It’s funny how a menu item can just—appear, really. Or maybe it’s less about appearing and more about a moment of sudden clarity. When the team at The Hamilton first opened, they weren’t trying to reinvent the wheel, but they were definitely struggling with the wings. Brian Stickel, the corporate executive chef over at Clyde’s Restaurant Group, remembers it pretty vividly. They had been open for two days, and the menu still felt like it was missing something crucial. The standard hot-sauce-with-blue-cheese-dressing routine just wasn’t cutting it. They tried smoking the wings, rubbing them, grilling them until they were tired of looking at them.
Then came the night in Hamilton Live. Stickel and Tom Meyer were downstairs just watching the show, listening to Christylez Bacon do his thing. He went on this five-minute tangent during the set about growing up in D.C. and—most importantly—about mumbo sauce. The way he talked about it, you could tell he didn’t feel like he was truly home until he had some of that sweet and spicy fried chicken. The smell of the kitchen prep area, that sharp vinegary tang hitting the air—that’s the stuff that sticks with you, right?
Stickel said he knew what mumbo was, of course. It’s a late-night staple at Chinese spots all over the District. But he admitted that he never really thought of it as a ‘D.C. thang’ until that moment. Maybe it was worth looking into, he thought. Actually, it was more than worth it.
They started tinkering with the recipe right after that. It wasn’t some long, drawn-out culinary research project; it was just messing around in the kitchen until the balance felt right. The true test came when they fed the initial batches to the staff. When the kitchen crew—you know how tough they are to please—started arguing over the last few wings left on the platter, they knew they had hit on something real.
It’s pretty simple to keep around, actually. The sauce holds up in an airtight container for several months, which is useful if you’re trying to replicate that specific sweet-spicy kick at home. It’s not exactly the same as grabbing it late-night in the city, but it’s close enough. It’s just wings, really, but sometimes that’s enough to make a place feel like home.