Great Sea Restaurant
Chinese restaurant · Albany Park
3253 W Lawrence Ave, Chicago, IL 60625
Highlights
Famous lollipop chicken wings in sweet and spicy sauce
Famous lollipop chicken wings in sweet and spicy sauce
"While seemingly everyone is going crazy for Southeast Asian-style wings, Great Sea has been serving tangy and sweet drumettes for decades; the lollipop-style wing was created in Chicago, and Great Sea popularized them. Despite the restaurant’s sale, new ownership has carried over the deliciousness and copied the techniques of Great Sea’s founders. Grabbing a bottle of sauce for the road is popular here." - Ashok Selvam
"Great Sea is another decades-old casual spot in Albany Park with tasty Korean-Chinese food. But while we like their bowls of jjajangmyeon or jampong, their incredible lollipop wings (also on our best wings guide) are why we’re OK dealing with all of the potholes on Lawrence. At one point, Great Sea even had an “eat as many wings as you can” challenge with a wall of fame featuring pictures of top-performing poultry-obsessives. Each plate comes with around 12-15 pieces of chicken that stay crispy regardless of how long they hang out in the sweet and spicy sauce. Chances are, every table will have at least one order." - john ringor, adrian kane
"This Albany Park Chinese restaurant has an extensive food menu, but they’re best known for their lollipop wings. And for good reason—they’re incredible, and what you should be getting every time you come here. Based on your heat preference, you can choose regular, extra, or no heat. But there are no wrong choices—whatever spice level you choose, you can count on flavor that will explode in your mouth." - adrian kane, phaithe norman, john ringor
"Like Peking Mandarin, Great Sea is another casual Chinese restaurant that’s been serving up Korean-Chinese food for decades. But while their jajangmyeon or jampong are both tasty, their lollipop wings are what they’re famous for (and the reason they're on our best wings guide). Each order comes with around 12-15 pieces of chicken that defy physics, staying crispy regardless of how long they hang out in the sweet and spicy sauce. " - john ringor, adrian kane
"Lollipop Chicken Wings: Here is one of the best examples of a Chicago invention: the lollipop chicken wing, based on gam pong gi, a classic Korean Chinese chicken stir fry. A chef named Hsing-Tseng Kao at a nearby restaurant, the now-defunct Peking Mandarin, came up with the idea of using wings in gam pong gi, but it was Nai Tiao, Great Sea’s owner back in the 1980s, who first frenched the wings into a lollipop shape and drenched them in a sweet, spicy sauce. The rest is Chicago food history." - Eater Staff
