It didn't matter that we arrived incognito as a small pack of random diners. When we showed up at Maplewood's newly opened D-Spot, we couldn't get chef/owner Darin Koch to shut up about his wings. "You've got to try the Incredible Hulk green coconut curry wings! Oh, the Black Widow wings are a great choice. The fennel rub on those is intense. And, hey, even though you're not ordering them, you've got to try -- and will, in fact, try -- our amazing ginger wings with honey and green chilies. I'm sending some out for you."

Koch's background includes a stint at the Butcher Block, which launched with a similarly dazzling palette of wing choices. When your chef reflexively evangelizes about flavor combinations, scratch-made sauces and personal favorites, you know you've got something legitimately exciting on your hands. (Also on your hands will be sticky wing sauce, but that comes with the turf.)

A couple general notes about the place: The decor is simple and a bit stripped-down, a sort of goth-dance-club-meets-food-court ambience that will probably age well as it gets more cluttered and homey. Also: Generally speaking, all the wings we tried (priced at $10 for 12) were moist and tender. Nothing gristly and tough, and nothing dried out -- the basic taste of chicken was on the money.

There were a number of standout flavors, including Incredible Hulk, an indulgent and exotic green coconut curry richly flavored with a bright undernote (lemongrass, perhaps?). Caramel Delight wings featured caramel, sea salt and an (optional) drizzle of chocolate -- and they worked. The gentle, understated caramel was close enough to a sweet wing sauce to be a natural fit, and the chocolate was set off by the sea salt in a way that somehow spoke to the crispy wing beneath it.

Best of all were Black Widow wings, featuring soy glaze, cracked fennel and jerk rub; you won't find a deeper, more pleasingly multidimensional wing in the Twin Cities. The depth and balance of flavor on these things was truly profound, with a perfect salt to spice to sweet balance overall. Wing flavors that we didn't try but will try next time: Kariboo (coffee, chocolate, ancho chili), MN Wild (wild rice, cranberries, beer maple syrup), Frenchy (caramelized onions with a sweetened balsamic reduction) and Pachadi (mango yogurt curry).

In conclusion, we like that D-Spot is located off the beaten path. We like that D-Spot has a clever and beautifully designed Web presence with Beastie Boys instrumental tracks as background music. We like that D-Spot is unpretentiously ambitious, combining earnest scratch cookery with comfort food. We like that D-Spot serves a decent cheeseburger and tasty seasoned fries with harissa aioli. We like that the folks behind D-Spot seem to be having a blast with their concept. And we sure as hell like eating their wings.

Maplewood, so long as you keep making these wings, we shall return.