Runner-Up: Buffalo Joe’s

Are you looking for a cost-efficient restaurant with high-quality meals? If you’re a fan of wings, then Buffalo Joe’s is the right choice for you!

Founded by Joe Prudden, Buffalo Joe’s is known as the “Wing Pioneer” for creating many delicious sauces. Joe describes the process of creating the sauces as saying that he won’t use all of the ingredients because a little can go a long way. The three main sauce options they offer are, mild sauce, spicy sauce and—if you think you can handle it—the suicide sauce. All of these sauces lead to a diverse selection of wings. For freshman Alister Keely-Walker, the barbecue sauce is the best a part of the wings overall. Fellow freshman Hans Petraitis finds the spiciness of the barbecue sauce to be particularly enjoyable.

Wings aren’t the only thing Buffalo Joe’s serves though. They offer other foods such as chicken burgers, hot dogs, salads and fries. The burgers are 1/3 lb of quality steer meat per burger and have freshly cut cheese as well as fresh ingredients. They sell many different types of hot dogs but the most popular is their take on the Chicago-style hot dog. Since wings aren’t the healthiest food options, the shop attempts to make up for this by selling salads. They offer chicken salads which include their famous sauce and seasoning. Another staple on the menu is their Buffalo Fries, which are their take on waffle french fries that have an incredible amount of flavor. This balance of healthy with not-so-healthy never sacrifices taste. Freshman Katherine Kupferer finds the chicken to be her favorite part of her meal but is also surprised by how good the celery is.

The pricing at Buffalo Joe’s is decent. They sell high-quality food at average prices. Luckily, it takes little to no time for your order to be ready, which is beneficial if you are in a rush or are getting takeout. The size of the wings are small but they make up for it by giving you a hefty amount of them. This can also be said for the number of buffalo fries you get per order as well. 

For both Keely-Walker and Petraitis, the best part of Buffalo Joe’s is how homey the entire vibe of the restaurant is. “The aesthetic of the place is different than the other wing [spots] since it’s a hole-in-the-wall type of place,” Petraitis says..

Finally, when asked what their favorite thing to order they all agreed to say the wings due to how good that flavorful sauce is. 

“I love the sauce, it was definitely the best part,” Kepferer says.

Overall, if you are craving wings and are in the downtown Evanston area stop by Buffalo Joe’s!