January 09, 2012

Cornerstone Pub


Cornerstone Pub
288 Jericho Turnpike
Mineola, NY 11501
516-741-6095
Directions

In what was the first group Wingmen outing of 2012, Jody and I met up at Cornerstone Pub in Mineola for some wings and camaraderie, oh, and a few pints of beer. Jeremy was unable to attend and was sorely missed.

Cornerstone is a neighborhood bar where locals seem to gather, yet has a very comfortable feel for a couple of outsiders. The menu is full of the typical pub grub fare making it a great place to stop after work and grab some apps or even a burger. The bar is stocked with plenty of liquor and has a decent selection of beers on tap. Want to have some fun? Well Cornerstone has a juke box, pool table and darts, so there is plenty to do while knocking back a beer or three. They also have skee ball, but more on that later.

Just a lovely spread, don't you think?

We ordered their hot wings, teriyaki wings and jalapeño poppers. Their hot wings were a nice variation on the clarified butter and hot sauce recipe. The sauce was reduced, a step, as Jody points out, many other kitchens don't normally take. Reduction is a technique that thickens a sauce, intensifying the flavors by boiling it down in an uncovered pot. Crushed red pepper was added to the sauce making these wings very spicy and extremely flavorful.

Hot Wings

The teriyaki wings also had a very tasty, reduced sauce with the perfect combination of salty and sweet. Both Jody and I were very happy with the way the wings were cooked, juicy on the inside with a decent crisp on the outside, as well as with the size of the wings. No complaints at all with the wings. They also have BBQ wings, but I'm not a big fan of BBQ and Jody agreed not to order them.

Teriyaki Wings
We also grabbed an order of jalapeño poppers, made with cheddar. Hey, even the Wingmen want to try something other than wings once in a while. They were a nice change of pace, and create an interesting question for the comments, Facebook and Twitter: how do you like your jalapeño poppers, with cheddar or with cream cheese?

Cheddar or Cream Cheese?

I said we'd get back to the skee ball topic and here it is, Jody and I played 2 games each in order to see who the skee ball champ of the night would be, here's how it broke down:

230- Steve Game 1      240- Jody Game 1
280- Steve Game 2      320- Jody Game 2
510- Steve Total           560- Jody Total: WINNER

It kills me to admit this, but Jody is the superior skee ball player. He even called a 100 point shot with his last ball in the second game. What a dick.

I owe Jody a beer since I lost.