Wingus Dingus

"Wingus"- The Latin term for Wings.  "Dingus"- Meaning served by women in orange and white. "Wingus Dingus"- That's right, you guessed it!!!  HOOTERS! This time in Islandia.

Hooters
3701 Express Drive North
Islandia, NY 11749
631-582-2599
http://www.hootersli.com/
Map and Directions

After sitting around in the rain at the Long Island Ducks game last Wednesday, it was time to move on and hit up some wingy dingy's. Wednesday.....do you mean Western Wednesdays? Yes, I absolutely do, but to my dismay, not in Islandia... Booooooooooo. What a disappointment.

The wings are always classic at Hooters, but just better on Western Wednesdays. The hot are excellent as well as the medium and the mild. If you want to go hotter, just add the tobasco sauce and you're all set. The other flavors are not for me, I like the traditional buffalo flavors. 

The atmosphere, on the other hand, was extremely disappointing. Throughout my ventures to the various Hooters, I would have to say, the East Meadow Hooters is in the lead with Fresh Meadows, Queens a solid second. I haven't been able to visit the Farmingdale location but I'll be there soon. So overall, wings excellent, atmosphere poor. So when you go to any Hooters... Tell em The Wingmen sent ya!

1849

1849

183 Bleecker St.

New York, NY 10012

www.1849nyc.com

Last Friday, Steve schlepped into the city and met me at work. We wanted to hit a couple of top notch wing spots - no, the best wing spots. Whenever I ask Google to tell me who has the best wings in New York City, I end up seeing a slue of different pubs and dive bars. It's a little daunting. There are 23 square miles packed with all kinds of places to choose from, and everyone has their favorite. I did seem to notice a couple of places that were mentioned more than others though. My less than scientific research told me that if we were to hit two places that night (and that was our plan), we should try 1849 in The Village and Blondie's on the Upper West Side. We didn't exactly make it to Blondie's. We actually ended up at Manny's on the Upper East Side which used to be Blondie's but...well, Steve will tell you all about it. He's got that review. First though, we hoofed it over to The Village to check out 1849.

As you can probably tell by the name, 1849 has an old Western gold rush theme. It might sound a little gimmicky, like something you'd see in Times Square, but I thought it actually worked well and was a cozy place. Instead of a bunch of tables set up outside of the bar area, 1849 has plush couches and ottomans set up in circles. It was a little more comfortable than your standard pub and probably not a bad spot to settle in for the night. Adding to the mood are buffalo heads mounted on the wall and antler chandeliers dangling from the ceiling... so, you know, they've got that going for them.

On to the wings. We started out slow. If we were going to sample multiple spots, we'd have to pace ourselves. We ordered a plate of the "Gold Rush" wings and a couple of beers. It's worth pointing out that the waitress was pretty helpful here. Steve is a big fan of Hoegaarden, which is a wheat beer and not all that common on tap. He asked the waitress what they had that was similar and she gave a couple of recommendations. I always like when you can talk beer with a bartender/waiter like people talk about wine because, well, you should be able to do that. Anyway, the wings came out and they had a very familiar taste.

They were tender, well cooked, flavorful and lightly breaded. Yup, we each took one bite and thought, "Hooters". I do think they're a little better than Hooter's wings. The breading is a little lighter and they are not as greasy. So for all of you guys who tell your GF's/wives that you only go to Hooters for the food, you may not want to mention this place to them. Better wings, no orange shorts. But if you don't like Hooters wings, or just breaded wings in general, you're probably going to want to stay away from these. I do like breaded wings though - I know, I know... blasphemy. Don't worry, I think they're better "naked" as they say, but it's nice to mix it up every once in a while. We both enjoyed them and should have stopped there and moved on to Blondie's, er, Manny's. But of course, we didn't.

The lightly breaded Gold Rush wings.

Against our better judgement and our prior experiences with BBQ wings, we decided to order a plate of their other flavor. This is where Steve and I have differing opinions. He thought they were too sweet and pretty awful. I thought they were the best BBQ wings we've had so far. I also believe that the best BBQ is still worse than the worst Teriyaki (maybe a bit of an exaggeration) but all-in-all I still thought they were pretty decent. I definitely prefer the Gold Rush, but I'd eat the BBQ again.

Our nemesis, the BBQ wing. I thought they were ok... Steve? Not so much.

Were these the best wings in NYC? Probably not. But they were good, the beer selection was large, flat screen TV's were showing all the local sports teams in action, the juke box was playing good music and it was an overall cool environment. I'll be back. That's the thing though... it's probably going to be impossible to find the best wings in NYC. But we sure can have a good time trying. Would Manny's be any better? We grabbed our metro cards and headed out the door to find out...

Hooters of Fresh Meadows

Can you say Big Daddy? BIG DADDY!!!!!!! It wasn't a Western Wednesday at Hooters in Queens but it was quality. The new Hooters in Queens is located off the service road by the Long Island Expressway (exit 25). Now that the weather is nice, you have the option of sitting outdoors as well as sitting indoors. The outdoor area, however, is not equipped with T.V.'s. But let's be real, the inside is better. The atmosphere was great, especially if you have the seat where the step stool is. If you don't know what I mean, ask for that table and tell them that the Wingmen sent you. You'll thank me later. In addition, the girls were having fun with their beer promotion. If you stated you want a Big Daddy, they'll give you a big beer. Its kind of funny when the Hooters girls are laughing at your expense.

Anyway, the wings were delicious. That night, the three of us ordered the hot wings along with the garlic parmesan. The waitress claimed that after ten of the garlic parm, we would be tired of them but we ordered 25 anyway. Long story short, she was right. They were good, but there was something about their consistency that tired you out. My recommendation is to order 10 and split them up. A few will do and not tire you out. The hot, however, were great. They weren't ridiculously hot, but they cleaned your sinuses. Those wings didn't stand a shot. We were good lil' Wingmen and cleaned our plates and were allowed to have another Big Daddy.

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.