen him on Throw Down with Bobby Flay on the Food Network) at Dunn Tire Park for the 6th annual National Buffalo Wing Festival. While there, we will join the crowd in sampling wings from over 25 participating wing joints from around the country. We’ll watch the world's foremost competitive eaters battle it out in the buffalo wing eating contest, and may even participate in the 0.5K Running of the Chickens. In addition, I Steve and I will get to put our years of buffalo wing eating experience together as we serve as honorary judges in one of the festival's wing cooking contests.
The Anchor Bar: Last but certainly not least, we will pay homage to the birthplace of the wing by having dinner at the Anchor Bar, the very location where Frank and Teressa Bellisimo created the first buffalo wing some forty years ago.
The Wedding Surprise: The reason why this announcement is so late in the game is because it was officially unveiled this past weekend. Back in In April 2007 Kama (Steve's finance at the time) asked Scott what the greatest wedding gift in the world would be for Steve. After much deliberation and contemplative thought, Scott arrived at what he thought would be a winner - this trip to Buffalo. Kama surprised Steve with the unveiling of the gift at the wedding rehearsal dinner on Friday, August 17. Kama first gave Steve what he thought was his gift - her ability to accurately recite the colleges and mascots that make up the Big Ten Conference - then she dropped the real bomb by asking Steve to read her one more college basketball related question. Much to Steve's surprise, the question that he was reading, actually was the agenda of the trip that he and Scott were scheduled to take to Buffalo merely three days after he and Kama got back from their honeymoon.
We hope to meet many of you wing lovers in person in Buffalo!
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
http://www.cluckbucket.com/
One of the most wing knowledgeable high school students in the Portland area, Cameron "The Black Hole" Dunlap recently shared his patented wing eating technique with us. Click on the link below to learn how to do The Washing Machine...
Cluckbucket: Chicken Wing Eating Techniques; The Washing Machine
I've asked Cameron to video tape his technique and share it with us, stay tuned...
Details have recently been released about a leg of the Great Chicken Wing Hunt. Use the link below to learn more and join the fun in Rochester:
The Great Chicken Wing Hunt: Great Rochester Wing Hunt
Details have recently been released about the first leg of the Great Chicken Wing Hunt. Use the link below to learn more and join the fun in Manhattan:
The Great Chicken Wing Hunt: Great Manhattan Wing Hunt
If you are a lover of the wing you've probably seen by now that a new film is in the works - a documentary that will recount the buffalo wing's rise in popularity as well as attempt to find the world's greatest buffalo wing in the state of New York. On a recent evening, I had a chance to sit down with Matt Reynolds and find out more about his passion for the wing. Here's how it went...
Cluckbucket: For the record, please state your name.
Matt: My name is Matt Reynolds. I was briefly known as Matt "Old Hickory" Reynolds in high school but the nickname didn't stick.
Cluckbucket: Why a wing documentary?
Matt: I've been looking for two years to transition from text journalist to documentary filmmaker. Buffalo wings were a subject dear to my heart. The more I thought about doing a wing documentary, the more it made sense. I believe wings are on the verge of pizza-like stardom. I also believe that I, having 1. grown up in wing country 2. lived abroad and 3. practiced journalism for eight years, am uniquely qualified to understand and interpret this moment. Imagine if you could go back to Naples in 1640 and locate the best pizza, the prototype for this food billions of people eat, film it being made, interview its chef, and document the culture that produced it. That's what I want to do for the wing.
Cluckbucket: What/where was the best plate of wings that you've ever consumed?
Matt: My best plate of wings was Danny Boys, Newark, New York, 1992-1994. Some say atmosphere counts heavily in determining the quality of a wing. Not as a separate consideration. But that it actually affects the taste and how you remember the taste. It may be so -- Danny boy's had a 10 cent wing night that epitomized the best of wing culture: young women in tight stonewashed jeans, beer, pot-smoking in the parking lot, bar games such as table shuffleboard and darts. And yet I really believe there was something special about their wings -- big, juicy wings. Crispy, but not too crispy. Very hot (they called them suicidal) but still buttery as a medium. (pet peeve: when a bar cranks up the heat with peppers (good) but then takes it up another notch by removing the butter (bad)). Their pepper of choice was the habanera.
