Let me preface this by saying that I’ve never really been a chicken wings fan. I don’t like hot wings because I don’t like spicy food. Most of the time there doesn’t seem to be enough meat on the wings to justify the effort it takes to eat them properly. And of course the cost of wings has drastically inflated from the days when one could go to a bar on a Monday and get wings for 10 cents each.

Garlic Teriyaki wingsYet, here I am, talking about not only chicken wings, but possibly the best chicken wings in the Syracuse area. That might be hyperbole, or it could be because I haven’t eaten wings in a lot of places across the area, though I’m not a novice. And truthfully, a part of me isn’t sure whether I’m justified in defining the best wings.

So I offer two things.

One, I went a second time specifically to order the wings because I had a craving for them and that’s never happened before.

Two, my friend Steve, who I’ve gone with both times, proclaimed them the best wings he’s ever tasted, and he has had a lot of chicken wings.

The first time we went, we were actually heading for a different place in the Westcott area because others had told both of us independently that they had the best wings in town. We showed up at 2PM on a Saturday… and they were closed! I mean really, you’re a pizza and wings joint and you’re closed on Saturdays until 4PM? Scandalous!

Thus we were forced to look for a different place to eat, when he said that he’d heard of a place called Dorian’s Pizza and Deli (or maybe “gourmet pizza and deli”, as it seems they have two separate websites lol) at 534 Westcott Street and maybe we should try it out.

We went there only to find that we were going to be the only customers in there for a while. There were two guys in there; one a tall friendly guy, the other guy short who’s the antithesis of loquacious. Steve ordered a slice of pizza and the hot wings; I ordered the garlic teriyaki wings because all I had on my mind was wings. To be fair, there’s a lot of things they had on the menu besides pizza and wings. They have a major assortment of sandwiches, soups, and even pasta. They even have combination meals.

The inside will remind you of a bar; that’s actually where I thought we were going, but it’s not a bar. They have some tables in there and, well okay, a bar where you can sit and eat your food. They serve soda and some bottled beer, and they have a big screen TV… but that’s about a close to it being a bar as you can get.

They call out your order and you go get your food. I looked at my wings and immediately noticed how big they were; yeow! As you can see in the picture above, the color was wonderful and I found myself salivating because the aroma was enticing; that’s never happened before as it pertains to wings either.

Let me just say this; I felt really good eating these wings. I didn’t get the same type of euphoria I get when I’m consuming chocolate but this was pretty close. The wings are definitely a meal unto themselves; ten large wings was plenty of food. The first time Steve also had pizza and he admitted it was too much food later on but the second time he just had the wings and he said that was enough; and that they were still the best wings he’d ever had.

I can’t tell you about the hot wings because I’m not a masochist. My wings… all I might have wanted was a slight bit more salt but they were great without it. I have no idea how they put the combination together but the garlic wasn’t too hot and the teriyaki isn’t too sweet; it just works.

There you are, a recommendation for a place that’s kind of out of the way unless you know the Westcott Street area well. I know I’ll be going back again; give them a shot!