Wings To Go

Wings To Go
400 Newark Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030
(201) 459-6070
Website
Directions

This review has been a long time coming, and I apologize for that, but I am back with a review from September.  This review started on the drive up to the National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, New York.  Jody and I took off from Manhattan, through the Lincoln Tunnel and into Jersey.  Despite a couple of wrong turns, which is inevitable in New Jersey (I swear that the state of New Jersey turns while you drive in it.  Heading north?  Gotcha... you're going south!  Too far south and you hit the Jersey Shore, but no cheap shots about it being t-shirt time, GTL or grenade whistles... on to the review) we found Wings To Go.

The last time Jody and I ate at Wings to Go was close to a decade ago in York, PA.  We had gone down to play paintball with my brother and his friends.  Among them are Matt and Zak from the Our List Podcast.  I remember ordering buckets of wings... Honey Mustard, Hot Buffalo and Teriyaki I think. We were hooked then, but living in New York, we had no way to have them again without going back to York... or so we thought. Jody found one in Hoboken, NJ!

We started strong with a smörgåsbord of flavors that included Chesapeake Bay, Caribbean Jerk, Honey Mustard, and Parmesan Garlic.  Here's what we thought:

Chesapeake Bay:  Chesapeake Bay spice is typically used with sea food and the salty, peppery flavors really enhance crab and other seafood flavors.  At Wings To Go, we found a combination of salt, cayenne pepper, ground celery seed and sweet Hungarian paprika, mixed with clarified butter and tossed over wings.  We expected a bit more of a kick and it reminded us of a wet Cajun sauce.  All in all, the weakest of the flavors, but still worth a try, especially if you are a fan of sea food.

Chesapeake Bay

Caribbean Jerk: Caribbean Jerk is probably the most robust and ingredient filled recipe we tried that day.  Jerk flavoring is primarily pimento (or allspice)  and Scottish bonnet peppers (100,000-350,000 on the Scoville scale, just below the habanero chili) with a mixture of cloves, cinnamon, scallions, nutmeg, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper.  At Wings To Go, this sauce was missing the heat of a mixture that contains Scottish bonnet peppers.  These wings were good, despite missing that kick.  Is it the best jerk chicken you'll ever have?  No.  Are they solid wings when you want something different?  Absolutely. 

Caribbean Jerk

Honey Mustard:  These were nostalgia on a plate.  Exactly what we remembered from York, PA and lived up to our fond memories.  The biggest problem with many honey mustard sauces is that they use too much honey and too little mustard.  The honey allows the sauce to stick to the wing better, but gives the sauce a sickly sweet edge.  I don't know how they do it, but Wings To Go has the recipe down.  They weren't too sweet, did not have an overpowering mustard flavor and yet, the sauce clung to the wings perfectly.  Although the wings were coated in sauce, their only knock was that there was no extra reservoir to dip into.  Get these wings, they are awesome.

Honey Mustard

Parmesan Garlic:  If there is an overall winner of this stop, it was easily the Parmesan Garlic.  These wings were saturated with butter and oil, heavily dusted with Parmesan cheese and slapped you in the face with their flavor.  It is well known that Parmesan Garlic is Jody's favorite, and it is safe to say that these passed his flavor test.  The generous amount of ingredients in this version helped to make these easily the best flavor of the day and well worth ordering.  One warning, if you are going to share a car with someone like Jody for the next 7 hours, be warned.  His Parmesan Garlic burbs could make a dead man open the door and jump out of a moving vehicle at 65 MPH.  Unbearable. 

Garlic Parmesan

The fear with going to Wings To Go was ruining our memory of their wings from about a decade ago.  Restaurant chains can vary significantly from one location to another.  This experience was a pleasant reminder that we liked Wings To Go for a reason.  Their vast menu of flavors, crispy (maybe double fried) wings, and multiple locations makes Wings To Go a great option when on the run and looking for more than just a hot wing.  Like Atomic Wings, Hurricane Grille and Wings, and WingZone, Wings To Go is a solid place and should be located in every college town.  

Check out any of their locations because Wings To Go is Wingmen approved.

