Whether they're late-night cravings or just something to munch on while watching the big game, wings are a fan favorite for many college students.

With just about every wing place in town delivering, it's hard to decide which wing hot-spot students would rather order from.

Newly opened Canyon Wings, 219 E. Beaver Ave., hopes to gain as much popularity as its brother eatery, Canyon Pizza, 260 E. Beaver Ave.

With Canyon Pizza's signature slogan, "Did you get a piece last night?" Canyon Wings takes it a step farther with its slogan, "You can't beat our boners!"

Owner Greg Nau said the business is "starting off soft" because it has only been open for two weekends. Nau said the wings are a great complement to the pizza Canyon offers and hopes students will feel the same.

"We're doing wings, fries, mozzarella sticks and pierogies," he said. "We also offer boneless wings; those are going to be popular."

With risqué menu names like "Boners" for original chicken wings and "Uncle Softy's" for boneless wings, Canyon Wings is hoping to soon make T-shirts for students to advertise.

Nau said there will be 20 flavors for the wings, including classics from mild to hot as well as homemade sauces.

"Wings will be made cooked to order, so it's all fresh," he said. "It generally takes 10 to 11 minutes to cook but that's still fast, and delivery will be fast, too."

General manager Ed Salamon said that as business grows, food orders will be cooked faster, and he expects students and locals alike to enjoy their products compared to competitors.

"We look forward to bringing students and locals premium products at an affordable price," he said. "Here you can get a dozen wings for $6, while competitors price 12 wings at $7.50, or you can get 40 wings for $20."

Salamon said the quality of the wings also beats the competition.

"We offer boneless wings and fresh, homemade sauces, and all wings are hand-breaded," he said. "It's a reasonable price compared to the competition that uses frozen wings."

Canyon Wings is open until 10 p.m. on Sundays, 2 a.m. Monday through Wednesday and 3:30 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Canyon's new wing place will try to compete with State College's already-established wing restaurants.

Ivette Gonzalez, manager of Wing Zone, 433 E. Beaver Ave., said it is the best place to order wings from, and the restaurant is open until 4 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

"There's one thing we have that the other places don't," she said. "We make our food with a lot of love."

Gonzalez said Wing Zone likes to spoil its customers and the happiness of its student clients comes first.

"Our customers are mainly students. They have teachers picking on them, they're studying for tests, out drinking the night before. You gotta look out for them, and our delivery drivers try to look out for them, too," she said. "If an order is missing its fries, a driver is on standby and ready to go straight from the kitchen to deliver them, and if you don't get your food in 45 minutes, you get free coupons."

With 25 wing flavors, Gonzalez said students' favorites include honey BBQ, Asian sesame, garlic parmesan, cool ranch and hot honey BBQ.

"Students also like the regular basics from mild to nuclear, and our nuclear is hot," she said. "You can also try a flavor in a small side dish cup so students can see if they like it or not before ordering it on their wings."

Gonzalez said the most popular item ordered by students is the Combo 209.

"I call it the Penn State combo because most students love it," she said. "It's 15 wings, wedge fries, celery and ranch for $10.99."

For now, Wing Zone is focusing on its newly up-and-running Web site, wingzone.com.

"Wingzone.com is convenient for students because if they have class at 5 p.m., they can pre-order at 4 p.m. and boom, they get home after class and the delivery driver is right there with them with their food," Gonzalez said. "When you order online, the order goes straight to the kitchen so it's much faster and convenient."

Gonzalez said Wing Zone is no longer with lionmenus.com because it was getting a lot of complaints about its service through the Web site.

"What I like about the Wing Zone Web site is with the Super Bowl right around the corner, you can go online and place your order before half time and in 20 minutes, your order is out the door," she said.

Nick Bellenzeni (junior-telecommunications) said he prefers Wing Zone to Wings Over Happy Valley, 536 Westerly Pkwy.

"Although I think both are good, Wing Zone has the better deal between the two," he said. "It's their wing Wednesdays that gets me; you can't beat 39-cent wings."

Bellenzeni said he likes that Wing Zone has boneless wings and is happy that Canyon Wings offers boneless, too.

"I'm definitely interested in trying Canyon's because I would expect a good price from them," he said.

Christopher Caine (graduate-civil engineering) said he prefers Wings Over Happy Valley.

"I like Wings Over the best compared to other competitors," he said. "I'd rather pay an extra buck or two if it tastes better, so I don't care about price."

However, Bellenzeni said his top choice for wings is Quaker Steak and Lube, 2200 N. Atherton St., which has an all-you-can-eat wing night on Tuesdays for $11.99 from 5 to 11:30 p.m.

"I really enjoyed it because of the variety, and it's a sick deal," he said. "They offer other things like fries, onion rings and dessert included in the wing buffet, and you get $2 off the price if you show your student ID."

Quaker Steak and Lube's buffet has a choice of 16 sauces, including the blazing "Atomic" wing sauce that you have to sign a release form for before you eat.

"My roommates said they would pay for my meal if I ate two Atomic wings smothered in sauce," Bellenzini said. "It was a ridiculous hot sauce and my friends definitely enjoyed watching me suffer a bit, but hey, I got a free meal."