Redemption Grill

1003 2nd Ave (@53rd St.)

New York, NY 10022

Website

I was hanging out with my wife, daughter and buddy (BJ) on Saturday and we stopped at Redemption Grill for a bite, al fresco.  I've been craving wings lately and was happy to see them as part of the brunch menu, so I got an order.  

You can almost see the sweetness
in the photo.

There's really no need to go into a ton of detail on these.  They may have been the worst I've ever eaten.  If I had to choose between these and Johnny Famous wings, I'd take Johnny Famous every time.  They were just generic, probably frozen wings soaked in an unbearably sweet sauce.  It was another one of the now infamous ketchup based sauces, but sweeter than any of them I've had so far.

I ate one of these as well.  It was the
best thing I ate all day.

The bleu cheese was actually pretty good, and my wife like her sandwich (It was some kind of turkey club).  The rest of the menu looked interesting (Mexican fusion?) so I'm not going to say that you should stay clear of this place totally, but definitely skip the wings.  BJ ordered the Buffalo chicken sandwich which was made with the same sauce.  He was also not a fan.  My daughter, Gianna-Rose, had an uncrustable peanut butter and jelly sandwich which is always excellent, but not on the menu - we brought it from home.

On weekends they have a brunch special from 11:30am - 5pm.  You get your choice of a meal plus three cocktails for $20.  Not a bad deal considering it would normally cost close to that for the drinks alone.  The service was pleasant and people watching on 2nd Ave. is fun.  I'd go back and give it another shot, but I'm not going near the wings.

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?

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.

Johnny Famous

Johnny Famous

40-05 Bell Blvd.

Bayside, NY 11361

I was skeptical of this bar from the very beginning. While they were building it, I thought it felt too gimmicky for a bar in Bayside (it has a Western theme and a mechanical bull). When it opened, they had velvet ropes lined up (no people to coral, just the ropes) and bouncers in black suits and ear pieces. Again, this bar is in Bayside - not the meat packing district - but blue collar, small-town-feeling Bayside. Strike 1.

However, there was a sign outside advertising 10 cent wings (1/2 the price of Dempsey's on the same night) and bikini bull riding. Obviously this sounded like a job for the Wingmen. Jeremy, Steve and I found a spot at the bar, ordered some beer and promptly looked for the menu. They promoted their latest hot wing sauce which they dubbed "Red Stag". Sounds impressive, we'll take 30 - hot. The wings came out pretty quickly, were steaming and looked very appetizing. They emitted a great smell that burned my nose hairs a bit - however, they'd get mixed reviews.

The plus: I thought they were perfectly cooked. They had a nice amount of crisp on the outside, but weren't over cooked on the inside. They were also very big and meaty - well worth 10 cents apiece.

The minus: The Red Stag sauce. It was very different from the usual hot sauce and butter concoction of a typical wing. It tasted tomato based, maybe made with ketchup. At first I was intrigued. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. About ten wings later I decided it was too much tomato for me and I wasn't a big fan...especially when I realized that all that great heat that I smelled was nonexistent in my mouth. There was no kick whatsoever, and we ordered them hot.

Overall, the combination of the velvet ropes, black suited bouncers, and loud club music added to the less than stellar wings is enough to keep me away from Johnny Famous for a round 2 - even at 10 cents per wing. We went there, tried them and checked the place off our long list...but I think it's safe to say that none of the Wingmen will be back. Oh, and we left before the tops came off!

Overall Rating

Taste/Flavor: The "Red Stag" sauce did not live up to its billing. Tasted too much like ketchup and not enough like a wing sauce. All in all, the flavor was bad.

Heat: We ordered them hot and they were barely mild. They smelled like they would be hot and just did not live up to the aroma.

Price: $.10 per wing on Wednesday night is a great deal for good wings, but if they were free next wednesday, I still would not go back.

Service: The bartender that helped us was O.K., nothing to write home about. She seemed to ignore our side of the bar, which irritated some people next to us. We received our wings and drinks in a relatively timely manner.

Specials: How can you go wrong with with $.10 wings, $2.00 Domestic Pints and Bikini Bull Riding at 10:00PM on Wednesday nights? Serve horrible wings and by 11:00 PM still have had no one ride the bull.

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars. The bad "Red Stag" sauce and horrible atmosphere of Johnny Famous completely overshadowed that the wings were large and cooked well. Sorry Johnny Famous, but the Wingmen are not fans.