$.10 Wing Night!

I've found the Holy Grail of wings!  $.10 wing nights have all but disappeared, but they do still exist and one is in Rockville Centre, NY!!!  I was Happy Hour-ing with some work folks at Stinger's Irish Pub on Sunrise Highway and noticed this sign:

He said boneless.

I was stoked... I mean, when was the last time you saw a $.10 wing night?  Dempsey's in Bayside is now $.20, there are a lot $.25 or even $.50 wing nights and paying $1.00 a wing is far from unheard of these days.  This was a find of a lifetime, or so I thought.

A sampler platter was ordered and the wings, admittedly were small, dry and not very good, but they weren't horrible.  I'd have to go back and order the wings by themselves, but hell, for a $.10 wing night, I'll give them a real shot.

Press 195

Press 195

40-11 Bell Blvd.

Bayside, Queens 11360

718-281-1950

www.press195.com

Maps and Directions

It was the Monday before the National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo NY, and Jody and I needed to get together to discuss details about travel, itinerary and iPod playlists for the drive up.  Instead of just meeting at one of our homes, we decided to make it a working review... which is kind of like saying we were doing work while we worked.  A bit redundant, but it was just that.  So we met at Press 195 in Bayside, NY, ordered a couple of Allagash White beers and took a look at the menu.

Press 195 has two flavors; buffalo and BBQ.  We decided quickly that BBQ was not happening and went with the large order of buffalo wings.  For $8.00 you get a normal order and for $15, you get a large order.  The large had about 16 wings, making them just under a dollar per wing.  We also placed ordered up some french fries.  Press has amazing french fries and they have homemade dipping sauces as well.  More on that later.

Large order of wings... about a buck a wing.

The wings came out and smelled delicious.  The sauce did not disappoint.  It was a very well concocted version of the traditional buffalo wing sauce which includes butter and hot sauce.  Jody, on his trip to the little boy's room, a bottle of Frank's Red Hot sauce in the kitchen, making this sauce as traditional as it gets. Press 195 did add a nice amount of heat to these wings, I am assuming cayenne pepper was their weapon of choice since it seems to be the standard for spicing up the traditional buffalo sauce.

So, if they smelled good and the sauce was good, what was wrong with them?  Well, they were a bit inconsistent in size, making them a bit inconsistent in how well they were cooked.  The larger wings had a nice crisp on the outside, but juicy on the inside, making them delicious. The smaller wings, on the other hand, which probably cooked just as long as the large wings, were a bit overcooked which robbed them of their juicy cores.  Having about eight wings each, we may have had 2 or 3 over cooked wings each, which is not horrible, but not great either.

Let's rearrange the alphabet and put 
U and I together. Oh yeah!

As you can see by the above picture, the sure do make some good looking Belgian fries.  I mean, if I were at a bar and saw those fries, I'd do a shot, walk up to the bar, order the fries a drink and do my best to get their number.  I'd probably strike out, but hell, just telling my buddies that I tried with something that hot and failed, now that would be a great story.  They taste better than they look too.  Hand cut, double cooked, seasoned perfectly and served with your choice of dipping sauces ($.75 each), these were worth the trip alone.  I took the picture before we threw the ketchup out.  Who needs ketchup when you have Chipotle Jalapeno Mayo (not pictured) and Traphagen's Honey Jalapeno Mustard?  Both sauces were amazing compliments to the fries and both had a nice spicy kick to them.  Try the fries when you go!

Press 195 is first and foremost a sandwich joint.  With 40 hot sandwiches, a bunch of cold sandwiches and burgers on the menu, Press will impress you with their gourmet selection.  I suggest getting fries every time you go, they are just that good.  The wings were not too bad either and I have to say, I would order them again.  They also have a very large selection of beer and they keep a lot of micro brewed beers on tap and bottled in stock, so step out of your comfort zone and try an Allagash or Magic Hat or even an Arrogant Bastard Ale.  Last thing I'll say is that the atmosphere is pretty cool as well.  It is not a sports bar and can seem a bit yuppie-ish from the paintings on the wall and modern feel, but they have a few TV's with the games of the evening playing, a very nice staff that is also very helpful and Elvis Costello on the radio and any place that plays "Veronica" is ok by me.

It is safe to say that Press 195 is Wingmen Approved!

This is why fruit-ing the beer is ok.  
This fry lived to see another day.

