The menu options around game time at Long Beach’s Legends Sports Bar include robust choices from sandwiches to burgers, nachos to ahi tacos, fish and chips and ribs. |
Yet, with the kickoff of the first NFL Sunday this season, longtime Legends kitchen manager Erick Rivera knows one item will dominate his orders from now until February: chicken wings. |
“It’s definitely the truth, and there’s no comparison for our customers,” Rivera said. “They love wings.” |
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Buffalo chicken wings are served at Legends Restaurant & Sports Bar in Long Beach on Friday. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) |
If hot dogs and baseball represent a slice of Americana, then perhaps chicken wings and football are also a perfect pairing. |
Restaurants, sports bars and take-out specialists throughout the nation are bracing for wings season, with the chicken and restaurant industry noting increased consumption spiking on NFL Sundays until the piece de resistance: Super Bowl Sunday. |
Essential California spoke with Rivera about how he’s prepping for this NFL season. |
What do the stats say |
Restaurant point-of-sale system provider Toast noted that the most popular dish ordered during the NFL season in cities with a host team is chicken wings. |
Restaurants, bars and wings providers see “a 25% increase in average order volume on Sundays in the season compared to Sundays out of the season,” according to Toast. |
The National Chicken Council, a nonprofit trade association that advocates on behalf of the U.S. Broiler chicken industry, said sales exploded last NFL postseason. |
Chicken wing unit sales soared nationally in the final week of the NFL season and up until the Super Bowl, up 19.8% nationally year-over-year, which the council said reflected “strong seasonal/game-day demand.” |
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Legends is expected to serve somewhere between eight and 11 cases of wings weighing between 320 and 440 pounds total on NFL Sundays. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) |
On that Feb. 8, Americans were projected to have consumed a record 1.48 billion chicken wings while watching the Seattle Seahawks defeat the New England Patriots, 29-13, in Super Bowl LX, according to the National Chicken Council. |
“When it comes to the Super Bowl… wings rule the roost,” Tom Super, National Chicken Council senior vice president of communication, said in a statement. “For football fans looking to add protein to their spreads at an affordable price, wings are king of Super Bowl menus.” |
Wing-eating is a harbinger of success? |
In 2023, wings lost their top billing among Angelenos, who consumed 23% more burritos on NFL Sundays than on non-NFL Sundays. Curry (20%) and nachos (19%) also saw sizable spikes that year, according to Toast. |
In comparison, Super Bowl champion Kansas City saw a surge in wings that year of 48%. |
L.A.’s two home teams provided mixed reviews in 2023. |
The Rams finished second in the NFC West and lost in the wild-card round of the playoffs. The Chargers finished 5-12 and missed the postseason entirely. |
This past season, the Chargers posted their second straight 11-win season, the most victories for the franchise over a two-year stretch since 2017-18, and lost in the wild-card round. |
The Rams won 12 games and marched to the NFC Conference Championship game, the first such advancement since their 2021 Super Bowl season. |
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At Legends, an order of wings can range from six to 48 pieces. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) |
While the eventual Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks nipped the Rams 31-27, Los Angeles blitzed all four conference championship cities, consuming more wings than Boston, Seattle and Denver, according to the National Chicken Council. |
Rivera and Co. ready for the wing surge |
An NFL Sunday generally spans from 10 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. |
Legends is expected to serve somewhere between eight and 11 cases of wings weighing between 320 and 440 pounds total on NFL Sundays, Rivera said. |
“On a regular non-football Sunday, probably we sell half that,” he said. |
The restaurant offers four sauces and dry rubs, each with orders ranging from six-piece servings up to 48-piece buckets. |
“Those are for people who don’t want to take their eyes off the TV,” Rivera said with a chuckle. |
Rivera said most wing orders are served in-house until the playoffs. By Super Bowl Sunday, the tide turns for take-out. |
He says the restaurant serves between eight and 11 cases of wings, the same haul for a standard NFL 10 ½-hour day, in the roughly four hours of the Super Bowl game. |
“People want their wings,” Rivera said. “And we’ll be ready.” |
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Editor’s pick |
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After 12 years of marriage, I wanted a new challenge. So three mornings a week, I went to martial arts classes at a modest dojang in Van Nuys. Eventually my husband started training there too. |
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(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Evan Agostini / Invision / AP) |
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Today’s Recipe |
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(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times) |
Maybe takeout chicken wings with your NFL games aren’t your thing. Try your hand at making your own. There are a thousand rubs, sauces and styles. Here’s a stout beer and mustard wings recipe that involves molasses, coffee and barley that will make your mouth water. |
Photo of the day |
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Divers jump into the water at Sunset Cliffs in the Ocean Beach area of San Diego. (Sandy Huffaker / Los Angeles Times) |
Games |
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Here’s today’s mini crossword, plus our other free, daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games. |
Have a great day, from the Essential California team |
Jack Dolan, investigative reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters |
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com. |
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