Dixie's Smokehouse

Dixie's Smokehouse

"Texas BBQ and Rotisserie"

12 Indian Head Road

Kings Park, NY 11754

(At the LIRR Station)

631-292-2520

http://www.dixiessmokehouse.com/

Maps and Directions

Jimmy Junior, let me get this straight, you suggest Dillinger's Pub and Grill, and Jody does the review. You suggest Cabo, A Taste of Mexico, and Jody and I do the review. Now there is a review of Dixie's Smokehouse because you suggested it? Are you kidding me? You are 3 for 3 son... we must really like your suggestions! Don't worry everyone else who suggested places, we really do have a list and we will get to most of them (we don't have a travel budget yet [the FoodBuzz advertising checks have not come in yet], so those of you across the state line, it may take us a bit longer to get to you), but we truly appreciate the suggestions! Now to Dixies...

Dixie's Smokehouse Texas BBQ and Rotisserie is settled in a small shopping center just south of Northern Boulevard on Indian Head Road in Kings Park, NY... yes, the same Kings Park where Craig Biggio of the Huston Astros went to High School. It is a very small smokehouse with limited seating and a small bar. When I got there, it was pretty packed and it was a week night. I had spoke to my Uncle Carl that evening and he said the ribs were really good, but I was not there for ribs, I had three flavors of buffalo wings to conquer!

Cowboy Mike's Famous Chicken Wings come in Hot, Honey Mustard and Dixie's Smokehouse Texas BBQ flavors and are served in orders of five (5) or ten (10) wings at a time. The five size is perfect because it afforded me the opportunity to order 5 of each of the 3 flavors! I placed my order, tried a sip of a new beer they had on tap, Honker's Ale, decided I didn't want one and grabbed a Blue Moon instead. I then waited, and as I did, I read the placemat.

As I read, this caught my eye: "The Secret to True Pit Smoking- It's about time, temperature and heat source. At Dixie's Smokehouse, our smoker requires no electricity or gas to cook our meats. We smoke them using indirect heat from burning hickory wood at low temperatures over long periods of time. There are no shortcuts in our smoking process 'low and slow.'" Now that is cool and made me wish that I had ordered something smoked, not fried. But alas, my wings were on their way, and I couldn't have been more excited!

My wings arrived all on one plate and ready to be consumed. I took my usual picture and the family next to me started whispering about how weird that was. I tried to explain that I blog about wings, but I still think they walked away thinking I was a complete weirdo. Some people, I mean really. I then went back to the wings and tackled them one flavor at a time, starting with the hot.

Bottom left- Hot

Bottom Right- Honey Mustard

Top Center- Dixie's Smokehouse Texas BBQ

The hot were not overpowering and the heat did not blow me out of the water by any stretch. What they did have was late blooming spice that got stronger as I hit wings number two, three, four and five. The sauce was not your traditional butter and hot sauce, but it was very tasty. I know there was cayenne pepper in there, but the other flavors I could not place. They are worth ordering again.

I then moved on the the honey mustard and just looking at them I was a bit disappointed. The fatal flaw with these wings were that they were fried first and then tossed in the honey mustard. If you want the sauce to permeate the wing, you really need to fry them after they are dipped in the honey mustard and then toss them again in the sauce. What saved these wings was the fact that the honey mustard they use is very good and they used a lot of it. There was a decent puddle of it on the bottom of the plate and you know I sopped up the last few wings in it. Again, I'd order them again.

I finished the night off with the Dixie's Smokehouse Texas BBQ sauce. Anyone who knows me (or has read previous reviews) knows I don't like BBQ sauce on wings. It is usually too sweet and is just not for me. Dixie's BBQ is really no different. The wings were drenched in it, which is a plus, the smokey flavor in the BBQ sauce was a nice change from the norm and they had a bit of a kick, but they were still too sweet for my liking. If you like BBQ sauce, and you like the taste of smoke, then you may enjoy these, but they just are not for me.

These wings were all cooked to a nice crisp, retained they juiciness on the inside and just as Jimmy Junior said on our Facebook page, they were a bit small in size. They are a decent deal though, five (5) for $4.49 and ten (10) for $7.49, so my fifteen (15) wings set me back $11.98 or $00.80 per wing. My beer was $6, so I was sated on $17.98 + tip worth of wings and beer.

