Author: brandon
-
Lancaster, NY: Wings With a Basil Garnish, Very Fancy
A white plate, a black ramekin of white dip, and — I want to stress this — an actual basil garnish. Someone in the Lancaster, NY wing scene is trying, and I respect it, even if I can’t tell you who. This is easily top three for “restaurant clearly cared” in a photo where the…
-
Backyard Pizza, Boxborough Edition
June 2022, Boxborough, Massachusetts, and this pizza made it all the way outside — photographed on a wood peel with grass visible in the background. Olives and assorted toppings on a crust that looks like it got real oven (or maybe outdoor pizza oven) heat. Boxborough is a new town for this archive too, which…
-
West Albany Patio Wings, Basket Included
A wooden bowl lined with pink parchment paper, a pink-tinted dipping sauce that means business, an outdoor patio, and an Allagash beer (a Maine brewery, several states from where I was actually sitting, but that’s craft beer distribution for you). This is one of the more visually distinctive presentations in the whole archive and I…
-
Amherst, NY: A Buffalo Suburb Warm-Up Lap
Before the main event in Buffalo proper (see: the Gabriel’s Gate post, the one with the historical placard and my dignity intact), there was this: a quiet dine-in plate with a side salad in Amherst, one of Buffalo’s suburbs, apparently a training session for the real thing. No restaurant name visible, but salad-as-side suggests someone…
-
A February Boxborough Batch
A blue plate against a dark kitchen backdrop, February 2022 — deep-winter wing energy, the kind of meal that exists specifically because it’s cold outside and the oven makes the kitchen warmer. No further ceremony required. Recipe inspiration: RecipeTin Eats’ Truly Crispy Baked Buffalo Wings.
-
North Andover: Wings Next to Oysters, As God Intended
A December visit to what was clearly a step up in venue: wings with ranch and hot sauce on the side, and — visible in the background — a plate of oysters on ice. Whoever I was dining with had better taste than me, or at least a bigger budget. No restaurant name in frame,…
-
Patio Wings and Crayons: An August Afternoon in Nashua
Patio weather, a rose in a stemmed glass, a cup of crayons doing nothing to keep the kids’ menu occupied, and a plate of wings lined up like dominoes — a Saturday afternoon on a restaurant patio in Nashua, New Hampshire. These wings skew classic — bright orange sauce, a single ramekin of ranch, no…
-
Fourth of July Wings in Fall River
Independence Day, 2021, and instead of a barbecue I apparently found a plate of wings with a little salad garnish for balance — the culinary equivalent of wearing sunscreen so you can stay out longer. No restaurant name in the shot, but it was a good enough plate to justify skipping the grill entirely. If…
-
Wayland Pizza, a One-Off Location
May 2021, and this one’s tagged to Wayland, Massachusetts — a town that doesn’t show up anywhere else in this archive, wings or pizza. Pepperoni and banana peppers on a well-browned crust, photographed on a wire rack. Someone’s kitchen, someone’s oven, just not the usual one. I’ll guess this was made at a friend or…
-
Sudbury Era Begins: White Pizza, Overhead Shot
May 2020 — new house, new location tag (Sudbury, Massachusetts, which shows up all over this blog’s wing archive too), and a return to the white-pizza-with-ricotta formula, this time shot from directly overhead on a wood table. The pandemic spring when everyone’s home cooking hobbies got a serious upgrade shows up here too, apparently. I’ll…