Patch Picks: The Best Wings In Norwalk [PHOTOS]

NORWALK, CT — Unusual as it may sound, you can tell a lot about a restaurant or bar based on their chicken wings. The way a local eatery handles their wing selection can say a lot about their style, vibe, attention to quality and penchant for variety.

As the Super Bowl approaches, you may find yourself dreaming of crispy wings smothered in buffalo sauce, dry rubbed or glistening with barbecue sauce. Maybe you don't care what you have, as long as it's drowned in bleu cheese or ranch dressing.

When thinking of wings, many often think of the standard buffalo wing found on most appetizer menus, but many restaurants and bars are realizing they can go so much further; that a chicken wing is simply a blank canvas on which they can create edible art.

With this in mind, Patch reached out to (and sampled) wings at a few different places we consider to be top notch in Norwalk. While these places are certainly high quality and well-deserving of their place on this list, it should be noted this is not a definitive ranking of the best places to get wings in the city.

If you think your favorite place got snubbed, please let us know by commenting. It also should be noted these are not ranked in order; they are simply a sampling of our current favorite wing spots in Norwalk.

With that said, let the feast begin!

The Blind Rhino

15 N Main Street

For anyone who has followed The Blind Rhino's growth over the past few years, their inclusion here should not be a surprise. In just a little over three years, this South Norwalk sports bar has skyrocketed in popularity, becoming a staple in downtown SoNo's strong slate of great bars/restaurants.

Likewise, the quality of their wings is hardly a secret. In September, the Rhino team traveled to upstate New York to compete in the National Buffalo Wing Festival, where they took home prizes for both their Spicy Buffalo and Garlic Parmesan flavors. Their menu also offers options such as Mango Habanero and a Togarashi Brown Sugar Dry Rub among other interesting combos.

See also: CT Sports Bar Places High In National Buffalo Wing Competition

"I think customers enjoy our wings because they're awesome," owner Casey Dohme said. "I think they really appreciate not only the sauce options we have, but that actual flavor that comes from the chicken, which goes into the entire chicken wing cooking process."

According to Dohme, the Rhino's wings are baked with a house rub before they are even sauced and fried. In other words, the wings taste great plain and only get better when your favorite sauce is added.

Dohme said the Rhino team takes pride in putting together a really good selection of sauces and rubs for their customers.

"We don't have 95 different sauce flavors," Dohme said. "We have 11 that have been vetted by not only us and our kitchen staff, but our customers as well. We have tried everything from PB&J to Mint Chocolate, Chicken Scarpariello, Pineapple...we want to make sure we put a great selection out their for our customers and to make sure there is something for everyone."

Website: theblindrhino.com

Dry Dock Bar & Grill

215 Main Street

Enter Dry Dock on any night and you're almost guaranteed to see its bar area packed with regulars, some who have been coming multiple nights a week for over 40 years. It's not hard to see why, as this local favorite offers a large list of beers on tap in a relaxed and friendly environment.

The restaurant's dining room area also has a number of tables for families, and their menu has a wide selection of burgers, pizzas and sandwiches. If you peruse the appetizer menu, you'll not only find favorites like nachos and potato skins (pro tip: order with chili), but also a variety of wings.

"We have a lot of different flavors and varieties, which I think is big," owner Don Mastronardi said. "Pecorino Truffle Oil, you don’t see a lot of that, and that’s really good. We have a dry rub that's popular, too. People love the dry wings."

The Pecorrino Truffle Oil is truly inspired, bursting with a magical flavor combination of truffle oil and garlic that coats the wing's skin, which so crispy it snaps the moment you bite in. In addition to a classic buffalo option, Dry Dock also offers Chipotle-Honey Barbecue, Sticky Maple Bacon Bourbon and the aforementioned Cajun Dry Rub.

"We use high quality ingredients with everything we cook," Mastronardi said. "We use super jumbo wings and all the sauces are fresh, homemade sauces. Even for the buffalo wing sauce, we use Frank’s Red Hot but we use a lot of other ingredients in there to kind of add to the flavor.”

According to Mastronardi, who took the reigns at Dry Dock over three years ago, the restaurant has tried out a number of flavor combinations over the years, including some "out there" ones like peanut butter and jelly, but it's the ones that customers keep ordering that earn their stay on the menu.

"Our whole thing is we’re willing to try stuff," Mastronardi said, "and kind of give people a different flavor that maybe they haven’t tried, or try to give them a variety."

Website: drydockbarandgrille.com

B.J. Ryan's Banc House

16 River Street

B.J. Ryan's Banc House typically has customers clamoring for their various barbecue options, any one of which will get your mouth sufficiently watering the second it's put in front of you, or for their happy hour menu, which offers great deals on beers, wine and oysters.