BonChon Chicken

Find a location near you

Website

A relatively new culinary trend is starting to take hold in New York. KFC. Yup, in the South, people eat this style of fried chicken all the time. Luckily, it's been making it's way over to us in recent years. Oh, I'm not talking about the South as in below the Mason-Dixon line. I'm talking about below the DMZ in South Korea. KFC doesn't only stand for Kentucky Fried Chicken anymore. Now it stands for Korean Fried Chicken as well. Confusing, I know.

So what separates Korean Fried Chicken from the fried chicken we're used to? Aside from the obvious differences that would be apparent between any nationalities (namely seasoning), KoFC uses a technique known as double frying. The first time a wing hits the oil, it is to ensure it's thoroughly cooked. The second time is to create a super crispy, almost shell-like, crust out of the skin. All of the flavors are infused into the chicken and it gets a very unique texture.

It seems that the two most popular KoFC franchises in The States are Kyochon and BonChon. A while back, I think it was Tim Hill who suggested we give BonChon a try. Well, it took a few months but we finally got there. BonChon is a franchise based in South Korea that now has almost 40 locations. More than a handful of them are right here in New York. I stopped by my local BonChon for lunch yesterday afternoon.

After a quick glimpse at the menu board, I placed an order for a small box of wings (9 pieces). You have a choice of two flavors: Hot and Soy Garlic. Of course, I got a combo of the two. First of all, due to the double frying process, the prep time is around 30 minutes. So if you're in a rush, you might want to just head over to the other KFC for a Double Down or something and wait until you have some time to try KoFC. After walking around for a half-hour, I finally returned to BonChon for my KoFC feast.

It was packaged in a neat little box that divided the two different flavors. It also came with pickled radish and a side of Kimchi coleslaw. I guess that's the Korean version of carrots and celery.

Pickled radish > carrot, Kimchi coleslaw > celery.

As I took my first bites into the soy and garlic wings, my first impression was hardly a surprise: wow, that's crispy. My second thought was: wow, that's hot. Not spicy, just steaming, piping hot. They just came out of the fryer, but I have no self control and kept eating. I probably didn't actually taste a wing until I was halfway done. When my taste buds finally did come around, I was very pleased. It's no secret that I've always loved the Asian flavored wings, so coming from an Asian restaurant, these flavors were good. The hot wings had some serious kick. While American hot wings tend to use cayenne to turn up the heat, these were powered by some super hot Korean red pepper. I don't know if this makes sense, but it seemed like a more aggressive heat to me. Yes, I broke a sweat and yes, my nose was running. In my defense, I don't think the air conditioner was working and it was bordering on 90 degrees. Still, these were hot. Thank god for the pickled radish and Kimchi coleslaw. These did a much better job of cutting the heat than carrots and celery ever have. I think I'm going to try asking for them next time I'm in an Irish pub, we'll see what they say.

Hot on the left, Garlic Soy on the right.

I can see how people get addicted to these wings. The flavors are potent and the uncommon texture really stands out. There are people who claim they put crack in their sauce... I get that. On the other hand, I can also see why some people call them overrated. The quality of meat wasn't great, they were puny and, at $11 for 9 wings, they were far from a bargain. In my mind, they're the White Castle of chicken wings. You know it's not that good, but there's just something about it that makes you have to have it every so often (usually while inebriated at 3 am). So no, these aren't the best wings I've ever had. But I'm sure I'll be craving them a few weeks from now. Come to think of it, I could kind of go for a sack of sliders right about now.

The Brews Brothers

40-09 Bell Blvd.

Bayside, NY 11361

http://thebrewsbrosny.com/

Map and Directions

Ok... so I guess I pick up where Steve left off in the last post. If you haven't read about the first half of the night, click here and read up. I'll wait.

So by now you know we had a pretty rocky start but were able to salvage the night by visiting Bourbon Street. I really liked these wings because of the cajun spice that was dusted on top of them. It really gave them a unique flavor and set them apart from the rest of the pack. It's not that they were necessarily better, just more memorable than the dozens upon dozens of traditional Buffalo wings we've had. I guess we could have stopped there, but we instead decided to push our luck. With such a tough start to this wing expedition, we wanted to finish strong and get another location in. So we settled up and headed directly across Bell Blvd. to Brews Brothers, right next door to the infamous Johnny Famous.

