It wasn't a great day for Jared Cook, Buffalo Wild Wings or the chicken.
Cook on Friday tweeted a photo of a chicken head that was included in a take-out order of lemon pepper wings from Buffalo Wild Wings on South Oneida Street. His tweet quickly spread across social media, sending Buffalo Wild Wings scrambling for an explanation and, at some point no doubt, damage control.
Cook said he'd eaten one wing and reached for a second one. He dropped it as soon as he realized what it was.
"As I was putting the bone back in the box, I saw the chicken head and immediately spit out my food," he said Friday, talking to reporters in the Packers locker room.
Cook said he's never had anything in his food "that could taste me back."He took the order back to the restaurant, which refunded his money. He didn't ask for another order and said he probably won't go back.
"They were just like, 'We're sorry. Typically, this doesn't happen. That just means your food was fresh.' OK, that doesn't make it any better" or make sense, Cook said.
While he was not amused by that answer, Cook couldn't resist having a little fun with his wife Lana before taking the order back.
"My wife is a vegetarian and she's strongly encouraging I become one now," Cook said. "The first thing I did was I FaceTimed her and I pretended the chicken head was talking to her via FaceTime. So she was pretty grossed out."
Cook said he might eventually take her advice, but not yet.
"Seeing as how it's one of my favorite foods, I don't see how I can give that up," he said.
The Packers tight end has been out of practice this week because of a high-ankle sprain suffered against the Detroit Lions and has been ruled out for Sunday night's game against the New York Giants at Lambeau Field. Unfortunately for Buffalo Wild Wings, his tweeting abilities are intact.
A manager confirmed Friday morning that Cook was at the Ashwaubenon restaurant, but referred inquiries to corporate headquarters. Executives there passed them on to public relations firm FleishmanHillard, which released a statement.
"Buffalo Wild Wings takes food preparation, service and quality extremely seriously and we are looking into this situation," the statement read. "We’ve reached out to Jared Cook and our suppliers for more information."
A representative for FleishmanHillard said he did not know if Buffalo Wild Wings would have anything else to say Friday. He said by email that they were still gathering information.