Cluckbucket: Do you always hold true to the buffalo wing flavor, or do you ever consume wings with an alternative sauce like BBQ, teriyaki, or others?
Matt: I occasionally try a novelty wing. I have nothing against them. I try to be objective. If someone came up with a wing better than a Buffalo wing, I would feel honor-bound as a journalist to acknowledge its superiority. But I haven't had that experience yet. I went to a bar last week with 30 flavors -- parmesan, boss sauce, jerk, et cetera. None of them were as good as their straight hot Buffalo, although the Buffalo parmesan came close.
Cluckbucket: Lastly, if I want to be involved in the documentary, how do go about doing that?
Matt: Email me at matt@chickenwinghunt.com. The trip is open to the public. All are welcome. You can learn more about the Great Chicken Wing Hunt at the following sites:
.
http://www.chickenwinghunt.com
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http://www.cluckbucket.com/events/greatbuffalochickenwinghunt.htm
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
http://www.cluckbucket.com/
I just caught wind that Buffalo Wild Wings is going to be opening up their second Portland-area location this fall, this time they've got a massive space downtown - 4th and Morrison to be exact. It's right across the street from Pioneer Place mall next door to Alessandro's italian restaurant. I just walked by and it looks like they've got a lot of work to do to get the place ready, but because of the size it will make a huge impact on the wing and sports bar scene in downtown PDX.
In my opinion, this will make a great addition to the Portland wing scene, especially on Tuesdays when the $.40 wing offer makes their small wings and massed produced consistency very palatable. As I always say, BW3 is better as a sports bar than a wing joint - but I can imagine you will be finding me there on Tuesdays...
The ability to submit restaurants to the Internet Hot Wing Database is back up and running. We're still working on some bigger picture things and our site redesign, but for now you can start submitting or resubmitting your favorite wing restaurants!
Cluckbucket: Submit Restaurant
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
Remember back in the day when your local McDonald's used to have a "X million served" sign out front? Well, The Wingstop has just eclipsed a major milestone in that it's served over 1 billion wings since inception in 1994. With locations now in over 27 states, The Wingstop is continues to be on a major growth surge and is spreading its wings at a very rapid pace...
Wingstop Hits One-Billion Chicken Wings
Was in Vegas over Memorial Day weekend and came across a beautiful sight, a wing joint in a casino. Yep, apparently the Wing Stop has landed at Green Valley Ranch Casino and Resort which is off the strip a little ways, but a very nice place. What better way to cast your sorrows away after losing than with a nice batch of chicken.
Check it out:
It's been a while since I've written about the wing scene in Portland, OR (where I live) so I thought I'd give you a bit of an update.
My third favorite place to get wings in Portland is Buffalo Wild Wings (or, as I will forever call them, BW3 - or B-Dubs). Similar to The Wingstop which I talked about earlier, BW3 is a nationwide chain that has recently opened up a franchise location locally in Portland. B-Dubs made it's way onto the Portland wing scene late last fall and seems to be a very popular destination for the west-side (read Beaverton and Hillsboro) crowd.
While I love BW3 as a sports bar - I only like BW3 as a wing joint. Let me be clear (thanks JP), I do believe that you really need to give B-Dubs some mad props for helping to spread the love of the wing across the United States, but outside of that - their wings are just very average. They have some pretty good wing sauces, but the thing that always gets me is how tiny their wings are, and how much they charge for them. Hands down, the best night to go to BW3 is on Tuesday when they have $.40 wings.
Again, if you are in Portland and you can't make it to Fire On the Mountain and you find yourself on the west side of town - Buffalo Wild Wings is a good bet for you.
