My, it's been awhile. Should I tell you again how it's my personal goal to write more? Is it even worth it to mention that I'm really going to try and go through all these hundreds of photos on my hard drive? How about if I mention I have an iphone now and will be able to post more pictures, quicker with shorter write-ups?
Does any of that make up for my painfully obvious lack of attention?
Clearly the only appropriate answer here is just to simply, "No excuses, just do better."
So here I am, rising from dead to tell you all about...
Drum roll please....
Chicken Wings.
Yes. Tender, fat, juicy, with just the right crisp around the edges and smothered with just the right amount of sauce... buffalo chicken wings.
It was like party in my mouth good. I mean... it could have also been because it was 9:30 p.m. on a Thursday and I had just left the office from a string of meetings and was ready to eat my feelings.
Let's go with the former.
So when I retitled this blog, I wanted to take more of an "educational" format. I want to provide not just the food item, but a little history, a little culture and maybe even a little perspective. Last night, I attended Ira Glass's touring show where he spoke a lot about what makes news... news and why radio is such a great medium. Peppered with a few sound clips and a lot of humor. (I could listen to that man talk all day, he's such a great story teller.) One of my biggest takeaways from the evening was his insight that all great news stories have a plot and then a thought. What makes This American Life and so many other radio programs great are the fact that they package these wonderful vignettes that build, keep you engaged and then make you think. According to Ira Glass, this structure is essentially a fool proof way of packaging any great story.
But I digress.
Jamal's Buffalo Chicken Wings is a tiny little shack in the parking lot of Papa Johns at the corner of MLK and Northside Drive on the Westside of Atlanta. Doing my due diligence for this post, I did a little googling research. Discovered a brief writeup by The Blissful Glutton back in 2008 both on her own blog and as a "Cheap Eats" mention in Creative Loafing.
From what I've gathered, Jamal's has been around for 20+ years and has the following you would expect of a hole-in-the-wall parking lot chicken wing shack. Lots of great reviews on Yelp, Urban Spoon and a number of other places.
For me, the night started as any other:
"Wanna eat?"
"Sure, where do you want to go?"
[insert monotonous string of usual restaurant suggestions]
"I really want wings"
[with hesitancy] "Ok..."
Now I guess I should tell you, i'm constantly craving wings. And you'd think I'd be picky about it but I know so few places that serve good wings that i'm generally pretty easy to please. Lately though, I did find myself trekking up to Cafe J in Gwinnett a lot.
I mean, there are advantages. For one, a table. And two, the price. We got 30 wings for about $15 i think with the fries and everything else -- however, they are smaller wings. And of course... it's just. soooooo. far.
So this night we (I) sought out alternatives. Yelp it was.
Jamal's is so easy to miss. You turn right on MLK and SURPRISE! there it is. Didn't help that the Papa John's delivery truck hid it almost completely from view.
It looks smaller than a U-haul trailer you'd hitch to your pick-up truck (ya know, if you drove a pick-up truck) and has just enough space on the inside it looks like for a sink, fryer and standing room for two people.
The ladies in the shack could not have been sweeter. They were talkative, cheerful and made it feel like I was about to get wings fresh from the fryer at a sunny Sunday picnic. We got 20 wings for $16.95 (double what BG quoted in '08) and I felt like it was still a pretty great deal. Half lemon pepper and half honey bbq. The bestie wasn't fond of the strong lemon flavor but i was thrilled with it. Most of the time if I get lemon pepper it tastes like salt and pepper with a small lemon squeeze...but not these. No, these were fragrant, tangy, crispy deliciousness.
The honey bbq was saucy, and just the right amount of sweet and tangy as well. Tack on $1+ for fries and we were set. The fries were shockingly crispy but not greasy/oily -- which was great. Actually i didn't think any of it was particularly oily or greasy like is typical of most chicken wings.
And in true "shack food" spirit, we ate in the parking lot. Nothing fried or hot ever travels well so I insisted (much to my bff's dismay) that we sit in the parking lot (watching the late night Papa Johns foot traffic) and chow down on our 20 wings.
I know, sounds like a hot date, right?
Well I don't mind telling you... things got pretty steamy in my little Camry on that damp Thursday night. ;)
Embrace that your car will smell like chicken wings for at least a week, bring cash, and go.
Jamal's Buffalo Chicken Wings
10 Northside Drive, NWAtlanta, GA 30314
*Photo courtesy of the bff, who's blog is found here. :)
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