Genesis Bar and Restaurant

Upper East Side

Genesis Restaurant and Bar
1708 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10128
212-348-5500
www.genesisbar.com

After reading through some of our reviews, lately, it seems that we are a bunch of homers that love every place we have been to.  And the truth is, we go to places that you, the Wingmen Faithful, suggest because you love those places.  So of course the wings are good.  We have not been blindly just stopping in a place and testing out their wings.  Well, Jody and I stopped at Genesis Bar and Restaurant the other night without any recommendations, without knowing what the place was like and not knowing if their wings would be any good.  This is what happened...

We were on the upper east side and decided to look for wings.  We saw the menu outisde of the restaurant and liked what Genesis promised: Genesis Jumbo Chicken Wings- Buffalo, BBQ, Bourbon Street, Korean Style and Bayou (their to-go menu has Southwestern on there as well, but the restaurant did not offer this selection).  We were stoked, starting planning what we'd try and went inside.

After sitting down and ordering our beer, we finally decised on Buffalo because we had to, Korean Style because Jody loves the Asian flavors and Bayou because I love Cajun wings.  We stayed away from BBQ and Bourbon Street because they seemed similar and too sweet. 

Here is what was GOOD about the wings: They were jumbo, they were cooked well, crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

Hot Wings?

Here is what was BAD about the wings:  EVERYTHING ELSE!  I mean, honestly, how do you fuck up buffalo sauce?  It is clarified butter and hot sauce.  That is it!  They were sweet and had zero heat to them.  Buffalo wings should not be sweet.  The Korean Style wings were even sweeter, sickly sweet.  Authentic chili and garlic sauce my ass!  It tasted like Karo syrup with a sweet soy sauce.  They were, in my opinion, disgusting.  The Bayou wings were fried chicken wings.  They were described as a dry rub by the waitress, but there was no rub.  They were bland fried chicken wings.  They even came with a bland sauce that did nothing to the taste excpet make them wetter.  Kentucky Fried Chicken wings are worlds better than these were.  They were also $8.00 per plate of 8 wings, so not only were they horrible, but they cost $1.00 each.

 

KFC?

The place itself was nice and had a good beer selection, but I cannot recommend this place's wings.  Just horrid.  This place is NOT Wingmen Approved.




On a funny note, as our wings arrived, the women sitting at the table next to ours looked over and said "I think I'm going to throw up," and we are not sure if they knew the wings were bad, thought three plates of wings were just plain disgusting, or just didn't like Jody and I.  I guess we'll never know.

Something clever about bad Korean Style wings?

Merrion Square Bar & Restaurant

1840 2nd Ave (corner of 95th St.)

New York, NY 10128

Website

One of the really cool things that has been happening as a result of this blog actually being read from time to time is that I have been getting all kinds of texts and emails asking for wing suggestions as well as giving recommendations for future reviews. After my experience at Dave and Busters, I was glad to get this tip on a great, local, Irish pub on the Upper East Side via text:

"Merrion Square!! 95th and 2nd. Impressive. Traditional Buffalo, nice and crispy, not over cooked and great beer with cooler pitchers. Great deals: buy a pitcher, half dozen wings free."

That was a promising lead, similar to the email I got for Lucky 12 Tavern. The difference, though, between the two is that Lucky 12 Tavern is a few states away. Merrion Square is just a quick walk on Canal St. and a ride uptown on the 6 train. I don't mind taking people's word for it, but getting to taste them for myself is even better. So a few days later, a few of us met after work to give them the official Wingmen seal of approval.

I'd say the description was pretty spot on. The key phrase to me is "traditional Buffalo". These wings weren't anything extraordinary and they probably don't stand out among the thousands of Irish pubs in New York City. But they were an absolute success in delivering everything you'd expect from a traditional Buffalo style chicken wing. Good meat, nice crisp, thick coat of sauce, decent amount of heat and, most importantly, great flavor.

Look, you can see that nice crisp in the skin.

You also can't really beat their special of free wings with a pitcher of beer. It's like, let me get this straight... we look all over for great wing night specials. 10¢ wings, 25¢ wings, sometimes even 50¢ wings and you're saying you're just going to give me free wings... just for buying beer... which I was going to do anyway? Now that is a wing special.

Some of their specials up on the board. Nice chalk work.

Other notes on the bar: It was pretty empty and, from what I hear, it doesn't usually get over crowded. Back in our college days, that was the kiss of death. It's dead? Move on. Now, in our advanced age, it's funny how we have a greater appreciation for being able to claim a bar stool and hear each others conversation. Merrion Square also has a pool table and Skee-ball game (which is having a huge resurgence in NYC - I think I want to join a league). Its biggest downfall is that it's an Eagles bar. Yeah, I know. I guess this will be more of a warm weather pub.

Skee-ball - one of my favorite sports.

This sign was above the urinal in the men's room. Yes, I can multitask.