Portland’s Fire on the Mountain

Portland, Ore.’s, three Fire on the Mountain wings-and-beer joints have earned incredible popularity, and with good reason: you just can’t beat the food here.

First things first: the wings. These crispy morsels are Fire on the Mountain’s specialty, and they’re made with guilt-free free-range chicken from Northern California. You can get them bone-in or boneless, and they’re all fried in trans-fat-free oil to make them just a little less unhealthy. The conscientious restaurant then converts its used oil into biodiesel.

And oh, the sauce. This is the restaurant’s other specialty. They make 11 original sauces (plus one rotating sauce) that includes inventive options like lime cilantro, raspberry habanero and the best — at least in my opinion — the spicy peanut, a fascinating blend of Asian peanut sauce and buffalo sauce that has me licking the plate at every visit. You can try each of the sauces at the register with sprigs of celery, and when you finally make your choice, they’ll toss your wings in the sauce so they’re completely coated. It’s truly a thing of beauty.

The restaurant is known for more than just its wings, though. The menu is crammed with other worthwhile options, like burgers and chicken sandwiches, made-from-scratch pizzas, an array of fried appetizers and heart attack-inducing desserts like deep-fried Twinkies and Oreos.

There’s also beer to wash it all down. Fire on the Mountain brews its own ales and lagers and also pours from some of Portland’s top breweries, including Amnesia Brewery, Laurelwood Brewing, Hopworks, Terminal Gravity, New Old Lompoc and more.

Hiding on the menu is one of the most brilliant vegan concoctions in a city full of brilliant vegetarian and vegan concoctions. Fire on the Mountain’s vegan drumsticks are perfectly crisped on the outside, with a deceptively meaty interior. They’re absolutely stunning creations, and even the biggest meat lovers won’t feel like they’re sacrificing anything by eating these. They soak up all that sauce well, too.