Foster's Grille

Foster's Grille

Home of the Charburger

235 Smithtown Blvd.

Nesconset, NY 11767

http://www.fostersgrille.com/

Map and Directions

Back in September, I was down at my brother's in Virginia and he suggested that we try Foster's Grille in Chantilly for wings (reviewed in September, 2009). We ordered them to go and ate them at the house while watching football. I remember them being a bit overpriced and relatively mediocre wings.

So, having recently married and being in the middle of house hunting, I ended up in Nesconset, just down the road from the Foster's Grille that I had mentioned just opened in my September post. Being a Wingman, I had to give it a shot. I am a team player and all.

For $10.00 I got 10 hot wings, fries and a fountain drink (free refills), which is not a bad deal at all. My dad, who was with me had the Charburger, fries and fountain drink which was also $10.00. He loved the burger, so I have to go back for a Charburger.

As was the case in Virginia, the Hot Wings were not very hot at all. When you have an option between Hot and Mild, one of them has to be HOT!!! If people can't take the spice, then they should order the Mild. They were also a bit soggy. No crisp to them at all. My dad noticed as I chowed down and said "I can't eat wings like that, they have to be crispy." I completely agree with him, they need some crunch to be a great Hot Wing. Oh, and I must repeat that they must be HOT!

Now, back in September I said "I don't know if they lost their crisp in the Styrofoam container, but they just had very little crunch to them and we all noticed. Things do tend to get soggy when taken "to go," so I will not say that this was their fault, but, however, they were not hot at all, and that is their fault!" I am guessing that the Styrofoam container had nothing to do with the soggy, non-hot wings at all.

Now the positives, they were cooked really well. Perfectly juicy on the inside and came right off the bone. They were also large wings. Were they big enough to be worth $.70 or so per wing? Probably not, but I didn't mind too much. The Hot sauce also tasted pretty good. It wasn't hot, but had a good flavor to it.

Overall, they were average wings, which is in line with what I posted back in September. Would I ever go back? Absolutely. They weren't bad enough to keep me away. If you are new to the blog, check out the Johnny Famous review or the C. J. Sullivan's video review to see places where I will never (ok, most likely won't) eat the wings again. Foster's is not even close to being in their company. The service was really good, they have a lot of specials (see the Facebook page for a picture of the Daily Specials), and they have a decent beer selection. Plus, who knows, it may be my neighborhood wing joint soon!

One last note- Wings-to-Go at Foster's: 25 wings = $18, 50 wings = $36, 75 wings = $53, 100 wings = $65. That is pretty expensive; $.65 for a wing is a lot.

Local Bar and Grill

39-24 Bell Blvd.

Bayside, NY 11361

C.J. Sullivan's

213-10 41st Ave.

Bayside, NY 11361

Canterbury Ales

Canterbury Ales

314 New York Avenue

Huntington, NY 11743

http://www.canterburyales.com

The night Jody and I went to Meehan's, we also stopped at Canterbury Ales in Huntington and had much better wings. The first audio recording Jody and I tried happened here on my Blackberry, and it is a short, 28 seconds, but gives you a good idea of what Canterbury Ales had to offer. Take a listen:

As you can hear, the wings were big, spicy and "solid." Canterbury Ales also has a pretty good beer selection, is a nice replica of a typical British Pub and has a solid menu. This place is worth checking out if you find yourself in Huntington.

What do you think of the audio posts? Leave us some comments.

The Swan

The Swan

7 Cosmo Place

WC1N 3AP

Russell Square

London, England

I am going to get right down to it on this one, the Spicy Wings were spicy, but small, soggy and definitely not worth the exchange rate (which was almost 2:1 in January, so £7 wings cost around $12-$13). There were 8 wings in the order and 2 were far from edible and quite tiny. Lets just say that if I did not order the bowl of chips (side of fries in America), I would have spent close to $12-$13 on an empty stomach. They had a decent flavor, but nothing to write home about (although I did, in a postcard to my fiancée... who is now my wife). England does not equal good wings.

Assessment... don't come to London for the wings. In fact, don't come to London for food in general. There is nothing special here to eat. Fish and Chips are just big fish sticks and french fries.

The Swan did have a number of good local beers on tap and is definitely worth a visit if you stay near Russell Square. Order something other than the wings to eat.

Thursday is "Wings and Bud Night" and for £18 you get a bucket of wings (any flavor... BBQ, Hot BBQ, Honey and Soy, Spicy or Sweet Chili Sauce) and 4 bottles of Budweiser. That is over $30 for a bucket and 4 beers, so depending on the number of wings in the bucket (it didn't say on the advertisement), it can be a decent deal. They also had a really interesting idea connected to the bucket of wings. The sign said, "Feeling Brave? Ask for our Roulette Chicken Wings." I asked the bar tender what that meant and she told me that in the bucket, they have 1 super spicy wing. As you and your chaps (friends) eat, one person will pull the extra hot wing and sweat out the taste. It is kind of like chicken wing Russian Roulette. Pretty cool.

Meehan's of Huntington

371 New York Ave.

Huntington Village, NY 11743

www.meehansrestaurant.com

Let's try something a little different. These were just supposed to be notes that we could use to write a review later, and I sound like a total dumb-ass in it - but what the hell. Here goes:

Atomic Wings

528 9th Ave
New York, NY 10018

(with other locations throughout the city)

www.atomicwings.com

While working in Midtown, I see these delivery guys riding around on bikes wearing "Atomic Wings" vests all the time. One day while sitting around, waiting to hear from a client, I decided to google them and find out where they were. Ends up, they're a franchise and have (as far as I can tell) ten locations in and around NYC. I found the one nearest to me, grabbed my jacket and headed out.

One thing that they offered, which I've suggested on this blog before and am a big fan of, was the option of ordering your wings "dry" and getting you sauce(s) on the side. The reason I'm such a big fan of this is it gives you a better chance of testing out a lot of flavors without having to order a hundred wings. So that's what I did, opting for traditional buffalo, teriyaki and honey mustard - my three favorites.

Atomic Wings, dry.

My selection of sauces: Teryaki, Honey Mustard and Buffalo.

All-in-all, these were average wings. I wouldn't go out of my way to get them, but the convenience factor (bike delivery guys) and being able to order sauces on the side is enough to give them another go. My biggest complaint is that they were really oily and my stomach was paying for it later. If you've got a good wing/lunch spot near you, that's probably still the way to go. But if you're craving some wings and can't get out of the office, this isn't a bad option. The reason I'm labeling it a lunch spot is because it kind of had a chain fast food vibe when I was there. Sure, you can order a beer but you're still putting your tray on top of a garbage can when you're done eating. After a day of work, there's no way you'd pick this place over any local sports bar. Consider them a decent delivery option in NYC.