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The best wings in Delaware are crispy, inventive originals

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The people of Delaware have spoken.

Since mid-March, thousands of people have voted every week in a contest designed to find the best grand piano in Delaware. Delaware Wing Madness pitted 32 of the state’s most beloved restaurants, taverns and breweries against each other in a multi-round, single-elimination tournament.

Last week you narrowed the wing field to two beloved, decades-old restaurants: Kid Shelleen’s Charcoal House and Saloon in Wilmington and Brandywine Hundred and 2 Fat Guys American Grill in Hockessin.

Each room was a colossus of wings. Each of them had outpaced the competition in every round of voting. And the stakes were high in their own way: Jeff Cook, co-owner of 2 Fat Guys, said earlier in the competition that if he didn’t win, he would sell his restaurant and retire.

We’re pretty sure he was joking. But we don’t have to find out. Because when the dust settled on Saturday morning, 2 Fat Guys won.

According to voters, the best wings in Delaware come from 2 Fat Guys, owned by 40-year restaurant veterans Cook and Tom Craft. 2 Fat Guys are once and for all the winners of Delaware Wing Madness, the creators of the Triple Play wings, the symbolic bird emperors of Hockessin and the sole bearers of the One Wing to Rule Them All.

“I’m very honored that our guests think of us this way,” said Cook at 2 Fat Guys. “I am also very, very honored to come out on top in a very tough competition.”

Cook praised the wings from the other restaurants that 2 Fat Guys competed against for the prize. In particular, he called Kid Shelleen’s owner Xavier Teixido “tough competition” in the championship round. Teixido’s other restaurant, Harry’s Savoy Grill, was named one of USA TODAY’s Restaurants of the Year for 2024.

But this time it was 2 Fat Guys who had the upper hand.

So what makes 2 Fat Guys wings the best in Delaware?

It’s the sauces. It’s a process. And it’s the chicken itself.

Before we started our Delaware Wing Madness competition, we surveyed wing enthusiasts in our office and across the state. And when people mentioned 2 Fat Guys, they weren’t just telling us they liked the wings: they often told us their favorite sauce.

The PB&J wings are, of course, famous: a conglomeration of peanut butter and jelly and barbecue sauce with flavors that are both familiar and surprising. The sauce comes from the deft mixing skills of sauce master Craft, and from Cook’s love of peanut butter as a topping for just about all things.

Some customers are intimidated by the unfamiliar idea, Cook said. “But as soon as they try it, they eat it again,” he said.

But there is also the barbecue sauce with poached pears. The apple bourbon sauce. The “Yuengwing” sauce made with the beer you think it was made from. The rotating flavors include, whether it’s spicy barbecue or orange ginger. Hot sauce from mild to hot to something called ‘nuclear’.

And if 2 Fat Guys wings seem extra crispy, that’s because they are. Each 2 Fat Guys wing is lightly dusted with a seasoned 16-ingredient flour and cornstarch mixture for maximum crunch and maximum flavor. The wing is broiled and then fried to a crackling texture that allows the sauce to stick glistening to each wing without too much sauce.

The rest of the story is the chicken itself, Cook said. The chicken is all fresh and local, Perdue or Mountaire. The wings and drums are medium to large, for the best ratio of meat to crispy surface.

The result, regardless of the sauce, is Delaware’s favorite wing. Eat at your leisure: 2 Fat Guys is open seven days a week, lunch until late.

2 Fat Guys American Grill is located at 701 Ace Memorial Drive, Hockessin, 302-235-0333; 2fatguys.net.

Matthew Korfhage is a business and development reporter in the Delaware region covering all matters involving land and money. A longtime food writer, he also shows up often with stories about tacos, oysters, beer and wings. Send tips and insults to [email protected].

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