Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap – Traditional Buffalo Wings

Non-Ranking Info:

• Price/Wing: $1.74
• Drum/Flat Ratio: 1:1
• Heat Level: Bogey
• Flavor Type: Buffalo
• Dry Rub or Sauce: Sauce
• Side of River: North Side
• Neighborhood: Mag Mile / River North

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once an awhile, you could miss it.

Well – at least in non-COVID times. I mean, hey, let’s be real, nobody is doing shit around here. But sitting in the apartment 24/7 kind of sucks, so your boy WindyCityMason decided to have himself a little day off.

And not just any day off, mind you – a Monday. Here’s a life pro-tip: Always take off the Monday and not the Friday. Why? Because if it’s a Summertime Chiday Friday, I’m coming in hungover, taking a 1.5-hour long lunch at the State/Lake Chick-Fil-A, and leaving at 3:30 for Happy Hour anyway. 

Now when you take a Monday off, you miss the most grueling part of the workweek. The death march of trudging through your Monday-morning emails and Slacks. Always random people looking to “follow-up” on shit Monday morning, as if I don’t have my own busy Monday schedule. Egghh.

Fuck Mondays. And here’s the cherry on top, folks: After you get done Snapchatting all your friends about how you are getting hammered Sunday night and they’re not, you still get to look forward to the four-day work week ahead of you once do end up logging on that week. And that is integral to your short-term mental health right there (still seeking the key to long-term mental health if anyone has found it, please message me)

Anyway – I digress.

I’m taking off Monday. I’ve got no red Ferrari, I am entirely alone, and I got it approved by my manager ahead of time (such a cuck-boy move by me, I know).

So, I take a nice little ride down South along the Lakefront Trail and end up stopping to chill with a couple of Sox Fans homeless bums not far off the 31st Street Beach. It’s chill, it’s chill. I snap this beautiful pic of the Skyline:

As fun as of an adventure as that was, I quickly zip my ass back up North and roll over to the one and only: Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap. A proud Chicago establishment located two blocks west of the Mag Mile; an area in which, admittedly, I don’t spend much time.

This spot has long been on my radar. It boastfully brandishes an impossible-to-miss sign reading: “CHICAGO’S BEST WINGS.” 

Well, well, well, Mr. Jake Melnick *exhales smoke and flicks cigarette butt to the ground*. We shall see about that!

I am naturally distrustful of a place brazenly promoting its wing superiority so close to a tourist and shopping epicenter of a major American city. 

But as soon as these wings hit my palette, I am 100% launched into flavor-town. In fact, I would argue that my flavor-town cherry has officially been popped right here on Windy City Wings; thank you, ladies, gentlemen, and others, alike.

After the doldrum days of D and F level [QUARANTNE EDITION] wings, I worried I had lost my way; that I had lost my tongue for excellence—something no man ever wants to lose.

But on this day, I am delighted to announce my highest wing rating to date officially. Jake Melnick’s gets a 92% A- score.

Ain’t no thang but a chicken wang, GOT-DAMN! These are good.

Perfect crisp, explosive sauce, great sauce coverage, and what might even be a light breading. Whatever the golden combo, Jacke Melnick’s knocked it out of the park. Hats off to these guys. And bonus: Awesome solo patio vibes on a mothafuckin’ MONDAY.

Let’s RIDE.

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