June 08, 2010

Dillingers Pub & Grill


Dillingers Pub & Grill
46-19 30th Ave.
Astoria, NY 11103

One of the pubs on our ever growing list of your recommendations is Dillingers in Astoria. Spots that were recommended by you guys are usually my favorite. It means someone has already been there and liked the wings enough to suggest them to us. It's a much better system than flying blind.


Well Jimmy Junior, thanks for the heads up. Dillingers is a great spot to dig into some wings. They have a Tuesday night special with 25¢ wings and $10 pitchers starting at 6 PM. There are four different varieties: buffalo, teriyaki, BBQ and Dillingers. I was immediately intrigued by the Dillingers sauce - nice, something different. Just as quickly, I dismissed the BBQ - save it for the ribs and brisket. I ordered one plate each of buffalo, teriyaki and Dillingers (don't worry, I had help).


It wasn't all perfect, so I'll start with the bad. The Buffalo was a bit dry. They were cooked alright but they just didn't have enough sauce. I feel like there are two ways cooks can go here. They can put the sauce on before the wings hit the flames, or they can toss them in the sauce after. I prefer them to be tossed after, but these seemed to have been prepared the other way. You can see in the "after" picture, there are still plenty of wings left on the plate.


The Buffalo weren't terrible, but the other flavors were much better.



Now that that's out of the way, on to the teryaki. These were much better. The sauce itself was on par with most teryaki sauces out there, but they were coated much more thoroughly. To me, if you don't have to lick the sauce off your fingers or at least go for a napkin before you pick up your beer then there's not enough sauce. Unless of course you're a Trongs user, then that theory flies right out the window. These passed the test. They were also nice and crispy without the meat being dried out. Overall, a good wing.


Don't worry. I took care of that last teriyaki wing after I snapped this shot.



How about the namesake wing? They're probably the best of all three. The flavor was tough for me to place. I'm on the fence between a carefully constructed concoction of garlic, citrus, a little sweetness and possibly a touch of Thai seasoning - OR - they just took all of their sauces and mixed them together. Either way, I liked it and it was refreshing to have something different. I'd recommend giving this sauce a try.


Sorry, the light wasn't great. Luckily the new iPhone has a built in LED light!

Anyway, these are the Dillinger wings.


Although the wings were definitely a plus, the real draw of Dillingers is the pub itself. It's the model local neighborhood pub. It's small, laid back and had a welcoming vibe. They had good beers on tap and all of the food coming from the kitchen looked great. The service was an A+. Everyone was very friendly. Flat screen TV's played all the local teams in action. What else do you need?


We crushed the Dillingers flavored wings... whatever they were.


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