With much anticipation, eight poultry-crazed savants embarked on the fifth stop of the city-wide Chicken Crawl to visit Crisp in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. While previous legs wings of the crawl have all originated south of the Mason Dixon Line, Crisp took us south of the 38th Parallel with its authentic Korean flavor.
While chicken wings are unlikely to be the first food associated with Korean (BBQ anyone?), the flavor profile of Crisp’s wings were consistent with what you’d expect from the classic Korean Bibimop bowls - soy sauce mixed with honey and/or brown sugar balance the salty and sweet combination. Unfortunately, Crisp’s wings left much to be desired. The execution was largely uninspiring as both sauce options - Crisp BBQ and Seoul Sassy - were far too gooey and oily. It was almost as if the sauces were over compensating for the mediocre chicken that it covered. One positive that I really enjoyed, however, is the wings were not separated from the legs, so it was as if piece was 2-for-1.
Consider me biased, but I had really high expectations and a big reason why I was dissatisfied is I’ve enjoyed the Korean BBQ-style chicken wing from my very own kitchen. Alyssa’s sweet-honey-sriracha-garlic wings are everything, anyone who has tried would not disagree.
We also sampled their Onion Rings and Mushrooms as an appetizer. The onion rings were generic and likely store bought, although were decent when dipped in their Magic sauce. The Mushrooms were slightly better and where nice and juicy, and similarly where pretty good when combined with their Magic sauce.
The ambiance, similar to the food, left much to be desired. It was picnic-style seating like we’ve experienced before, but there was really no personality in the restaurant at all. I think they were going for a basic, hipster “we aren’t defined by style” kinda-vibe, but it flopped. Instead, it was rather plain and not the most welcoming either.