Sadly, Brews Bros and Johnny Famous shared more than just an adjoining wall. There were actually a lot of similarities between the two bars. First, they are probably the only two bars on Bell Blvd. with ropes out front and bouncers checking ID's. Like I said in the Johnny Famous review, this isn't the Meatpacking District... it's Bayside. There are no lines to get into these bars. Lose the ropes. No need. They even stamped our hand on the way in. Really? There were like 6 people in the bar. What's the stamp for? Now, in their defense, I did read an article that says they were shut down for a little while for serving alcohol to minors. So I guess we need to give them the benefit of the doubt here. They're probably just abiding by the ol' CYA rule. Whatever. We made fun of it for a second and got over it. We made our way over to the bar, checked out their extensive beer selection (they don't have a shelf of bottles displaying their beers, they have a whole wall) and ordered some wings. This is where the similarities continued.

I haven't had my hand stamped since college.

The wings came out and we got down to business. They were breaded, which isn't traditional but I have to say, it's growing on me. But the flavor, not unlike Johnny's, was another one of these ketchup based sauces. Booooo. What is with this? This is like the third or fourth place we've been where the sauce tastes ketchup based. I just don't get it. Are there people out there that like it this way? Seriously, if any of you know the taste I'm talking about... have had it on wings... and like it, let me know. I'm honestly curious. I mean, it's pretty straight forward right? We're not talking about a complicated recipe... just mix some hot sauce with some butter and you're off to a great start. You can improve on it from there, but the hot sauce and butter alone is a totally acceptable recipe. At this point, Buffalo wings are so mainstream that I'm sure you can just buy it by the jug at any restaurant supply store. There's no need to go with this sweet ketchup nonsense. I wonder if they asked Johnny Famous for advice. Hey Brews Bros., I'll give you some advice: Ask someone else. Go across the street to Bourbon Street, or down the block to Dempsey's or any of the other myriad bars within a 5 block radius.

They looked promising...

It wasn't all bad though, there were a few redeeming qualities. They were pretty meaty and nice and plump. They were crispy on the outside and, even though we ordered mild (they come in hot, mild and BBQ), they had a nice amount of heat to them.

Maybe the highlight of the night though, was when Steve dropped a wing on his freshly pressed slacks. It was one of those things that seemed to happen in slow motion. He raises the wing to his mouth to take a bite, bobbles... bobbles... tries to recover... it slips... rotates in the air... bounces off his crotch (leaving a nice stain)... and finally lands on the floor. Always sad to waste a wing.

Click the pic for a larger view.

It's been an up and down kind of night up until this point - a real roller coaster of emotions - so we couldn't end on these wings. We wanted to finish off strong. Being so close to Dempsey's, which was our regular wing spot up until we started this blog, it was tough to fight the urge to go back. We hadn't been there since we started blogging about wings, you know, for variety's sake. What a perfect way to end the night. Bartender: check please.

By the time we got to Dempsey's, we were already getting pretty full. But we needed to rid our palates of that sweet, ketchup-y excuse of a sauce. We needed an order of teriyaki wings. They did the trick. What better to get a sweet taste out of your mouth than an overload of salt? And Dempsey's does it right every time. There's a nice reservoir of sauce at the bottom of the bowl to roll your wings around in, making sure they get a nice, full coat. Always nice to head back to the ol' standby... we missed you.

So, overall, it was a pretty good wing adventure. We got a little lost and ate a few bad wings, but we also had some really good ones too. Most importantly though, we had a bunch of laughs and a good time. And that's what it's all about, right?

Bourbon Street Cafe

Bourbon Street Cafe

40-12 Bell Blvd.

Bayside, NY 11361

718-224-2200
http://www.bourbonstreetny.com/
Maps and Directions

Jody and I set out on what we though would be an early Wednesday evening. We started at 6:30 and had plans of hitting two bars that serve wings, giving us two reviews and be home no later than 10 or 10:30 PM. Jeremy was stuck at work, so he couldn't join us. We had a location too, we were going to hit Brian Dempsey's in Little Neck. Some of you may remember Brian Dempsey's from our first review almost a year ago, but that one is in Bayside. This one is a few miles away, but owned by the same folks.

