Jugs-N-Strokers

1828 Sunrise Highway

Merrick, NY 11566

Website

The final stop on our National Buffalo Wing Day tour was a spur of the moment one, sort of.  We were en route to Longhorns from Paddy Power.  It was a gorgeous day and we were cruising down Sunrise in Steve's Jeep with the doors off and the wind blowing through --- WHOA! What hell was that place?! The neon sign called out to us like a beacon of awesome biker dive bars.  It read:  "Jugs-N-Strokers". No way we're not stopping there on the way back.

Steve, after getting beaten up by a biker

We couldn't stop talking about it the whole time we were in Longhorns - except we couldn't remember the name.  Brams-N-Stokers, Mugs-N-Jokers, Rugs-N-Pokers... whatever, we'll just follow the neon glow.  We also decided that the night would be a failure if at least one of us didn't get beaten up by a biker.  Jeremy and I were thoughtful enough to nominate Steve for this mission.  When he didn't agree, we put it to a vote.  He lost 2-1.

Smooth Jeremy... real smooth.

When we got there, it was everything we hoped it would be.  As soon as we stepped through the doors, we were transported to some other place and time... I don't know where exactly, but probably somewhere in Texas.  Unfortunately, there weren't many bikers for Steve to get assaulted by - however there were a few packs of Cougars visually assaulting us with their eyes.  Sweet.  The closest thing to a fight that happened was when the older female bartender challenged Jeremy to an arm wresting match.  He obviously had to give in on purpose (at least I hope that's what happened), but as he did, he knocked over the entire plastic trough of lemons, cherries, limes and whatnot.  They ended up all over the floor.  It was kind of awesome.

The Hog Pile Plater.  You can probably have a heart attack just 

by looking at this.

On to the food.  After eating four orders of wings from two different bars, we needed to mix it up a little.  Obviously we love wings, but still, after a while you just need some variety.  The perfect compromise is to go with a combo platter.  It allows you to mix it up while still sampling the wings.  Yes, the combo platter is a beautiful thing (I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to start a spin off blog devoted to them one day), and Jugs and Strokers had a whopper of one - "The Hog Pile Platter".  We tried asking two different bartenders what was in the HPP. They both said, "a little bit of everything." Ok, I guess we'll have one of those then. The HPP came out and I thought, be still my beating heart... no seriously, there's a good chance this thing will literally put you in cardiac arrest. It was the most epic combo platter I've ever seen, every fried food you can think of. Wings, mozzerella sticks, Philly cheesesteak croquets, fried ravioli, onion rings. Even little tacos. The bartender said it had everything except a burger. I have to wonder, why not just throw a burger in there?

This was exactly what we needed to finish off the night.  The combination of foods was like none I've ever seen before, and it was all pretty decent.  As for the wings, they kind of just got lost in the mix.  They weren't really Buffalo wings, more just fried chicken wings.  They were crispy, but a little dry and didn't come with any sauce on them.  Not the worst we've ever had, but definitely an afterthought in the whole mix of things.

Jugs-N-Strokers is never going to make our list of top wings, but it will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Longhorns Saloon and Barbecue

Longhorns Saloon & Barbecue

12 S. Park Avenue

Rockville Centre, NY 11570

516-245-9191

Map and Directions

National Buffalo Wing Day Week continues as our adventure at Paddy Power brought The Wingmen to Longhorn's Saloon & Barbecue. Caitlin Nicole, on our Facebook page, suggested it a few months back and we finally decided to take her up on her recommendation. Since this "saloon" seems to celebrate the Old West, please indulge me as I add in some western slang and phrases (in italics) to the post. If you would like to understand what I am saying, go to the Old West Writer's Guide.

Our posse rolled up to Longhorns in the early evening to hang around and gabbed a seat near the front of the saloon by the wide open front windows. It was a small place with huge tracks of land and western themed decorations and license plates all over the walls. A bit rich, but it worked.

Longhorn's has one of the best wing specials we have come across to date, Monday through Thursday from 5PM until 10 PM wings are just $.25 each, and is not afraid to play to the gallery. In order to get multiple flavors, you must order them in groups of 20 and you get just one bleu cheese per 20. Extra carrots and celery are $2.50 and if you add an extra $.10 per wing they will make them honey wings. "What are honey wings?" you ask, well, good question, we had to ask ourselves. The waitress told us that they take whatever sauce you want and add honey to them. Who knew it would be such a simple answer?

We ordered up 20 Buffalo Hot Wings and 20 Chipotle BBQ Wings. We knew forty wings may be a heap for us, but since we had to try at least 2 flavors, 40 was the minimum for us on this night. Although Jeremy wanted to try the honey wings, he was out voted 2-1 and we had honey-less wings. We decided to bend an elbow and then waited for our forty wings to arrive.

When the wings arrived the first thing we noticed was how large the wings were and usually being a good thing (and still is) but after eating three orders of wings at Paddy Power, these large wings were very daunting. But we are The Wingmen, damn-it, and we will persevere! I'll start with the Buffalo Hot Wings. These large wings were a bit shoddy. They were juicy on the inside, but not as crispy on the outside as we would have liked. A wing that is not crispy seems unfinished, but the buffalo sauce was exactly what you would have expected it to be. Butter, butter and more butter with tons of hot sauce added. If you ask me, it may have been a bit too much of the butter and I am not going to soft solder them too much, they were good, but could have been better. The three of us polished off about 15 of them... yes, I know, we left wounded soldiers in the field.

As for the Chipotle BBQ Wings, well, I think an explanation of what "chipotle" is in order first. I have found that not many people actually know what chipotles are, other than being a burrito place that until 2006 was pretty much owned by the McDonald's Corporation. Chipotles are smoked, dried jalapenos which are brownish in color and shriveled up (kind of like sun-dried tomatoes). They vary in variety and spiciness. Now, when it comes to barbecue sauce, I can be a real croaker but at Longhorns, the chipotle is put to good use making their BBQ sauce very unique. The Chipotle BBQ sauce has a smokey, spicy flavor with very little of that over-the-top sweetness that many of the other barbecue sauces that we've tried have had. We were very pleasantly surprised. They were hot as a whorehouse on nickel night and flavorful and meaty and juicy and crispy... Longhorns did a bang-up job. We also polished off about 15 of these guys which made us all a bit sad. We wanted more, but our bellies were full and no matter how hard we fought the Kilkenny cats, we just couldn't finish them.

Longhorns is a decent place to find wings and I highly suggest that you try the Chipotle BBQ sauce. If you like barbecue, smokey flavor and spice in your wings, you won't be disappointed. Longhorns is definitely aces high and Wingmen approved... Bully for you! Thank you, Caitlin, for the suggestion!