Pop quiz: What are the only five-letter sovereign nations that contain two Is? If you and five of your best trivia-playing friends can’t come up with India and Haiti, you probably don’t want to be at The Irish Times in Palms on Tuesday nights. You see, every Tuesday is Trivia Night and begins sometime between 9 and 9:30, but were it simply a bar with trivia it would not be worthy of meat-blogging. Fortunately that is not the case, because every Tuesday also means $5 buffalo wings. And while they have a full kitchen and a decent bar food selection, there is really no other option in my mind.

Ordering must be done at the bar and The Irish Times is notoriously slow to take bar orders. I’ve never seen more than one bartender, yet that is almost part of the charm of the place. Yet, while it might take some time to order, the food comes out pretty fast and I quickly found myself staring down a plate of sexy, glistening wings. They were accompanied by those nasty wing-groupies known as carrots and celery, which are like the ugly girls that pretty women keep around to feel better about themselves. They’re harmless in that they don’t impact the flavor of the wings and there is always a friend willing to take them down, but they are wholly unnecessary.

Vegetables aside, the wings were quite good. The sauce was exactly what I expect from bar wings. Nothing fancy, nothing creative and nothing disappointing. It matched up nicely with the blue cheese dressing and my pint of Fat Tire. There was, however, one minor hitch. A few of the wings had spent a bit too long in the fryer and were chewier than necessary. Luckily, this hadn’t dried out the wings, but it definitely prevented them from toppling the Backstage as my favorite LA bar wings.

Yet while they may not be the best, I will certainly be returning to The Irish Times and ordering them again as I pit my trivia brains against the rest of the bar in a battle for eternal glory (and $30 off my bar tab).

Sitting right next to Sony Pictures Studios is the Backstage Bar & Grill. Claiming to have the best bar food in LA, I decided to take them for a spin.

First, I downed a few beers to make sure I was in the right state of mind to be eating bar food. Then I took a look at their happy hour menu, which is quite conducive to the unvegan. From garlic fries to quesadillas, most everything looked to be free from the bondage of vegetables. As soon as I saw the wings, though, I knew they had to be mine. Any opportunity to eat with just your hands should be fully embraced, especially after a few drinks. They come in hot, BBQ or teriyaki, and with my trusty beer in hand, I felt strongly about taking on the hot wings. At only $5, I knew I couldn’t go wrong.

When they came, they were looking good except for one issue, which seems to pervade every wings dish I order. These weren’t just wings. They were wings and drumsticks. Now I have no problem with drumsticks, but I just wish they would make some sort of note about this on the menu. Also, the portion wasn’t huge, but I suppose that’s what happens when the price is so cheap. Despite these drunkenly confused thoughts, I noticed something amazing. The entire plate was devoid of celery and carrots. Typically restaurants with wings usually see the plate as an opportunity to unload stalks of vegetables. Not so at the Backstage. Happily, I started devouring my food. The wings were damn good and spicy, and the fries that came with them were well-seasoned. In fact almost too well as I caught myself scraping some seasoning off with my buffalo-crusted fingernails. As I licked off my fingers and polished off some more beer, I was happy to be in the Backstage.