$.10 Wing Night!

I've found the Holy Grail of wings!  $.10 wing nights have all but disappeared, but they do still exist and one is in Rockville Centre, NY!!!  I was Happy Hour-ing with some work folks at Stinger's Irish Pub on Sunrise Highway and noticed this sign:

He said boneless.

I was stoked... I mean, when was the last time you saw a $.10 wing night?  Dempsey's in Bayside is now $.20, there are a lot $.25 or even $.50 wing nights and paying $1.00 a wing is far from unheard of these days.  This was a find of a lifetime, or so I thought.

A sampler platter was ordered and the wings, admittedly were small, dry and not very good, but they weren't horrible.  I'd have to go back and order the wings by themselves, but hell, for a $.10 wing night, I'll give them a real shot.

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!

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!

Cabo- A Taste of Mexico

Cabo

"A Taste of Mexico"

3A N. Park Avenue

Rockville Centre, NY 11570

516-255-0065

http://www.caborvc.net/

Maps and Directions

My wife and I were married back in February, but delayed our honeymoon a few months because of work. So, we left for Cabo, Mexico on July 11th and came back on July 17th. Let me tell you, Cabo San Lucas and Cabo San Jose are amazing places. Great food, amazing beaches, beautiful hotels and pools, great activities (ATV rides through the desert, catamaran sunset cruises, jet skiing, zip lines, fishing trips, etc.), and amazing night life. We stopped at Cabo Wabo, which was a bit of a disappointment this time of year, Senor Frogs closed at like 8 PM but the Giggling Marlin... now that place was CRAZY! We had a blast in Mexico... but we did not have any wings! I know, I know... but I think I found a way to make it up to you guys.

Three days after coming home from my honeymoon, Jody (one of my fellow Wingmen, not my wife) and I went to Cabo, Rockville Centre. Listen... it is "A Taste of Mexico" so it will have to do! Jimmy Junior, a member of the Wingmen faithful, actually suggested Cabo back in April on the Facebook page, so I was glad we could get there. We really appreciate the suggestions and are doing our best to get to all the places you guys recommend.

Jody and I took a look at the menu and there seemed to be only one flavor of wing, but it came in three different heat categories. Their "secret sauce from across the boarder" can be made in Mild, Medium or Diablo. I don't speak Spanish, but Diablo, if I am not mistaken, means Devil and my Dirty Canz Wings experience makes me a bit weary of any wing that threatens to be that hot. I asked the waitress how hot the Diablo is and she said, "I have not tried them, but most customers eat just 3 of them." Jody and I looked at each other and, at the same time, said "medium."

We ordered the double portion of medium south of the boarder wings and asked the waitress about their beer selection. She told us that "we don't really have a lot of bottled beers, but we do have a Mexican beer." Her answer, not being very helpful, caused me to look at the bar and I grabbed a Dos Equis, which I saw they had on tap, and Jody had "the Mexican beer," which happened to be the Modelo Negro. Happy with our beverage selection, we just waited for our wings.

When they came out, the waitress brought them over to us and said "wow, that's a lot of wings" and we agreed. We thought we would have a hard time finishing such a massive plate of wings. There had to be 16-20 wings on that plate and they were HUGE. I mean, the chickens that had these wings spent a lot of time in either the gym or sitting around watching late night TV and eating bon bons. I guess my main point is that these were big chickens.

As for how they tasted, well, they were phenomenal. These perfectly cooked wings were everything you want in a non-traditional buffalo wing. They were crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and extremely meaty. Each wing was a mini-gourmet hot wing meal and I have not told you about the sauce yet.

I think the sauce was one of the best flavors I have ever eaten. The first bite explodes in your mouth with a subtly sweet, almost molasses flavor. As you chew the last few bites of the wing, the sauce is still not done. It then switches over to a spicy, peppery finish that completely compliments the sweet beginning. The flavors were so amazingly balanced that we just annihilated the plate. We had no trouble consuming every last wing on the table and they got better as we got to the last few. As you may now know, Jody and I are huge fans of the sauce reservoir at the bottom of the plate and Cabo did not disappoint. There was a nice big puddle at the bottom and the last few wings were drenched in the tangy, peppery sauce.

