The Waterfront

Last week, I also had the opportunity to visit the Waterfront in New Rochelle, NY. This bar is located right off the water with an excellent view. This gathering happened to be a little get together with various people who work in the Bronx. Every now and then we get together and hit up wing places as well besides me being a wingman. Anyway, we ordered the BBQ and the Hot. The only other flavor that was available was the medium. Both of the orders were great. Both sets had a good amount of meat on them and the flavor was excellent. The hot actually had some kick to it while the BBQ was pretty tangy. Excellent stuff, not too mention that their jacked potato skins gave you a recharge and went in for more chomping.

Coach's Corner

Two weeks back, I had the opportunity to hit up Coram, NY and visit what used to be "Mike's Place". "Mike's Place" had great wings so why not find out whether or not Coach's Corner did the same. The wings were not breaded and seemed like they were baked not fried. They were fried, however, but they had that baked consistency. The sauce is the same from "Mike's Place". It seems as if they pour the sauce on after the wings come out. The wings were good but they needed to be more well done. They sort of reminded me when I visited Ireland and ordered a plate of wings. Holy Crap, those wings were disgusting. They broil theirs...uuggggghhh.....but the Guiness is awesome. If the Coach's Corner wings had a little crunch to them, I'd say they were really good, but for now their rating is fair.

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.

Hooters of Hempstead

OOOOOOOOOOOOObbabbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!! Little late on the review but definitely worth the wait. A few weeks back for Yankees/Phillies Game 6 when you knew the Yanks were going to pull it off, we were drawing a little blank on where to go. Almost to the point where we were going to do a repeat of another place just to place it safe from a mobbed bar.....and then the call came from Jody. Hooters of Hempstead, right off of route 24 near the Coliseum. Oh yeah, it was happening.

We pulled into the lot, opened the doors and walked into the light. That night happened to be Western Wednesday. Holy crap! Yeah, its a great idea to get together with the buds eat wings and watch NY world series baseball, but Western Wednesdays...Heaven.....I think so (I'm going to get punched in the face for that one). Oh yeah and our waitress was the cougar....just in case you're into that.

Anyway, back to business. Diesel selection of wings. You had crazy hot, medium, mild, bbq, honey mustard and maybe some others. Too many distractions between the game and stifler's mom. You had the option of 5's, 10's, 20's and 50's. In addition, you were allowed to split the 50's into two different groups of 25. We happened to order 25 diesel hot, 25 mild (our guest that night can't handle the hot) and 10 of the honey mustard......naked. No, not me naked, the wings...dirty minds. The prices were reasonable but I forgot to write them down. I guess this disqualifies the review and we'll have to go back and do it again. Palabra es tu madre!

The wings were awesome!!!! Regardless of the prices, you couldn't get any better than this. The hot were making you sweat, the mild gave you a break in between and the honey mustard naked wings were flavorful. The wings here are excellent.

ESPN Zone

ESPN Zone

1472 Broadway

New York, NY 10036

I met up with a couple of friends last week at ESPN Zone in Times Square. I admit, the meet-up had nothing to do with wings...but why not kill two birds with one stone, right? So I ordered up a plate of the Buffalo wings. Let's be honest, not many of us are going to ESPN Zone for wings. We're going for thousands of wide screen TV's covering every square inch of the building, showing every sports feed imaginable. There are even TV's conveniently installed in the walls in front of each urinal - genius. The food is just something to keep you busy between innings, quarters, periods and swigs of the huge drafts that they offer at the bar. So, being that my expectations were low to begin with, my expectations were met. Not that they were bad wings (if there is such a thing), they actually had a decent heat to them. They were just kind of generic. Something you would expect to get at an Applebee's or TGiF's. They were probably taken out of a pre-packaged bag, dropped in the deep fryer, and tossed in a store bought sauce. Again, I'm not knocking them. The original Buffalo wings were made using a combination of Frank's hot sauce and butter, so there's nothing wrong with using sauce from a jar. It's just not going to win them Buffalo Wing of The Year anytime soon.

For those of you heading to ESPN Zone anytime soon, they also offer their wings in Barbeque, Jerk and Asian sauces.

Garden City Hotel

45 Seventh Street

Garden City, NY 11530

I attended a work fund-raiser last night at the Garden City Hotel and although wings were not on the menu, I figured I would post a small review of one of the passed appetizers.

Being a black tie affair, I was all decked out in my $90 tuxedo and ready to schmooze with the really rich people at the party. By schmooze I mean stand off to the side by myself and wait for the waitress to come around with coconut shrimp. I love me some coconut shrimp.

They started with sliced salmon on pumpernickel bread, I was not having it. Then salmon wrapped around asparagus, again, although probably good, I wanted the coconut shrimp. Then potato pancakes, spring rolls and shrimp scampi... I was getting frustrated! Low and behold, I caught sight of another cocktail hour waitress and what did she have? Skewered buffalo chicken!

The buffalo chicken was skewered on a wooden stick and served with bleu cheese dipping sauce. Being one of the The Wingmen, my hunt for coconut shrimp was put on hold and my responsibilities took precedent. The chicken was perfectly cooked and the buffalo sauce had the perfect hint of spiciness. It was not a buffalo wing by any stretch of the imagination, but to try a gourmet version of a pub favorite was a real treat. I enjoyed their version quite a bit and suggest to anyone that if you throw a party at the Garden City Hotel, add the skewered buffalo chicken to the cocktail hour.

After eating the buffalo chicken, I finally found the coconut shrimp and it did not disappoint at all! I am not sure that there is anything better than coconut shrimp... except wings that is.

They looked similar to these except they were a bit bigger and didn't have the celery and tomatoes:

The Black Rock Tavern

The Black Rock Tavern

450 Main St.

Yaphank, NY 11980

631.354.6000

My cousins were in town from Florida last weekend, so I was in the old neighborhood again.  We hit the local tavern, Black Rock, to grab a few drinks and catch up.  My cousin, Jenn, and I were getting a little hungry, so we put in an order for some wings.  When they came out, we both thought they were pretty damn good.  As a matter of fact, it only took us a few minutes to devour the plate and put in an order for round 2.  As we waited for the next round, I was talking to the bartender, Pat, who I know very well (he's my sister's boyfriend).  He was saying that the cooks will take requests on how to cook your wings.  What?  Wings, made to order?  I like that.  Plate #2 came out shortly and we dug in.  As I was mid bite, Adam, one of the owners, came over to me to talk about his wings.  I guess he got word that we review them and wanted to give me the scoop.  He told me something happened with his meat vendor and they couldn't get their usual stock of wings.  He seemed disappointed in the wings they served us and assured me that if I came back they would be better.  Really?  I thought they were pretty good anyway.  So, you're telling me that next time they'll be better AND I can have them made to order?  Not to mention that after looking at their website I discovered they also serve Honey Buffalo, BBQ, Backwards, Jamaican and Honey Mustard wings.  If you're a frequent reader, you know I love the honey mustard...and what in the world is a "backwards" wing?  There's no question I'll be back to find out, and I'll have the rest of the team with me to make this place official.