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Da Bubs is changing the local wing game—one bite at a time.
Raleigh’s “chicken wing guy” is shaking up your favorite finger food in a game-changing way. After splashing on the scene less than four months ago, James Higgins has already built a cult-following for his about-town pop-up, Da Bubs—and now, he’s secured his first location at Le Dive, serving his viral wings Tuesdays to Sundays starting Aug. 12.
So what makes his chicken wings so special? Higgins proclaims he fixed “everything wrong with a wing” (his favorite food, naturally) by applying French techniques to remove all the cartilage from the bones, ensuring the aptly dubbed “first-date wings” can be eaten in one fell swoop—no gnawing chewy bits or picking around veins… just crispy, juicy meat that comes clean off the bone in a single bite.
“I just got sick and tired of people not eating all the meat off the bones,” Higgins explains. “I hate food waste—another reason why I wanted to fix the ‘wing problem.’”
“Every time I’m prepping those wings, I’m like: ‘Who’s the idiot who thought this was a good idea?’ And then I’m like, ‘Oh, wait. That was me.’ I’m really glad the world has idiots like me to appreciate this craft. No one else is crazy enough to take this on.” —James Higgins
And you can’t beat the prices—it was very important for Higgins to make his offerings affordable so they could be enjoyed by all. Ten bucks gets you a pound of chicken, usually eight to 10 wings, plus his signature ranch-meets-blue cheese concoction offering the best of both worlds for dipping.
“People tell me all the time I could charge more—but I want to be part of the solution, not the problem,” he emphasizes. “Everyone doesn’t make a lot of money, and I just want people to enjoy their meal without having to break the bank to do it.”
Also evening the playing field, Higgins’ treasured chicken bites are fried in beef tallow (as opposed to seed oils) and coated in a sole sauce “meant for the entire table”—removing the need for a dreaded back-and-forth convo on hot vs. mild. “It’s spicy, but it’s not. It burns, but it doesn’t,” he contends. “If you like spicy, you like it—if you don’t like spicy, you like it. If you like Buffalo or barbecue, you like it because it has that sweet component.”
While Da Bubs has certainly taken off, Higgins admits he was originally scared to start the concept. After working his way up in the restaurant world—from dishwashing at since-closed Sawmill Tap Room to interning for Walter Royal at Angus Barn to working under renowned chef Michael Pruett—he stepped away from cooking to spend more time with his late dog, Chloe (aka Da Bubs, for which the concept is dubbed).
After she passed away from cancer, he confronted his grief by returning to the kitchen—baking his perfected focaccia for friends, a dish that now features on the menu alongside his semifamous Caesar dressing—as does his loaded chocolate-, caramel- and pretzel-studded cookies. (Three seemingly random things that just so happen to work.)
When it came to launching the concept, Higgins says he eventually ran out of excuses not to. Inspired by Dave’s Hot Chicken’s origin story—illegally slinging sandwiches under a tent in a West Hollywood parking lot—and with a few nudges from friends and fellow business owners, he debuted Da Bubs in a buddy’s DTR backyard. Since then, he’s popped up at spots like Stella’s, Willco, Boatman Spirits Co., Nomad, Crank Arm and House of Hops.
As far as what the future holds, the chicken king has his sights set on becoming the next Raising Cane’s. And with most of the profits, he envisions establishing a trust to help others afford life-saving care for their pets, just as he was able to do when Chloe was diagnosed. “I was fortunate that I was in a situation where I was like, ‘here’s my card, save her,’” he reflects. “I got a few more months out of her, and I really hope I can help other people have that.”
So go on and join Da Bubs’ chicken wing revolution—you may never be able to look at wings the same again.
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