Recently I was enlightened to the existence of the greatest wings in Pennsylvania. Surely, this is quite the claim, but Dino’s in Latrobe has no issue with making the claim on their site. Plus, a buddy of mine gave them a glowing review, having grown up in Latrobe. Their specialty isn’t actually buffalo wings, but something called Sweet and Hot.
The menu explains that these wings are more sweet than hot, so I was a little disappointed to see that, but knew I just had to break away from the buffalo wings mentality into the just regular wings mentality. I was also pleasantly surprised to find celery and carrots were an extra charge, which meant I wasn’t going to be charged for something I don’t eat. On the other hand, so was the blue cheese (an extra 75 cents compared to only 50 cents for ranch).
While waiting, I chowed down on the unlimited popcorn and when the wings arrived I was happy to find they were big hunks of meat. I went to work on them and quickly learned that the word “hot” really had no place in the name of the sauce. These were sweet and even the presence of chili peppers didn’t seem to have an effect on that. Nonetheless, they were some tasty sweet wings and just so meaty.
But were they the best in Pennsylvania? That’s a tough one. As a man partial to spicy wings, I really would have liked if these packed some more heat while retaining the unique sweet flavor they already had. With that said, I’m also a meat man, so the amount of meat on the bones at Dino’s really got me. Oh, the conundrums of an unvegan.
