For a casual night out, a quick dinner, a convenient grab-and-go lunch, or emergency tray for a work or neighborhood potluck, the wing is king. This month, we’ve put together a list of the most innovative and delicious wings Omaha has to offer. Did we miss your favorite? Drop us a comment or send an email with your grievances to the uncultured swine who didn’t include the best wings in Omaha. (It’s me, I’m the swine. Sara@TheReader.Com.)
Nite Owl
3902 Farnam
What flavor, exactly, are Nite Owl’s wings? Depends. The seasonal menu comes with new surprises all the time, but it would be impossible to be disappointed by the creative twists, sauces, spices, and sides served with Nite Owl’s sweet-and-savory wings.
Moran’s Grill
3909 Twin Creek Drive
Ignore the fact that Moran’s has a full menu of irresistible options, a fun, relaxed atmosphere, and a miliary and first-responder discount. We are single-minded in our pursuit of wings, and Moran’s delivers. Wings are served traditional or charred. Sauces include buffalo, mango habanero, BBQ, parmesan garlic, diablo, sriracha, teriyaki, sweet chili, spicy honey, bourbon, spicy bourbon or naked. Feeling extra saucy? For an extra dollar, you can ask them to dip your wings in two sauces.
The Choo-Choo Bar and Grill
14240 U St.
Choo-Choo is more than fun to say, it’s fun to do when your mouth is full of sticky sweet mango habanero sauce. Simply made, but sauced with some sass, the wings come in flavors that include mild, medium, hot, xtra hot, nuclear, honey mustard, spicy garlic, BBQ, teriyaki, cajun dry rub, sweet chili, Thai peanut, garlic butter parmesan and Caribbean jerk dry rub.
Modern Love
3157 Farnam, Ste 7113
No gathering is complete without an option for your vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, or dietarily restricted guests. Modern Love offers crispy buffalo cauliflower wings or rosemary crusted seitan wings, both served with vegan house ranch. Modern Love’s wings can be better described as “buffalo-spiced” rather than “buffalo-sauced,” and the texture is better for the adjustment.
Everett’s on Maple
8807 Maple
Everett’s slings such a sauce that it has found its greatest competition in … itself. The chef-inspired pub food establishment recently hosted what it called Sauce Drop Madness. The tourney pitted Everett’s naked, fried and tossed, or fried and grilled sauced wings against one another, cajun cowboy vs. el jefe, Carolina gold vs. honey BBQ, Asian BBQ vs. general Tso. Who was the winner? Everyone who had a chance to be part of this judging process. Oh, and the Jamaican jerk wings took top contender.
Mouth of the South
1111 Harney
House smoked and charred, these wings don’t need a sauce to make them sing. All the same, MOTS serves yours tossed in a choice of buffalo, way hot, BBQ, Abita turbo BBQ, orange habanero, and jerk sauces.
Jukes Aleworks
20506 Elkhorn Drive
Naked wings served crispy, deep-fried, and bone-in with choice of house buffalo, ninja juice BBQ, roasted garlic parmesan, sweet Thai chili sauce and choice of ranch or bleu cheese.
Oscar’s Pizza and Sports Grille
17330 Lakeside Hills Plaza
There is no better place to catch a game, a beer, and a bite than Oscar’s. While the pizzas may be the draw, it’s the wings that keep customers coming back for more. Order yours traditional or boneless, char-buffed or double dipped, and tossed in buffalo, BBQ, teriyaki, Kujo (HOT), Thai chili bourbon, garlic parmesan or naked.
Caddyshack
2076 North 117th Ave.
Tossed, char-buffed, or naked, Caddyshack’s wings are served with your choice of hot, medium, BBQ, spicy BBQ, sweet Thai, teriyaki, or garlic parmesan.
Ray’s Wings Pizza and Drinks
200 S 31st Ave.
Buffalo-style pizza plays second fiddle to the wings that put Ray’s on the map. Sauces listed on the Scoville scale from mildest to most likely to make you cry are as follows: garlic parmesan, toasted sesame teriyaki, lemon pepper rub, mild, honey BBQ, Jamaican jerk rub, sweet chili, bourbon sriracha, lunchbox buffalo and BBQ, buffalo medium, tequila lime, Korean BBQ, BBQ hot, buffalo X hot, buffalo XX hot, buffalo XXX hot, and the buffalo challenge. Whether you want to go full punisher mode on your tastebuds or just want to sink your teeth into something new, Ray’s has more wings and combinations than you can shake a tail feather at.
Team flats here, dying to hear from you about your favorite wings, where to find them and what makes them worth the sweat. Drop us a comment or email Sara@TheReader.com.