If you end up venturing to said happy hour menu, you'll find two unique options: the BanC BBQ wings and the Buffa-Blues wings. Both bring something interesting to the table, a necessity if they are to stand out among the many tempting barbecue and seafood options at Banc House.

The Buffa-Blues are "super crispy" wings tossed in both buffalo and blue cheese sauce, creating a wing that is perfectly coated in everyone's favorite wing side sauce.

"Traditionally everybody takes a buffalo-coated wing and dips it in the blue cheese," owner Buckley Ryan said, "so we figured why not save a step and just toss it together and it will be a little different."

For the BanC BBQ, the wings are rubbed with the house barbecue rub that Banc House uses on all their smoked meats. They are then smoked and drizzled with the restaurant's house barbecue sauce.

For those who are more traditional, never fear; Banc House also offers a traditional buffalo option, as well as ranch dressing for those who don't go for blue cheese, strange as it may seem. As for why customers continue clamoring for their wings, Ryan was quick to point to what goes into making them.

"They’re fresh and the preparation is unique," Ryan said, "with the BanC wings being smoked in our on-premise smokers with hickory, and the Buffa-Blues being coated in blue cheese and slow-roasted. We run them on our happy hour, and we also have about half a dozen other types of wings on football Sundays."

Those looking to come in on football Sunday will find themselves choosing between options like Sweet Chili, Korean BBQ, Ranch BLT, French Onion and Truffle Honey among other unique flavors.

Just don't be surprised if you still find yourself craving the tang of their house barbecue sauce or the satisfying feeling of a wing evenly coated in buffalo sauce and blue cheese without having to give it a single dunk. They're just that tempting.

Website: www.bjryans.com/banc-house

Iron Brewing Company

136 Washington Street

Iron Brewing Company is still a relatively new addition to downtown SoNo, having opened in 2017, yet they are already making a name for themselves, brewing a number of unique beers on premise while offering guests a sit-down restaurant and bar experience.

Since beer and wings are about as popular a combo as peanut butter and jelly (bonus points for a third PB&J mention), the pressure was on for Iron Brewing Company to bring their A-game when it came to their wing options. Luckily, it seems they brought it.

Whether sitting at the bar and sampling beers or having a nice sit-down meal with friends or family, guests can choose between a variety of wing flavors, including Buffalo New York Style, Garlic Parmesan, Sweet Chili Glaze and their new Maple BBQ, which owner Shane Nunes said is already their most popular.

It's easy to see why, or rather taste why. The combination of maple and barbecue blends together perfectly and each wings is generously coated with this magnificent sauce, creating that rare flavor that can stand on its own without any assistance from blue cheese or ranch dressing...though it certainly still adds to it.

According to Nunes, those wings could probably stand on their own even without the sauce.

"Customers love our wings because of the care we take in preparing and delivering them," Nunes said in an email. "Our wings are brined and then fried to be extra crispy. Our sauces are carefully chosen to represent something like our cocktails, as they can be spicy and sweet."

He also said Iron Brewing Company does not offer a plethora of flavors so they can concentrate on the ones they have. There is also one other secret to their wings' charm: delivery.

"We get the wings right to the table hot and fresh," Nunes said, "where the customer has to wait until they cool down to enjoy the fresh flavor of the wing."

Website: ironbrewing.com

Stew Leonard's

100 Westport Avenue

It seems whenever food comes up in Norwalk, the "World's Largest Dairy Store" always seems to find its way into the conversation, and rightfully so to be honest. Some might call it odd to include a grocery store on a list of the best places for wings in the city, but those people probably have never experienced a trip through Stew Leonard's, the Disneyland of grocery stores.

Those same doubters have probably also never made their way over to the store's Wing Bar, from which customers can fill containers with any combination of wings, perfect whether you're looking for a simple half-dozen to enjoy at home or for a couple pounds to serve at your next party.

Options include Crispy, Buffalo, Honey BBQ, Italian, Baked Red Sweet Chili and Baked Teriyaki among others. If bone-in is not really your style, many of those flavors are also offered boneless.

"Stew Leonard’s has a great variety of both boneless and bone-in chicken wings," Chef Mike Olbrys from Stew Leonard’s in Norwalk said in an email. "Stew’s is making chicken wings fresh to order all day. Customers love the crispy breading, the flavor and the fact that they can customize their very own bucket of chicken wings at our Wing Bar."

Customers loving the wings might be an understatement, as Director of Public Relations Meghan Bell said Stew’s will sell more than 40,000 pounds of chicken wings on Super Bowl Sunday.

"They are a bestseller every year," Bell said.

Website: www.stewleonards.com

Did we miss any other great wing places in Norwalk? If so, comment and let us know. We may update this list again in the future and would love to know some other hidden gems.

Photo credits: RJ Scofield

Photo of Banc House wings courtesy of Buckley Ryan

Photo of Blind Rhino wings courtesy of Casey Dohme