The flavors were so unique that I had to ask the waitress what the sauce was. Now remember, her description of Modelo Negro, was "a Mexican beer," so it was a bit of a stretch to think she knew, but I asked anyway. She didn't know, but asked the chef. She came back and told us the following: "He said it was a 'tamarang' sauce, I don't know what it is, but it is a sweet and spicy sauce." Neither Jody nor I had any idea what "tamarang" was, so I looked it up. So, according to Google, "tamarang" is a pharmaceutical company, a country in some fantasy novel world, and an engineering company. Ok, so not really a sauce ingredient, strike 1. I then looked up "tamaran" thinking maybe the "g" was me mishearing. "Tamaran" is the planet Starfire of the Teen Titans is from in the DC Universe. Ok... Strike 2. The spelling autocorrect on my Mac says maybe it is "tamarind." Tamarind is a tropical plant native to Africa that was heavily introduced to Mexico in the 1600's by the Portuguese and Spanish colonists (or African slaves of that time, there seems to be some debate). The legume or, fruit of a tamarind plant is best described as sweet and sour. I think we have hit a home run with that description. Add some spicy peppers to the sweet tamarind and you have the Cabo "south of the border" sauce.

Cabo- A Taste of Mexico is a solid restaurant that has great wings. Their Jalapeno Snappers (not poppers) were really good and piping hot... Jody, has your burnt mouth healed yet? They also supply chips and salsa which were also really good. The wings were a good value, 16-20 of them for about $13.00 which is $00.65 at the low end and $00.81 at the high. Cabo is very much Wingmen approved! Head on over there and try them out for yourself! Thanks for the suggestion Jimmy Junior! Maybe next time I'll order the Diablo wings.

Here is a shot of us actually on our honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico at The Office. Can't wait to go back!

Donnigan's Pub

Donnigan's Pub

"Irish Coffee Specialists"

1094 N. Long Beach Road

South Hempstead, NY 11550

(Borders Rockville Centre)

516-486-9127

Map and Directions

On a balmy afternoon in June, Jeff (a professor at the college I work for) and myself went out for some wings near our place of employment. We hit up a local favorite for the faculty and staff, Donnigan's Pub. This is a small, very local oriented pub in the South Hempstead/Rockville Centre area of Nassau County. Many of us wonder how Donnigan's stays open, since we have never seen it crowded, ever. But there it is, open each and every day for lunch and dinner, and advertising catering for larger events. The staff is friendly and helpful, the beer selection is decent and there are multiple TV's to catch the games.

We ordered up some wings and beer, chatted about the horrible housing market on Long Island and pondered why the taxes in New York are exceptionally high. I adjunct in the Professor's department and we have chatted about The Wingmen many times. While sitting at Donnigan's at an end of the year party, we discussed getting together and collaborating on a wing review for this small favorite of ours.

So there we were, sitting at the bar waiting, discussing properties, taxes and world peace, all while waiting for the wings to arrive. When they finally got there, I was very disappointed in what I saw. They were small fried chicken winglets on a plate. I honestly groaned a bit when I saw them because they reminded me of the wings from Chicken Holiday, which seemed to upset at least one reader of this blog (check out the comments at the end of the review).

Here is what the Professor thought:

Confession: I love Buffalo wings, hot wings, pepper wings..call’em what you will. Really: I’m not that picky.
Confession: I also love fried chicken. Lord, do I love fried chicken! Of course, I defy anyone to live in Atlanta for five years and not acquire a love of fried chicken, but that's another story.
What I don’t much like is ordering a plate of hot wings and then getting a plate of fried chicken wings and a bottle of Texas Pete Hot Sauce. Yet that’s what we got when a Wingman and I visited Donnigan’s Pub in South Hempstead.
The wings were reasonable, for Long Island fried chicken. Medium-sized, lightly breaded, nicely cooked, juicy but not underdone, crunchy but not burnt. Pete’s was Pete’s—it’s a bottle: help yourself. The celery slices were fine; the mystery white sauce (slightly browned and crusting) that accompanied the celery was a likely combo of mayonnaise and dressing scrapings. A fine compliment to Pete’s, theoretically, but not something I’d ever order on purpose. Much like the wings, really.
Now that I know Donnigan’s sells fried chicken wings, I may order them again. But until they decide to involve a middle-man who knows how to spice ‘em up nice, I’ll take a pass on anything labeled “hot” on the menu. Unless, of course, I find myself in the mood for some Texas Pete and can’t make it to the grocery store.

