Texan Mosaic

By Avery Dunlap and Emma Crowder

Plainsman Online

All across the United States, people enjoy testing the limitations of their taste buds by ordering spicy chicken wings either out of curiosity or pure satisfaction. 

For entertainment purposes, and perhaps to satisfy our own curiosity, we ventured out to find the spiciest chicken wings in Lubbock. 

We began our search by selecting the most popular wing restaurants that local citizens of Lubbock often go to. After a short brainstorming session, we quickly planned our route. Our first stop would be Buffalo Wild Wings, followed by Hooters, Wingstop, Wing Daddy’s, and ending at Hub City Wings.

When we arrived at Buffalo Wild Wings we were confident that we were going to love these wings. We figured how hot could they possibly be? We found a table and asked for 12 bone-in wings, in their hottest flavors, of course. The waitress questioned our decision right off the bat by asking, “Uh, are you sure?” 

We were persistent with our choice, and received an order of the Blazin’ Carolina Reaper sauce. According to businessinsider.com, this sauce is 60 times hotter than a jalapeno. We had no idea what was in store for us. A different waiter dropped off our wings and stated, “may God have mercy on y’all’s souls and your butts.” 

Before leaving our table, we quickly grasped an understanding of all of the warnings given to us. Once we first tasted these wings, they were extremely hot. Immediately, tears began to form in our eyes, and not enough water could cool down our mouths. On our scale of spiciness that we created, these wings received a  9.5/10. 

Our next stop was Hooters. On our way, a friend of ours was saying, “They literally had to provide me gloves because they were so spicy.” Slightly intimidated and still recovering from the stop before, we went in and found a table. The waitress came, and we asked for the spiciest wings. So she placed an order for their 9-1-1 flavor. When we asked her how spicy they were, she quickly said, “Honestly, none of our wings are hot.”

We became confused about what we were about to get ourselves into. She finally brought out our wings, and we dug in. We were very pleased to realize that they were equally tasty and mild. After eating the wings, we came to the conclusion that these wings were nothing compared to the wings we tried before, so we rated Hooters’ spiciest wings a 2/10.

Next, we went across the Loop to Wingstop. This time we ordered them to carry out, had to try the wings in the car. We realized too late that we didn’t have much to drink left. We called and placed the order, not knowing what exactly was to come. The workers brought out our wings quickly, and we dug in almost immediately. Initially, we were disappointed, because not only was the Atomic flavor gross, but it also was not spicy at all. We sat in the car for around 30 seconds, and then the spiciness hit us like a brick wall. We cranked the A/C up, but rolled down the windows because we were all sweating. Yet, they weren’t as hot as the wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. We ranked Wingstop’s Atomic flavor as a 7/10.

Excitedly, we drove to Wing Daddy’s to try their spiciest flavor next. We arrived and they sat us down at a corner table. This time, we remembered to get drinks. Emma ordered the Pecker Wrecker and Hellfire flavors in the boneless bites. We received them, and they were actually super tasty! The waitress said when bringing us our food, “They’re not as spicy as they could be!”  Avery didn’t think they were very spicy, but Emma thought they were equivalent to Wingstop’s aftertaste. After eating all of the wings, we came to an agreement that the ranking here should be the same as Wingstop, 7/10.

After two hours of driving around and buying wings, we approached the one we were scared of the most, Hub City Wings. The previous three places hadn’t been too bad. Honestly, when we started driving to the restaurant, we didn’t get nervous until the waitress on the phone asked, “Are you SURE you want to try our ghost pepper wings?” We really didn’t, but we made it that far, so we had to do it. 

When we went in and grabbed our order, the waitress confirmed one last time that we really wanted that flavor. We went back into the car and started eating. Instantly, our mouths started throbbing and tears started flowing down our faces. That was followed by nearly 10 minutes of laughing because the wings were so spicy.

We had to sit in the car for nearly 30 minutes to get to a place emotionally and physically to drive home after what we had just endured. Hub City Wings definitely takes the victory for the spiciest wings in Lubbock. We quickly ranked it as a 16/10. 

     Overall, the majority of the wings that we tried were at least somewhat spicy. Based on our mentally constructed scale of spiciness, as well as our personal opinions,  Hub City Wings has the spiciest wings in Lubbock and Hooters has the least.