The only side note I have to this review is the day after eating these wings I was not feeling too well. Those of you who know me, know that I have a bit of a weak stomach at times, and those of you who don't know me, well, now you know too. I am about 99.99% sure that the food was not the issue and it was too many incredible flavors for my weak stomach to handle. I have to tell you about this aspect of the experience because if the same thing happens to you, then our readers need to know!

All in all, give Dixie's Smokehouse a try when you are in Biggio's backyard! I can't wait to go back and try the ribs and brisket!

Grilled Hot Wings with a Habanero Honey Mustard Sauce

Location: Jeremy's back yard.

Website: Sorry, none.

Steve-O, getting down to business.

Needing to get together for some Wingmen business, Jeremy decided to have a barbecue at his place. Jody, his family and myself (my wife was attending a shower for her sister's wedding) joined Jeremy and his wife at their home. I called Jeremy to see if he needed anything and to ask if he would be ok if I brought over some wings in a new honey mustard sauce I had been working on. He was stoked at the idea.

I got to work on my sauce. I grabbed an already prepared habanero mustard that I use on sandwiches at home. It is super spicy and tastes great. I poured that into a glass jar and added some pure honey. For honey mustard, I read online that about 3 parts mustard to 1 part honey is a good ratio, but I feel that it is up to you. If you like it thick, less honey is good. If you like it thinner, use a bit more. Taste and texture rule this game, so what you like is where it should be. I also added some black pepper, salt, garlic powder and onion powder. Not a lot, but enough to give it a little extra flavor.

The problem I was having was that the habanero was super hot and this honey mustard was kicking my ass. Every time I tried it, my mouth would be on fire. I needed to cut the spice with something, but I was not sure what would work. I read some recipes online that used sour cream in their honey mustard, but we were fresh out of sour cream (gotta love Taco Tuesdays!). The next best thing I could find was some mayonnaise. I was not sure how this would work, so I went slow, adding just a little at a time. I would say that I ended up putting 3 or 4 table spoons of mayo in and it cut the heat, as well as gave the honey mustard a lighter color. I tasted it and was very happy with the flavor and consistency.

I then combined the uncooked chicken winglets with about 1/2 of the habanero honey mustard and let them sit for over an hour. The grill, already being hot from the Italian sausage and garlic bread that Jeremy and Diane had served as an appetizer (which was amazing), was ready for the wings, and they cooked in about 10 minutes to a perfect charred outside and juicy interior. I took them off the grill, placed them in a large bowl that can be covered and poured the rest of the honey mustard over them. I covered the bowl and shook them up until they had a fresh coat of honey mustard on them. It is very important to both cook the flavor in and then re-introduce the flavor by shaking the sauce over the wings again.

Mmmm, nice grill marks.

At this point, I will leave the review of the Barbecued Habanero Honey Mustard Wings to my fellow Wingmen. Jody, Jeremy... the post is yours.

Jeremy:

Long and short of it was they were fantastic. So good, that it kept us from eating the other stuff that was prepared for the BBQ. The wings had a good meat to bone ratio and the sauce was excellent. The sauce had a zing to it that kept you craving more. I had to even give the credit in that the wings were cooked to perfection. Somewhat crispy on the outside and moist in the middle. Always good when its moist in the middle....gigidity. The best part was the next day. Ever have that moment where you hope something magically appears in your refridgerator......well, it did. I was not aware that everyone was given a little doggy bag of leftover wings. There they were..........ah like winning a scratch off.

Jody:

The best part of homemade wings is that you can come up with unique flavors that might not be too common at your local pub. Steve is really good at that and it's exactly what he did for his habañero honey mustard wings. It certainly wasn't your average honey mustard flavor, this was hot... and that's after he added mayo to cut the heat. I wonder what they tasted like before that. The heat wasn't over powering though, there was a nice balance. The flavors still came through. As Jeremy said above, they had a good char from the grill but the meat was still tender. If I had to think of one thing to criticize, it would be that there could have been more sauce. I don't feel bad saying that because I'm pretty sure that's what Steve said when we sat down to eat them. We're both big fans of the dipping reservoir. But hey, that's what happens when you prepare something at home and bring it to your friends to cook. You can't just whip up some more. All-in-all, these were solid wings... well done Steve. I think you've earned the seal of approval. And I'm with Jeremy, the doggy bag was a nice surprise - Thanks Diane! I'm looking forward to the next time we get to sit down to some home made wings.

