Chicken wings doused in mumbo sauce, DC's red-orange sweet-tangy condiment, served as the closing dish at the city's carryout counters from Petworth to Anacostia.
Mumbo sauce (also written mambo) is a sweet, tangy, faintly hot red-orange sauce that took hold in Washington DC's Black carryout counters from the 1960s onward. It probably evolved from a Chicago-style barbecue sauce, brought south by Argia B Collins, but the DC version drifted sweeter and tangier, more ketchup-and-pineapple than smoke-and-vinegar. By the 1980s it had become the city's defining condiment for wings, fried chicken, fried rice and french fries from Wings-N-Things on Capitol Hill, Yum's, Danny's Sub and dozens of carryouts. In 2011 a Chicago-based company tried to trademark Mumbo Sauce; the DC counters fought back, and the name remains generic. Capital City Mumbo Sauce, founded 2011 in Anacostia, bottles the DC house version for grocery sale.
3 editor picks for Mumbo sauce wings in Washington DC, ranked by editorial score. All Washington DC signature dishes · Mumbo sauce wings across every city.
Oohh's & Aahh's ★ 4.4
1005 U St NW, Washington, DC 20001
Oohh's & Aahh's in Washington DC is the U Street soul-food counter from Oji Abbott since 2005, with mumbo sauce wings, fried catfish and the carryout three-piece plate as the editorial format.
Henry's Soul Cafe ★ 4.2
1704 U St NW, Washington, DC 20009
Henry's Soul Cafe in Washington DC is the U Street soul-food counter from Henry Smith since 1968, with sweet potato pie sold by the slice and the carryout fried chicken and mumbo wings.
Florida Avenue Grill ★ 4.2
1100 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009
Florida Avenue Grill in Washington DC is the LeDroit Park diner at the corner of Florida and 11th since 1944, the city's oldest soul food counter with the half-smoke breakfast plate.