1828 Sunrise Highway
Merrick, NY 11566
The final stop on our National Buffalo Wing Day tour was a spur of the moment one, sort of. We were en route to Longhorns from Paddy Power. It was a gorgeous day and we were cruising down Sunrise in Steve's Jeep with the doors off and the wind blowing through --- WHOA! What hell was that place?! The neon sign called out to us like a beacon of awesome biker dive bars. It read: "Jugs-N-Strokers". No way we're not stopping there on the way back.
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| Steve, after getting beaten up by a biker |
We couldn't stop talking about it the whole time we were in Longhorns - except we couldn't remember the name. Brams-N-Stokers, Mugs-N-Jokers, Rugs-N-Pokers... whatever, we'll just follow the neon glow. We also decided that the night would be a failure if at least one of us didn't get beaten up by a biker. Jeremy and I were thoughtful enough to nominate Steve for this mission. When he didn't agree, we put it to a vote. He lost 2-1.
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| Smooth Jeremy... real smooth. |
When we got there, it was everything we hoped it would be. As soon as we stepped through the doors, we were transported to some other place and time... I don't know where exactly, but probably somewhere in Texas. Unfortunately, there weren't many bikers for Steve to get assaulted by - however there were a few packs of Cougars visually assaulting us with their eyes. Sweet. The closest thing to a fight that happened was when the older female bartender challenged Jeremy to an arm wresting match. He obviously had to give in on purpose (at least I hope that's what happened), but as he did, he knocked over the entire plastic trough of lemons, cherries, limes and whatnot. They ended up all over the floor. It was kind of awesome.
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The Hog Pile Plater. You can probably have a heart attack just by looking at this. |
On to the food. After eating four orders of wings from two different bars, we needed to mix it up a little. Obviously we love wings, but still, after a while you just need some variety. The perfect compromise is to go with a combo platter. It allows you to mix it up while still sampling the wings. Yes, the combo platter is a beautiful thing (I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to start a spin off blog devoted to them one day), and Jugs and Strokers had a whopper of one - "The Hog Pile Platter". We tried asking two different bartenders what was in the HPP. They both said, "a little bit of everything." Ok, I guess we'll have one of those then. The HPP came out and I thought, be still my beating heart... no seriously, there's a good chance this thing will literally put you in cardiac arrest. It was the most epic combo platter I've ever seen, every fried food you can think of. Wings, mozzerella sticks, Philly cheesesteak croquets, fried ravioli, onion rings. Even little tacos. The bartender said it had everything except a burger. I have to wonder, why not just throw a burger in there?
This was exactly what we needed to finish off the night. The combination of foods was like none I've ever seen before, and it was all pretty decent. As for the wings, they kind of just got lost in the mix. They weren't really Buffalo wings, more just fried chicken wings. They were crispy, but a little dry and didn't come with any sauce on them. Not the worst we've ever had, but definitely an afterthought in the whole mix of things.
Jugs-N-Strokers is never going to make our list of top wings, but it will always hold a special place in our hearts.
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