I agree with Jeff 100%. The wings, fried well, are not buffalo wings. They are fried chicken. They had no sauce to them, they had no spice to them... they had no... no nothing to them (sorry for the double negative, but I am emphasizing how little these wings had). The bartender served them with some Texas Pete hot sauce, which I used to douse the wings. As good as Texas Pete's hot sauce is, it is just a flavor enhancer, not something one would use to turn a fried chicken wing into a buffalo wing. It is not made for that. I mean, how hard is it to take some butter and bottled hot sauce, combine them on the stove and then cover an order of wings with the concoction? Not hard. Not hard at all.

Ultimately, I am going to say stay away from Donnigan's Pub's wings. They just are not buffalo wings. As far as fried chicken goes, you can do a lot better at Chicken Holiday, KFC and about a hundred other places. They just were not that good. I honestly do not remember how much they cost, so I can't even tell you if monetarily they were a good deal of not... but it doesn't matter, I don't recommend getting wings there anyway.

Croxley Ales

Croxley Ales

Ale House and Eatery

12 South Park Avenue

Rockville Centre, NY

Jeremy and I ventured out to Croxley's in Rockville Centre, NY a couple of weeks ago. I work in the area and Jeremy lives pretty close. Our buddy, and fellow wing enthusiast, Lee, met us there to take advantage of their $0.10 wing night special. Mondays and Wednesdays are wing nights and they choose a specific beer to be $4.00. This particular evening Hofbrau was the four dollar special and it was music of the 90's night (Lots of Soundgarden, 311, Pearl Jam, The Breeders, Alice In Chains, Sublime, Bush, Danzig and others... I felt like breaking out a flannel and a ratty old sweater).

We ordered up 30 Hot and 20 BBQ to start off the evening. We asked the bartender how hot the hot wings were and she said "not very hot." She did mention that she could bring an extra hot dipping sauce with the order, so we took her up on that offer.

As Jeremy and I waited for the wings, I noticed that they sold Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale. Jody had seen this at a beer distributor a few weeks back and had sent me a text message with a picture of it. Being huge fans of the Monty Python, I had to try it. It was a pretty good beer and went very well with the hot wings. Both Jeremy and Lee, when he got there, ordered them as well.

The BBQ wings were nothing special. They tasted like BBQ wings, but were a bit overcooked. Lee said they were "too tangy," and when Lee speaks, people listen. If you like BBQ wings, I am sure that you would enjoy them. They were not for me, but hey, someone somewhere may enjoy them. Lee said they were "too tangy."

The hot on the other hand were really good. They were cooked perfectly with the right amount of crisp on the outside and juicy-ness on the inside. The bartender was correct when she said they weren't hot but they had a very tasty flavor to the sauce. I am still searching for that wing that is perfectly hot and perfectly tasty. It seems that if a wing is hot, it does not have as much flavor and if they are flavorful, then they are usually not too hot. Croxley's fit the latter. The extra hot dipping sauce helped a lot, but still did not give them overpowering heat.

All in all, we were very impressed with Croxley's. The wings were good and inexpensive, the beer selection was very extensive and the atmosphere was pretty cool. The place was packed, everyone seemed to be having a good time and lots of wings were being ordered. It reminded me a little bit of Dempsey's in Bayside (our first review) because wing night there is always packed and people generally have a good time. The Wingmen are looking forward to making a return trip to Croxley's and the Rockville Centre area soon.