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Food Blog

Sleeping on the Sidewalk to Win Chicken Wings for a Year

There's no Star Wars prequels appearing or new iPad debuting, but folks will be lining up—maybe even camping out—on a Seaside sidewalk as early as Sunday night in hopes that they will win 312 free chicken wings.

That's because Buffalo Wild Wings (394-4483), scheduled to open 11am this Monday, Nov. 19, pledges to give the first 100 chickenheads in the door six wings a week for an entire year.

That means 31,200 free wings if each week-specific coupon is redeemed.

And it means the restaurant's chief is thinking about bring in some reinforcements.

"We have a Porta Potty coming," General Manager Jeff Evans says. "And security. We do this at all the restaurants. Typically people start lining up the night before. Seaside PD is aware as well."

When asked to describe the DNA that has powered Wild Wings to total 800 restaurants in North America (they're just starting to expand overseas in Puerto Rico and the Middle East), Evans is succinct.

"It's a basic blend of wings, beer and sports," he says. "Some people come for one, some for two, some for all three…If it's a game day, this is the place to come."

It’s nice to see Seaside’s City Center is finally filling a conspicuous void, albeit with a corporate chain—which reminds me what one candidate for City Council said of Seaside’s preponderance of chains. He called the sum effect “Fresno-by-the-Sea.”

I called the one BWW devotee I know, Nor Cal music producer/promoter/emcee Karim Panni, brother of our readers’ favorite DJ, Hanif Wondir, for word on why he’s into the Wild.

Here’s what he had:

• “Number one, they have really good wings, with probably 12 different kinds [there are actually 16], and dry wing sauces too. They’re just off the chain. Garlic-parmesan sauce is one of the flavors that’s really good. The onion rings are really good too.”

• “There’s usually a bunch of beers on tap, and cute girls working. That always helps. And TVs on, everywhere. Literally 50 TVs. [The Seaside outpost will have 64.] And sports trivia. Soccer, horse racing is going on and each NBA game—on any given night, all the games will be on. Often you control your own TV, [as] every table pretty much has its own TV.”

• “The happy hour specials are strong too. Tuesdays are 50 cent wings.”

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