Churchill's

Churchill's Restaurant and Bar

18 South Park Avenue
Rockville Centre, NY 11570

516-766-2500

http://www.churchillsrvc.com/

Maps and Directions

Lunchtime today came about 3 hours later than I wanted it to and without eating breakfast, which is my favorite meal of the day, I was starving. So I jumped in my Jeep and headed to Downtown Rockville Centre for some wings. Park Avenue, the same road where Croxley's and Cabo are located, has tons of bars (all of which we will get to at some point), and I ended up at Churchill's.

I walked in and felt a bit out of place. Churchill's has a very local feel and there was no room at the bar so I grabbed a seat in the dining room and took a look at the menu. Churchill's has three flavors of wings, Buffalo (mild, medium and hot), BBQ and Peking. I asked the waitress how many wings were in an order and if I could split one order in half and have multiple flavors. She said there were 10 in the order and I could do whatever I wanted. That was an awesome answer, so I ordered half Hot Buffalo and Half Peking. I am sorry BBQ, but, unlike Jody, I am not about to make up with you, we are still not friends.

I looked around the bar as I waited for the wings and noticed a couple things. 1- They have a Major League Menu that boasts $3.50 Miller Lite Aluminum Bottles, $5.95 for an order of wings, $5.95 for 3 sliders, $5.95 for twin Boar's Head hot dogs, $6.95 for thin crust pizza, $2.50 stadium pretzels, and "The Grand Slam Combo" of 2 sliders and 6 wings for $7.95 if you sit at the bar during any Mets or Yankees game during the baseball season. And 2- Happy Hour is Monday through Friday from 4PM until 7PM and they have a slew of drink specials as well as hot and cold hors d'oeuvres. Those two things along will bring me back to Churchill's.

The wings arrived and although the waitress was wrong about the number of wings in the order, she was wrong in a good way for me... there were 12 wings! Six hot and six Peking! It's like playing Monopoly... Bank Error in MY Favor! They were accompanied by carrots, celery and a bleu cheese dressing. I dug into the hot wings first.

The hot wings were exactly what you would expect from hot buffalo wings. They were spicy, they were crispy and they tasted good. It was your traditional butter and hot sauce tossed over chicken wings and served to bar goers. I can't fault a bar for making them, but there is no originality to them and I got exactly what I expected. I was very happy about their flavor since many bars still mess up the traditional sauce. The only issue was that they were a bit small and some lacked in the meat department. They were scrawny.

As for the Peking wings, since they were not your typical teriyaki that you will find in most bars, I figure I should explain what Peking flavor is. Peking was the American work for Beijing and why we used to call it Peking and now call it Beijing is beyond me, but the word has not disappeared even after we have corrected our dictionaries. Peking flavor is known for being salty, sweet and spicy. Chilies, garlic, soybean paste, vinegar, sugar and many other ingredients go into making a Peking sauce and the actual taste varies from chef to chef. Hoisin Sauce and Tian Mian Jiang are both considered Peking sauces.

Churchill's Peking sauce is more on the sweet side of the spectrum and did not have much spice or saltiness to it. It was applied as a glaze and the sweetness, hint of citrus and tangy flavor was what I picked up as I devoured the wings. The sauce/glaze was very think in consistency (much thinker than the saltier teriyaki you normally find at bars) and was heavily applied, which is a huge plus. These wings were larger and juicier than their hot wing plate-mates (which is odd since they probably came from the same package), and were the better of the two flavors I tried that day. I am very glad I left these guys for last.

Churchill's is a solid place with solid wings and what seems like an even more solid menu. There is an outside dining area out back and has a lot of seating at the bar and in the dining room. It has a very towny feel at lunch time, but I am sure that changes at night and on the weekends. I would definitely go back and it is safe to say that Churchill's is Wingmen approved! Check them out soon!