17th Annual Chicago's Best WingFest Winners Announced

On Sunday, February 21, 2016, the sold-out Seventeenth Annual Chicago’s Best WingFest brought out nearly 2,000 Chicago area chicken wing lovers for a fierce wing-eating extravaganza. Over 50,000 chicken wings were consumed in Bailey Auditorium in the West Loop where five Chicagoland establishments were crowned first place winners and two individuals, one male and one female, were crowned “Lord and Lady of the Wings”.

Each establishment entered their wings in up to two of the following categories: Mild Wings, Hot Wings, BBQ Wings and Exotic Wings. The following were proclaimed winners, in a double-blind judged competition: Best Mild Wing: a tie between Reverie and Gators, Best Hot Wing: Timothy O’Toole’s, Best BBQ Wing: Dinosaur BBQ, Best Exotic Wing: Output, Rookie of the Year: Dinosaur BBQ, and earning the most cumulative points for the coveted Best of the Fest: Dinosaur BBQ

The following eighteen Chicago area restaurants participated in the 2016 WingFest: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Mc Q’s Sports, Brew & BBQ, Mr. Brown’s Lounge, The Ogden, The Jerk Shack Caribbean Grill, The Kerryman, Mash Kitchen, Reverie Chicago, Mahoney’s Pub & Grille, Reggie’s, Timothy O’Toole’s, Whisk, Output, Lottie’s, The Pony, Buffalo Wings & Rings, Unite Urban Grill, and Gators Wing Shack.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was the male and female eating competitions to crown the “Lord and Lady of the Wings”. In each competition a dozen people competed against each other in their gender class to see who could eat the most wings in three minutes. In the female competition, Katrina Fraley of Chicago reigned victorious once again. In the male rivalry, newcomer, Tony Pugh the self-proclaimed “Wing Daddy” also from Chicago, was triumphant.

To date, WingFest has raised over $155,000 for various charities, and this year’s WingFest once again netted $5,000 for Chicago Neighbors United www.chicnu.org. CNU is a non-profit, community based organization which provides educational scholarships to inner city youth residing in the 27^th Ward of Chicago and assists with various neighborhood programs throughout the year.