On Tuesday, rapper and comedian Zack Fox posted a close-up photo of some juicy-looking wings dusted in flakes of lemon-pepper seasoning on his Instagram, and the internet lost it. Rather than tell his more than 400,000 followers where he got the wings, Zack decided to keep it a secret. “Niggas put me on to the best wings in LA, and I’m not gonna share the name cuz fuck y’all,” the ‘Fuck Around and Find Out’ rapper wrote jokingly on IG (conveniently around lunchtime, when we were all thinking about food).
Almost immediately, the DMs from “friends” started to roll in. “Tell ME. I ain’t y’all,” comedian and actress Ayo Edebriri said in a private message that Zack posted to his IG Stories. “I find mfs like you really interesting, bro,” Zack responded. “I ain’t gon lie this spot is kinda like a personal vibe u feel me…so go ahead find yourself something to eat bro go open your fridge bro this, not the fridge this the internet u get what I’m saying.”
Musician Steve Lacy took it up a notch by offering to sign a non-disclosure agreement with Zack and pay him $1,000 to reveal the coveted wing spot. “Bro, I got a stack for you…just tell me where (crying emoji) I’ll sign a NDA.”
But Zack didn’t budge. “Yo album amazing nigga 10/10 just like these wings,” he responded.
We all have those spots in the neighborhood or other parts of the city that we’ve explored that we don’t post on social media. Or if we do, we make sure not to post any information that could blow up the spot. Because although we want to see the business do well and continue to exist, we don’t want to wait in longer lines or struggle to get the food we love if we don’t have to.
There’s also a sense of pride associated with knowing where the lowkey best spots to eat are in your community and a tendency to want to keep those spaces pure and to yourself. Because although we live in the second largest city in the country, LA can sometimes feel like a small town.
So although I respect Zack’s decision not to disclose the name of the infamous chicken wing spot, even after being offered a substantial amount of money, the investigative journalist in me (and chicken wing fan) couldn’t help but wonder which spot he was talking about.
A week prior, Memo Torres, L.A. TACO’s “Juan of all trades” (as our Editor-In-Chief calls him), put me in a similar position when he Tweeted a mysterious photo of a classic-looking double cheeseburger and presented a challenge to his followers: “Where am I?” He asked.
Dozens of people threw out names; everything from Tommy’s to Big Tomy’s to Apple Pan was mentioned, but nobody figured it out. Until I revealed that Memo went to Tom Boys Burgers in Lawndale, a place I’ve never been to or heard of. “Investigative reporter ass foo,” Memo Tweeted after I lifted the veil on the cheeseburger. It felt similar to winning an intense game of chess or confirming an important finding in an investigative story, two things that take a substantial amount of determination.
Decoding Zack’s wing photo was an opportunity to feel that rush of success again and confirm that my technique was viable.
A screenshot of Zack’s initial photo surfaced in our newsroom just before 1 PM, and unlike Memo’s photo, there weren’t many clues. Just two different kinds of delicious-looking wings, french fries, and a non-descript container. Memo’s image at least captured some of the restaurant's interiors; Zack’s was a straight-up close-up.
Hundreds of places in Los Angeles are known for serving wings, but after about half an hour of intense research and scratching my head, I narrowed it down to one. After a brief deliberation with the newsroom, we sent my guess to Zack via the official L.A. TACO IG account.
Two days later, he responded, “fantastic work,” with an emoji of a cartoon holding a chicken wing.
I'm excited to try Zack's wing spot. They look good. But out of respect for not blowing up the spot, we will not be disclosing Zack Fox’s favorite place to grab chicken wings in this story.
But with that being said, we are launching a new column called ‘Guess This Dish.’ Here’s how it works: send in a photo to info@LATACO.com of a plate of food from a low-key spot within L.A. County, and I'll try my best to guess where you’re eating (and not blow up your spot).