Want to put your money where your mouth is? Buffalo Wild Wings is a publicly traded company that is blazing (pun intended) up the financial charts. Since their IPO a couple of years ago, the stock price has tripled and they just recently announced a stock-split. Man, yet another company I should have invested in a while ago...
Here are the vitals:
Buffalo Wild Wings
2219 NW Allie Ave.
Hillsboro, OR
http://www.buffalowildwings.com/
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
http://www.cluckbucket.com/
Cluckbucket: The Great Buffalo Chicken Wing Hunt
At the end of this summer, history will be made with the first ever documentary that follows wing lovers on a quest for the best buffalo wing in the world. Learn more about this epic in the making by visiting The Great Buffalo Chicken Wing Hunt promo page on Cluckbucket.com:
Cluckbucket: The Great Buffalo Chicken Wing Hunt
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com
It's been a while since I've written about the wing scene in Portland, OR (where I live) so I thought I'd give you a bit of an update.
Next up on my list is The Wingstop. The Wingstop joined the Portland wing scene earlier this year with their first location at Eastport Plaza, just off 82nd Ave or I-205. The Wingstop has a small dine-in area and appears to do an even bigger carry-out business.
Their menu features about ten different wing sauces and my personal favorites are the original hot, cajun, and the garlic parmesean. This is one place where I don't mind getting more saunces that just a traditional buffalo flavor. Similar to FOTM they also have pretty good fresh cut french fries to go with the wings. They also have some Family Packs that come with wings, fries, and veggies and make ordering quite convenient.
If making it to North Portland for FOTM is problematic for you and you live on the east side of town, I highly recommend that you check The Wingstop out.
Here are the vitals:
The Wingstop
4124 SE 82nd Ave
Portland, OR 97266
http://www.mywingstop.com/?cl=317
Order Online
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com
It's been a while since I've written about the wing scene in Portland, OR (where I live) so I thought I'd give you a bit of an update.
Let's start with the hands down favorite for best wings in Portland, Fire On The Mountain. FOTM first burst onto the Portland wing scene in January of 2005. They got of to a pretty quick start since they were one of the only wing joints in Portland at the time. And now, every time that I go to FOTM (which is about every 2 or 3 weeks) the place is completely packed - it doesn't matter what time of the day it is or what day of the week, there is always a big crowd.
They've held true to their love of the wing and continue to crank out some of the best wings I've ever had. They have many different sauces that are all really good, but the only sauce for me is their regular "hot" sauce. The wings are pretty good sized and are always deep fried to an absolute perfection. Even more, in addition to having the best wings in town, they also have the best fresh-cut french fries.
Rumor has it that they are currently working on FOTM2 which will be located around 20th and East Burnside, but I haven't recieved any confirmation on whether or not this is actually going to happen and when...
If you are ever in Portland, OR, make sure you stop by Fire On The Mountain. Here are the vitals:
Fire On The Mountain
4225 N. Interstate Ave.
Portland, OR
www.portlandwings.com
Hours of Operation:
Monday - Thursday
11am - 10pm
Friday - Saturday
11am - 11pm
Sunday
11am - 10pm
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com
Buffalo Wild Wings: En Fuego [Fool.com] May 02, 2007
While I rather be talking about chicken than money, there's an interesting story developing that combines both of them... Buffalo Wild Wings (formerly known as BW3) is the only publicly traded wing chain and their financial performance is off the charts. They're expanding their number of stores pretty rapidly and the strategy is paying off. Check out the article and learn how both their company and franchise stores are outperforming.
Now, my simple plea to the folks at Buffalo Wild Wings - since you're doing so well financially, lower your wing prices (or get bigger wings) so that you can make the wing enthusiasts a little bit happier.
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com
The Cluckbucket is under attack! OK, this is really sad to have to report, but apparently someone has created a malicious spider that is crawling the web and submitting content to our Internet Hot Wing Database. For the past couple of weeks we have been recieving tons of restaurant reviews that weren't reviews but were promotions and links to porn, gambling, and other fun sites of that nature...