The finished product. Nice work!

Lisa's Buffalo Grille

Lisa's Buffalo Grille

65 Broadway

Greenlawn, NY 11740

Maps and Directions

I moved to the Centerport area of Long Island almost a year and a half ago, and the best non-fast food, fast food in the area is Lisa's Buffalo Grille in Greenlawn. It is a very small shop with limited seating and lots of people coming in and out placing and leaving with take-out orders. I have never seen the place slow. The phone is always ringing, people are always there and the staff seems to never stop working. They have a very nice menu of wraps, burgers, sandwiches, salads and fried appetizers. My wife and her family love the Buffalo Grille, I on the other hand am not a huge fan. The food has been good, but not that good. I don't mind eating there, but it is never high on my list of places to stop when we don't feel like cooking.

So when I was driving home thinking of where to go for wings, the Buffalo Grille never even crossed my mind. I was going to stop at Nicky's again, but as I thought about Nicky's great wings, I remembered the conversation I had with the young couple at the bar and recalled their recommendation of the Buffalo Grille's wings. So I stopped at Lisa's and ordered up some wings.

I placed an order for 12 hot wings and 12 honey mustard wings. I ordered them to-go because I just wanted to get home and relax. It had been a long day and all I could think about was popping open a Blue Moon, eating up on some wings and watching a little House or CSI (Las Vegas) on my DVR. A night to relax always gets better with wings, beer and good television shows. As I waited for the wings to be cooked, I got more excited about my evening.

Lisa's Buffalo Grille was, as I had explained, packed. There were at least 10 pick-up orders ready and waiting for people to pick them up, 3 of the maybe 10 tables had dine-in customers and there was a line 7 people long ordering food to-go or picking up their orders. I was towards to front of that line, so I got my order in and then waited for about 20 minutes for them to be ready. I should have called ahead, the number is in my Blackberry... oh well.

I grabbed my wings and went home. Opened the beer, flipped on the TV, grabbed some napkins and started to chow down on my 24 wings. They were great! Big, juicy, coated in sauce and perfectly cooked. They were super crispy, which was a huge surprise because they had sat in the Styrofoam containers for close to 10 minutes on the drive home. I was very pleasantly surprised. As for the sauces, the hot were HOT. I mean these had to be some of the hottest wings I have had that actually had taste to them. There was nothing surprising about the recipe, cayenne pepper, hot sauce and butter, but their mixture of those ingredients is better than almost any wing I have had. I know, bold statement, but these were damn good. I only ate 10 of the hot wings because I was full from the 12 honey mustard wings, but the heat also started to get to me. That doesn't normally happen from a buffalo wing; Dirty Canz Wings, yes, normal hot wing, no. The honey mustard wings were also some of the best I have ever had. I still like the West Taghkanic Diner's honey mustard wings better, but these were a very close second. If you are into honey mustard wings, I suggest trying these, you won't be disappointed.

The prices are also really good here. 12 wings for $6.95, 24 wings for $11.95, 60 wings for $28.00 and 120 wings for $53.50. That is $.58 per wing on the high side and $.45 per wing on the low. You only get better prices than that at wing nights. They also come in the following flavors: Mild, Medium, Hot, Blazin', Ragin' and Inferno on the spicy side and Honey Mustard, Honey BBQ, Cajun, Teriyaki, and Bold BBQ on the savory side. Looks like I have a trip or two left to try the other flavors. Everything else on the menu is also priced well, so you really can't beat Lisa's Buffalo Grille when you want good food and don't want to spend a lot (wow... I sound like a commercial spokes person). In all seriousness, I have a new appreciation for the Buffalo Grille. I will eat their wings again... probably soon.

I do suggest taking any food you get there to-go. The majority of the crowd that eats in the restaurant are teenagers from the local area. They are pretty loud and having a good time. I have no problem with it, but I am passed the point in my life where I want 15 to 20 teenagers running around the tables as I try to enjoy a meal. I also think that the constant ringing of the phone, people walking in and out placing and picking up orders and the people milling around waiting for their food to be ready (like I was that night) could get very annoying while eating.

