My confession about tasting menus is that when a restaurant gets to a certain calibre to command a plate-by-plate rendition of its best dishes, it is oftentimes tough to pick a “best dish” from the bunch. (Not always, but most times.) That’s my conundrum with my recent tasting menu at Prelude. Chef Celtin Hendrickson-Jones’s restaurant was surprising in the best of ways, so much so that I was moved enough to add them to Eater SF’s 38 list this month. But now, when pressed to figure out which dish was the best, it’s tough to pick. Between the smoked catfish dumplings, johnny cakes, the grits, the ambrosia salad, and more, I struggled with this one. What I eventually landed on was this stuffed chicken wing. The crisp, fried exterior gives way to a dirty rice-filled inside, for a bite that will make you pause in appreciation. When you get into the weeds of how a stuffed chicken wing is made, you grow all the more appreciative when you first go in. Of course, one can never go wrong with fried chicken, but when you find a version that makes you look at wings in a new way, you can never go back. If you’re going in to Prelude for the a la carte menu, you already have a partial list of my favorites, but go with the stuffed wings, too, if you know what’s good for you. Prelude, 333 Battery Street, San Francisco