ISSUE NO. 07 · NORTH COUNTY, SAN DIEGO

Feeling Sort of Hot

We're not being cute with the mood title, or are we? North County spent weeks under an actual heat advisory — coastal towns pushing toward 90, inland well past it — and relief only started to show up the day before this landed in your inbox. We'd already gone looking for wings in the AC by then, so here's what a few weeks of misery turned up: seven North County spots, in almost every style we could find. Brewery wings, pizza-shop wings, Thai wings — if it was fried or baked and tossed in something, we tracked it down.

Sort of Hot

Churchill's Pub & Grille

San Marcos

Jumbo breaded wings with a choice of sauce, and the list is not short: Buffalo, Sweet Chili, Spicy BBQ, Ivan's Revenge (very spicy), Guinness BBQ, Blackberry BBQ, Cajun dry rub, Old Bay dry rub, Lemon Pepper dry rub or Churchill's own DIE Rub. Served with carrots and celery, six-wing minimum per sauce. Their buffalo cauliflower is worth ordering alongside, if you're sharing.

Rate → $1.85 per wing · Order online, pickup or delivery · See more

Sort of Hot

Green Cheek Brewing

Oceanside

Stick with the Classic Buffalo, and order nearly anything off the beer list while you're at it — it's excellent. The service is another story: expect minimal attention from the seven-plus taproom staff standing around, some detective work figuring out which tray at the pickup shelf is yours when your buzzer goes off, and to clear your own table after. We keep going back for the wings and beer anyway.

Rate → $18 for 12 · Taproom order, no delivery · See more

Sort of Hot

Chiim Thai

Oceanside

A Thai kitchen doing wings alongside the pad thai and curries — not the first place most people think to order wings from, which is exactly why it belongs on this list. Crispy, gluten-free, Thai-style marinated, served with jaew dip — a smoky, nutty, sweet-and-tangy dipping sauce that does more work than ranch ever has.

Rate → $14.95 · Order online for pickup · See more

Sort of Hot

Flippin Pizza Vista

Vista

Oven-baked instead of fried, tossed in buffalo or BBQ. Prepare to marvel at how crispy and saucy they are for something that never sees a fryer. It's a New York-style pizza shop first — they filter their own water just to get the dough right — so the wings are the quiet side order here, not the headliner, and they hold up anyway.

Rate → Check current pricing · Order online, pickup or delivery · See more

Sort of Hot

Leucadia Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant

Leucadia

An Italian spot with more range on wings than most dedicated wing places — a choice of Spicy Buffalo, BBQ, or Sweet & Spicy Apricot. They've been at it since 1980, with 10,000-plus reviews to back it up.

Rate → Varies by location · Order online, pickup or delivery · See more

Sort of Hot

Knockout Pizza

Carlsbad

Oven-baked, not fried. With six great flavors to choose from: mild, hot, plain, lemon pepper, hot honey or BBQ — you can't go wrong. It's a brick-oven pizza spot first, so order a pie while you're at it. Bonus that it's a block from the beach.

Rate → $10.50 for 6, $19.50 for 12 · Order online, pickup or delivery · See more

Sort of Hot

The Regal Seagull

Leucadia

Classic Buffalo Wings, no trend-chasing, just done right — the kind of bar food that's been the whole point of this neighborhood joint for years. Pair it with something off their rotating craft beer list.

Rate → $14 · Order online, pickup or delivery · See more

A confession before we go: these made the list because they're good, but also because North County made us work for it. Whole wings turned out to be surprisingly hard to find around here. We're still looking. Consider this round one.

Go make the weather someone else's problem for a minute.
— The Sort