So, it sucks, but I've had to take down the ability to submit wing restaurant reviews for the time being and have locked the database down to view only. It's a shame that the work of a few can spoil the fun of thousands but that's the deal until I can find someone technical enough to help me out...
Will post again when things are back up and running!
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com
The folks at the Wingstop are looking for a few Wing-Nuts to prove that they are the biggest wing fans in the world. The entry process is simple: Create a video that demonstrates your love of wings and includes the Wingstop name and/or logo (naturally), post your video to a video sharing site like YouTube, and submit your entry on their site.
The wing world has such a deep cult-like following that it should produce some really interesting results, as well as generate some good viral marketing buzz for the company...
Submit your entry today-
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com
Buffalo Wild Wings plans HQ move - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:
BW3 is moving the headquarters, but not far, they're staying in Minneapolis. Apparently they have outgrown their space and need to expand. There also was some commentary about their ability to financially perform, they're still feeling the pinch of rising chicken prices - I hate it when that ruins a good business model...
Cluckbucket: Chicken Wing Recipes, Fire House Wings
Very interesting new recipe. I haven't tried them yet. If you do, be sure to let me know what you think-
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com
Cluckbucket: Chicken Wing Eating Techniques; The Plunger
Thanks a ton to WonderDude from St. Louis for putting my latest wing eating technique into words. This is a move I've been doing a good amount lately, it's a derivation from the Smash (actually, a lazy man's Smash), but it works great.
Wingstop Sells Three Million Wings on Super Bowl Sunday; National Chain Breaks Its All-Time Single Day Sales Record: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
The Wingstop, one of the fastest growing chicken wing chains in the US claims that it sold over 3 million wings on Super Bowl sunday eclipsing it's record of 2.5 million last year.
If this is true, I'd say it's safe to say that over 16 million wings were sold on Super Bowl sunday this year. Here's my math:
Major Chains
Wingstop has 550 locations and sold 3M wings, that's roughly 5,500 wings per location.
BW3 has 415 locations, so if they also sold 5,500 wings per location that's another 2.3M.
Hooters has 435 locations, keeping with our average per location that's another 2.4M.
The Wing Zone has 100 locations, there's another .5M.
So, by covering the major chain's 1,500 locations we've already got 8.2M wings flying out the door.
Other Places to Get Wings
Let's just assume that for every Wingstop, BW3, Hooters, and Wing Zone that exists there 5x as many "other places to get wings" (and I think this is a very conservative number). By "other places to get wings" I mean everything from a great local wing chain like Show-Me's in St. Louis or Taco Mac in Atlanta to your local Applebees or Fridays. That gives us 7,500 locations (1,500 x 5).
And let's also assume that those "other places to get wings" sold on average 20% of what one of the big wing chain locations sold. That's 1,100 wings per location (5,500 x .2).
From the 7,500 other places to get wings we have another 8.3M wings.
The Grand Total
In my book, by combining the major wing chains and the other places to get wings, it's very likely that 16.5 million wings were sold on Super Bowl sunday. How's that for a new record!
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com
Best Wings in Portland, OR
Loyal Cluckbucket fan Lex from Portland writes:
Dear Cluckbucket,
Wish I had had your phone number the other day – Superbowl wing crisis. Drinking bloody mary’s at noon we decided it was time to put in an order for the big game. After our fourth attempt Fire On the Mountain picked up their phone only to tell us the earliest they could have our order ready was 5PM.
So what is now the reigning number 2 wing joint in the city if I ever need a backup? The bartender where we were drinking said her family owns Jax and therefore suggested we try that place. We weren’t buying it.
Hope all is well,
Lex
PS: We had cheese steaks instead.
Dear Lex-
I can completely understand your quandary. Fire On the Mountain is without a doubt the BEST wing joint in the greater Portland area. For the odd situations where you can't get a batch served up from FOTM, here's what I recommend.
