The menu options around game time at Long Beach’s Legends Sports Bar include robust choices from sandwiches to burgers, nachos to ahi tacos, fish and chips and ribs.
Yet, with the kickoff of the first NFL Sunday this season, longtime Legends kitchen manager Erick Rivera knows one item will dominate his orders from now until February: chicken wings.
“It’s definitely the truth, and there’s no comparison for our customers,” Rivera said. “They love wings.”
Buffalo chicken wings are served at Legends Restaurant & Sports Bar in Long Beach on Friday.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
If hot dogs and baseball represent a slice of Americana, then perhaps chicken wings and football are also a perfect pairing.
Restaurants, sports bars and take-out specialists throughout the nation are bracing for wings season, with the chicken and restaurant industry noting increased consumption spiking on NFL Sundays until the piece de resistance: Super Bowl Sunday.
Essential California spoke with Rivera about how he’s prepping for this NFL season.
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What do the stats say
Restaurant point-of-sale system provider Toast noted that the most popular dish ordered during the NFL season in cities with a host team is chicken wings.
Restaurants, bars and wings providers see “a 25% increase in average order volume on Sundays in the season compared to Sundays out of the season,” according to Toast.
The National Chicken Council, a nonprofit trade association that advocates on behalf of the U.S. Broiler chicken industry, said sales exploded last NFL postseason.
Chicken wing unit sales soared nationally in the final week of the NFL season and up until the Super Bowl, up 19.8% nationally year-over-year, which the council said reflected “strong seasonal/game-day demand.”
Legends is expected to serve somewhere between eight and 11 cases of wings weighing between 320 and 440 pounds total on NFL Sundays.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
On that Feb. 8, Americans were projected to have consumed a record 1.48 billion chicken wings while watching the Seattle Seahawks defeat the New England Patriots, 29-13, in Super Bowl LX, according to the National Chicken Council.
“When it comes to the Super Bowl… wings rule the roost,” Tom Super, National Chicken Council senior vice president of communication, said in a statement. “For football fans looking to add protein to their spreads at an affordable price, wings are king of Super Bowl menus.”
Wing-eating is a harbinger of success?
In 2023, wings lost their top billing among Angelenos, who consumed 23% more burritos on NFL Sundays than on non-NFL Sundays. Curry (20%) and nachos (19%) also saw sizable spikes that year, according to Toast.
In comparison, Super Bowl champion Kansas City saw a surge in wings that year of 48%.
L.A.’s two home teams provided mixed reviews in 2023.
The Rams finished second in the NFC West and lost in the wild-card round of the playoffs. The Chargers finished 5-12 and missed the postseason entirely.
This past season, the Chargers posted their second straight 11-win season, the most victories for the franchise over a two-year stretch since 2017-18, and lost in the wild-card round.
The Rams won 12 games and marched to the NFC Conference Championship game, the first such advancement since their 2021 Super Bowl season.
At Legends, an order of wings can range from six to 48 pieces.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
While the eventual Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks nipped the Rams 31-27, Los Angeles blitzed all four conference championship cities, consuming more wings than Boston, Seattle and Denver, according to the National Chicken Council.
Rivera and Co. ready for the wing surge
An NFL Sunday generally spans from 10 a.m. until 8:30 p.m.
Legends is expected to serve somewhere between eight and 11 cases of wings weighing between 320 and 440 pounds total on NFL Sundays, Rivera said.
“On a regular non-football Sunday, probably we sell half that,” he said.
The restaurant offers four sauces and dry rubs, each with orders ranging from six-piece servings up to 48-piece buckets.
“Those are for people who don’t want to take their eyes off the TV,” Rivera said with a chuckle.
Rivera said most wing orders are served in-house until the playoffs. By Super Bowl Sunday, the tide turns for take-out.
He says the restaurant serves between eight and 11 cases of wings, the same haul for a standard NFL 10 ½-hour day, in the roughly four hours of the Super Bowl game.
“People want their wings,” Rivera said. “And we’ll be ready.”
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Today’s Recipe 
(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
Maybe takeout chicken wings with your NFL games aren’t your thing. Try your hand at making your own. There are a thousand rubs, sauces and styles. Here’s a stout beer and mustard wings recipe that involves molasses, coffee and barley that will make your mouth water.
Photo of the day 
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(Sandy Huffaker / Los Angeles Times)
Games 
Here’s today’s mini crossword, plus our other free, daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jack Dolan, investigative reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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