BEREA, Ohio — Cody Cleary considers himself a wing man.

What You Need To Know

  • People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) named Boss ChickNBeer as one of the top 10 places in the country for vegan wings

  • Boss ChickNBeer's vegan wings come in cauliflower or tofu with different sauces

  • The restaurant spent time during the pandemic perfecting its vegan menu 

"I'm a big meat guy. I like to smoke a lot of meats and stuff at home. And I'm big on steaks and wings and all that," Cleary said.

He recently had family over for dinner and ordered wings from his favorite spot: Boss ChickNBeer. And with his vegetarian brother at dinner, too, he decided to place an order for their vegan wings as well.

"They showed up and they looked really good and I was like 'I'll give them a shot.' You know, why not? I like to try stuff."

So try stuff he did.

He was surprised after taking his first bite, Cleary said.

"I had one of the cauliflower wings and I was like really shocked at how good they were. The breading sticks to them. They're crispy. They're juicy. There's flavor inside the cauliflower. It's not just like a plain mushy vegetable."

Boss ChickNBeer in Berea said they've had vegan options on their menu since they opened two years ago.

But when they had more downtime because of the pandemic they took advantage of the time and perfected their vegan wings and vegan menu.

"You can get your choice of our regular, the cauliflower and tofu wings or you can go all cauliflower that's one of the specials. We see that a lot. All cauliflower orders. Other than that we offer the tofu in sandwiches. We also have a vegan chili dog, which is made out of zucchini. Our vegan chicken parm sandwich is amazing," said Will Ruiz, the general manager at Boss ChickNBeer.

Recently, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, listed Boss ChickNBeer as one of the top 10 places in the country to get vegan wings.

Ruiz said the restaurant is thrilled to be recognized.

"This response is crazy I'm not gonna lie. We did not expect this at all whatsoever. We appreciate all of the love. It is the response that we've gotten from our customers, our regulars, from all over the place is insane. I'm just glad that we can offer something that everybody can enjoy."

While Clearly has no plans on giving up meat he said there are advantages to the vegan wings.

"Like I said, they're good. They're a good way to incorporate some veggies. We'll get regular wings and vegan wings and split them both my girlfriend and I. So we'll both get a little bit of both," Clearly said.