SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 For the last 15 years, Matt Lynch and Matt Serniak have been the NEPA Wingmen, and they haven\u2019t been guiding people on how to pick up women, they\u2019ve been guiding people on where to pick up the best chicken wing in town. On Friday night, Fox56’s Ben Freeman was able to sit down with the duo to learn about their story and join the wing men for a wing feast at Diskin’s Saloon in Scranton.<\/p>\n
The high school best friends turned wing critics started NEPA Wingmen after they began ranking and categorizing wing spots following the closure of their favorite wing restaurant. They decided to post their rankings on a blog and now, both Matt\u2019s are almost 40 years old, married, and work different careers, but they still come together and do as they’ve done for the last decade and a half, eat and rank wings.<\/p>\n
Each does their own write-up per place, scoring the wings on four categories for 50 points per person, or a total of 100 points combined.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, the first scale rating leg of it is environment,” explained Serniak. “Then we do wing size\/price, that\u2019s like its own group. And then wing flavors\/uniqueness, so, like, how many flavors, anything off the wall, and then taste is like double weighted.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Diskin’s, Ben joined the duo in ordering 50 wings across a spectrum of sauces and flavors. The pair said that while they always order some of the “classics” like buffalo as a baseline, they also opt for unusual or unique flavors to experience everything the establishment has to offer. As they’ve worked on the blog, they’ve seen the prices of wings skyrocket and the flavor selection at restaurants and bars expand drastically. It’s one of the many reasons, besides the sheer volume of places to buy wings, that the pair thinks Northeast Pennsylvania is one of the best places to buy wings in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say NEPA or Old Forge is the pizza capital of the world,” said Lynch. “But I think NEPA is like the wing capital of the world.”<\/p>\n
Serniak continued, saying, “Don’t sleep on the wing capital of the country, even of the world.”<\/p>\n
Throughout their journey of appraising poultry, they\u2019ve been to 146 different places and tried over a thousand wings and since starting, they’ve had to adjust their methods and time in-between reviews to prevent burnout. While life looks much different for them than it did when they started NEPA Wingmen all those years ago, what hasn\u2019t changed is their bond, and of course, their shared love of chicken wings.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, I love wings,” said Lynch. “So, I definitely want to go out and taste them. But you know, trying to find that balance of like what’s enjoyable, what\u2019s still worth it, what\u2019s still worth the effort. So, I think we found that balance for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI really enjoy just going to the place of my really good friend and having a couple beers and having some wings,” said Serniak. “I could do that anytime, ever. So, a few nights out of the month? Yeah. Hell yeah, let\u2019s absolutely do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even after eating more wings in 15 years than most people will ever eat in their lifetime, their commitment to making sure people are informed on the best wing spots in Northeast Pennsylvania is as sturdy as a chicken bone and they said that even if they run out of new locations, they’ll just revisit old ones for an update, like they did for Diskin’s.<\/p>\n