2. The Wing Stop: Even though it's a tough location for most of us (4124 SE 82nd Ave), The Wing Stop is my number 2 wing joint in the Portland area. They are primarily known for take-out orders but they do have a small dine in space. Their wings are are naked with a great variety of sauces, try the cajun, original hot, and garlic parmesan. Add to that pretty cheap beer and great fresh cut french fries, and you've got a winning combination. It's no FOTM, but it's great for a runner up.
3. Buffalo Wild Wings: Better as a sports bar than a wing joint, Buffalo Wild Wings (BW3 or B-Dubs) is my number 3 pick for the Portland area. They have a disturbing amount of really really nice televisions and a good beer selection which makes this an excellent spot to watch the game. Their wings and sauces are solid, but not great. The other downfall is that their prices seem to be a bit high unless you go on Tuesdays when they have $.50 wings. All said, I recommend BW3 to anyone who hasn't been to one before or anyone who is stuck out in the Beaverton/Hillsboro area (more locations coming to Portland in the not-so-distant future).
4. Make your own wings: If you can find any chicken left on Super Bowl sunday, grab what you can, find a recipe from the Cluckbucket, and cook them up on your own.
5. Hooters: Hooters wings are well, Hooters wings. Again, they are okay, but they aren't great. Their breaded wings usually have too much breading and the naked ones are actually a good alternative. Be prepared to pay the high prices they need to charge in order to cover the costs of adequately staffing the establishments (you'd ask for a lot of money to wear those orange shorts and put up with drunken fools too!). They have three locations in Portland now.
6. The rest of the best: Portland has a lot of great "other" places for wings. They're not necessarily wing joints, but some of them have solid wing offerings on their menu. Check out the Cluckbucket Internet Hot Wing Database for more information.
Thanks for your question Lex, hope this info helps.
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com
Philadelphia Inquirer 02/01/2007 Chestnut defends crown
Joey Chestnut polished off 182 wings en route to defending his Wing Bowl crown last Thursday morning at the Wachovia Center in Philly. The early morning crowd was rowdy as rowdy as ever during the tight race, but in the end it was Chestnut that pulled away from the pack.
In big post-event news, Bill "El Wingador" Simmons, previous Wing Bowl conquistidor, announced he would come out of retirement for next year's event to challenge Chestnut.
Begin wing drama.
In addition to our own traffic spike, other wing related businesses across the country are recovering and celebrating the boost that the Super Bowl brings to the industry. Here are a few of their stories:
Colts, Bears, and Chicken Wings
Football fans gear up for game
Buffalo Wild Wings gets part of it's spice from sporting events
Second to the game are the snacks
At Super Bowl parties, we all scream for chicken wings
Super Bowl big business for some, "ghost town" for others
Another Super Bowl has come and gone and even though the game was pretty ugly, according to my analysis, people were at least enjoying their fair share of wings! Yep, we here at http://www.cluckbucket.com/ saw another big traffic spike with folks looking either for recipes or restaurants to get carryout/delivery. The Super Bowl means big business for the food industry, and wing joints are taking a bite out of pizza place’s pie.
As you may recall, last year following the Super Bowl left a post that showed the traffic patterns for the week leading up to the big day. This year I’ll give you some week-over-week perspective as well as some year-over-year figures.
Week-over-week
Using our analysis from WebTrends, we were able to easily compare the week of 1/22/07 through 1/28/07 (a very normal week) to 1/29/07 through 2/4/07 (the days leading up to the big game). Here’s what we saw:
Wasted Opportunities
Now to the bad news, I was totally slacking when it comes to getting my site prepped and ready for a big day/week of traffic. Had I thought about it in advance I would have definitely done some strategic promotion of the following things:
Summing it all up
Even though there were some wasted opportunities, the net net was that was a good week for us both week-over-week and year-over-year. Similar to last year, my main hope is that people will remember the Cluckbucket keep coming back throughout the rest of the year…
Peace, love, and grease!
Scott “The Cluckbucket” Roth
http://www.cluckbucket.com/
