Guy Fieri Called These Smoked Chicken Wing Nachos 'One Of The Most Unique Dishes' On Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives

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In his many years on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives," Guy Fieri has come across dozens upon dozens of delicious dishes, clever concoctions, and truly crazy combinations. Sure, there are some DDD moments that made us cringe, but the show also features plenty of wonderful restaurants and super cool locales. This one in Nevada is up there with some of the best, and one of its signature dishes makes it to the Mashed list of the best wings we've seen on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives."

"That's one of the most unique dishes I've seen on Triple D," Fieri said on a visit to Carolina Kitchen & Barbecue Co. in Sparks, NV, just outside of Reno. He was sampling the restaurant's distinctive chicken wing nachos on a segment you can watch on Food Network's YouTube. Going by the restaurant's three-word description, chicken wing nachos are exactly what they sound like: chicken wings covered in melted cheese, sour cream, and a few other accoutrements. But there's a lot more smoky, spicy, salty flavor packed into them, and quite a bit of kitchen nuance. As one customer said on the episode, "There's so much going on here, but it all works really, really well."

Carolina Kitchen & Barbecue Co.'s chef and owner, Clay Cobb, opened the restaurant with his mother after leaving a career in fine dining on the East Coast, preferring to put his smoking skills to work. On the Food Network website, Guy Fieri called Cobb's smoked beef brisket, "the best brisket I've seen outside of Texas." But we're here for the wing nachos. Sure, these aren't wing hacks that will change your life, but they may have changed Fieri's.

To start, Cobb prefers to only oil the wings before they go into the smoker, "Because we're going to deep fry them. We don't want that char flavor on the rub." After about 45 minutes in the smoker, the wings are deep-fried, then sprinkled with a half-and-half mixture of a house-made Cajun seasoning and a rib rub. Cobb then adds some Carolina Kitchen moonshine barbecue sauce, a hefty helping of cheese, and bacon — which all go in the oven for a nice melt — and then the plate is topped with tomato, green onion, spicy ranch, and sour cream.

It's a lot of ingredients, and it does look like a bit of a mess on the plate, but these smoked wing nachos are a huge hit with Fieri, who says, "Who needs a tortilla chip?" He compliments the crunch of the wing, the cheese melting with the bacon, and the "cool sour cream" on top. It is, undoubtedly, an impressive feat to pull off "one of the most unique dishes" Guy Fieri has ever seen on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives," but Fieri takes it one step further, adding, "and you actually pull it off."