After helping Jody put an air conditioner in his bedroom window, we set out for Little Neck, found a place to park, headed into the bar and ordered a couple of drinks. We then looked around the place an noticed how much smaller it was than its Bayside counterpart. It also is not quite as nice. There is a pool table and dart board, so it has that going for it. We then noticed something else, a severe lack of menus or anything advertising food. I asked the bar tender if they have a kitchen and her response was, "we used to, but not anymore." I really wanted to know why, but I didn't ask. We closed Jody's tab after 1 drink each and headed out the door. That is what happens when you assume something... you make an Ass out of Jody and myself (since it was my idea). It is now 7:00 PM, Strike 1.

We then decided to hit a spot that we knew served wings, but still wanted to do two reviews. So we decided to hit McFadden's in Corona, NY. I knew it was near Citi Field and we headed in that direction. The GPS on my Blackberry said it was on the corner of Roosevelt and 111th Street. So we mozied in that direction. We drove around for quite a while and then decided that my GPS was wrong, which is not too uncommon. It is now just after 7:45 and we have swung at Strike 2.

Jody's GPS, which is on an iPhone, sent us to 104th street and 41st avenue. Not too far from where I tried to get us, so we went there. We drove around for a long time looking for a place to park and when we found it, we set out on foot to find this mysterious McFadden's bar. We walked for about 3 blocks when we realized that his GPS was wrong as well. We just hoped that his car would not be on cinder blocks when we got back to it. After getting back in the car, getting flipped around in the chop shop laden streets of Corona, we were quite discouraged and set off back towards Bayside. It is now 8:15 PM, we have not found wings and still have no idea where Mcfadden's is located (It is AT Citi Field, Home of the NY Mets, and just opened this season. Having gone to only a single game, I did not even know. I do now.)... Strike 3, we are out!

By just after 8:40 PM, we end up on Bell Blvd in Bayside with broken spirits and empty stomachs. What a mess of an evening. Two hours and ten minutes after we started out on this journey, we finally find a place that serves wings! Bourbon Street Cafe to the rescue and that cannot be understated. We sat at the bar, watched the Mets shut out the Tigers and ordered up some beer and their Buffalo Wings. It felt really good to just be sitting down and enjoying good cold beer... at least mine was good, Jody's Bluepoint was less than desirable, like they had not changed the keg in a very long time.

Bourbon Street, as you may be able to tell, is a bit of New Orleans in Bayside, Queens and everything about the place screams Mardi Gras. There are beads at the tables, bright mask decorations everywhere and people flashing you left and right (ok, I made the last part up, but it would be nice if they did). The place is quite big and has a nice sized bar with plenty of table seating for more private dinners. The front of the place opens to the street, so you can see the crowds moving about Bell Blvd. There is usually live music at least a few nights a week and this was true when Jody and I walked in. The solo guitarist did a good Bob Marley (complete with Rasta dreadlock hat) and a pretty bad Rob Thomas, but even Rob Thomas is a pretty bad Rob Thomas, so I won't hold it against him.

I know what you are thinking... why the eff has he not spoken about the wings? I am getting to them. We ordered the Buffalo Hot Wings and did not have to wait too long for them to make their way to the bar. They showed up piping hot, and scalding to the touch. They looked a lot like regular buffalo wings, but there was a dry spice sprinkled all over them, the celery and the plate. After tasting it alone, I recognized it as Cajun spice, similar to what I tasted on the Buffalo Grille's wings. The Cajun spice, added to the buffalo sauce, was a killer combination. They had a good amount of bite to them without being too spicy. They were large wings, well cooked to a crispy outside and juicy center. Bourbon Street makes a mean wing and I suggest trying these when you are in the Bayside area.













Look at the steam coming off those wings! Those are hot Hot Wings!












Bourbon Street also is decently priced. The wings cost $7.95 for about 15 and the beer didn't cost too much either. The wings and four beers ran about $30.00 plus tip. You can do a lot worse in Queens. So after failing to find food at Dempsey's in Little Neck, failing to find McFadden's in Corona and losing 2 hours of the evening, Bourbon Street Cafe replenished our energy and Wingmen spirit. We then moved on to Brews Brothers Bar, and Jody will fill you in on how the rest of the night went.

Local Bar and Grill

39-24 Bell Blvd.

Bayside, NY 11361

C.J. Sullivan's

213-10 41st Ave.

Bayside, NY 11361

Buffalo Wings + Pizza = Mmmmm.

I had a spicy chicken slice from VIPizza in Bayside, which I do frequently.  I don't think it warrants a review, but what a great combo.  Two of the best foods around combined into one.  Is there a better use of Buffalo sauce other than on a wing?  I'd argue no.