They also supply the wings for Off Broadway's wing night in Greenlawn. It makes sense since Off Broadway supposedly does not have a kitchen and is owned by the same people as Lisa's Buffalo Grille. I will try and go to Off Broadway's wing night soon and do a review. I'd like to know how the wings hold up when traveling across the street.

Pluck U.

Pluck U.

Wings & Things

230 Thompson St.

New York, NY 10012

http://www.plucku.us/

This was another lunch time mission for me. I've pretty much been given the responsibility to take care of as many NYC wing joints as I can, so I grabbed a work buddy and we headed off to The Village. We got to Pluck U. and it was a total dive - small, dirty and awesome. I was pumped. There were "Best Wings in NYC" awards hanging all over the place and I felt like we were on to something. Apparently they had the highest rated wings in NYC six years running. So were my hopes high? Abso-plucking-lutely.

You have to love the story behind this place. It's the age old fairy tale of two friends in college turning down lucrative offers after graduation to start a less than prestigious business venture - and succeeding. I also love the menu. It is full of all kinds of combo meals - 5 wings, fries and a drink ($6.50), 10 wings, fries and a drink ($9.85), etc. Unfortunately, this is where my troubles began.

They have a decent variety of flavors (mild, medium, hot, death, BBQ, honey mustard, gold and 0 carb [huh?]) and I wanted to at least give two of them a try. I asked the woman at the counter if I could break the 10 wing combo into two portions of five. When she told me I couldn't do that, I said I would take the 5 wing combo with an extra order of 5 wings. Thinking back now, it makes no sense that I can order two separate orders of 5, but not break the 10 wing combo in half - but whatever. The woman was friendly enough and wanted to save me some money, I guess. She tried persuading me into an order of 10 wings, dry, with the sauces on the side (which was just over a dollar cheaper than my 5 plus 5 idea). I had a bad feeling about it but she was very persistent. Add that to the language barrier and the fact that I wasn't really sure what she was doing at the time and... well, I got a little flustered and went with her suggestion. It would prove to be a huge mistake - one demerit for me. My order: 10 wings dry with a side of hot sauce and honey mustard, fries and a coke.

Nice lady, but her effort to save me a buck and change came back to bite me.

We got back to the office and I got down to business. I separated my wings into two groups of five, poured the sauce on and gave them a toss - still confused as to why they couldn't do it in the kitchen. First up, the hot. I took a bite and... what the pluck? Is this - ? No, can't be. Another bite. Yup... tastes like ketchup! Who does that? I'll tell you who does that, Johnny Famous. And if you've been following along at home, you know we've got a saying: "At least they're not Johnny Famous bad" (or something like that). Well these were, in fact, Johnny Famous bad. But it gets worse. While Johnny Famous had the worst sauce we came across, they were cooked alright. The worst cooked wing award, so far, goes to CJ Sullivan's. Pluck U wings were not cooked as poorly as Sullivan's wings, but they were damn close - totally dried out and crispy. So I'd actually describe these as a combo of the two worst wings we've had so far. The sauce wasn't as bad as Johnny Famous, and they weren't as dry as Sullivan's but put them both together and it's just a sorry wing.

On to the honey mustard. It's almost impossible for me to even review these. First of all, they only gave me one little cup of sauce. Again, I'm the idiot who caved and got the sauces on the side but come on. You have to at least give enough to give the wings a nice coat. I ended up eating half of them dry. It wouldn't even make sense to critique the sauce anyway. It's not like they made it. It came in a little Ken's Steakhouse Dressing container.

Overall, I thought Pluck U had a resemblance to Atomic Wings. Take-out/delivery spot catering specifically to wing lovers and serving mediocre poultry. I'd definitely put Pluck U a rung under Atomic Wings though, mostly due to the awful hot sauce. The fries were actually pretty decent though. And walking from Soho to The Village on a nice day is always a good way to spend a few minutes. Maybe it was just me though. What about my co-worker, Chris? He actually sent me this email right after he finished:

"wings-weak

fries- not bad

walk-well worth it"

To which I replied:

"couldn't agree with you more. did your sauce taste like spicy ketchup?"

He followed with:

"YES!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't put my finger on what it was but that's exactly it."

Ok, so it wasn't just me then. But now the real question is, who the hell gave these guys the "Best Wings in NYC" award? Six years in a row! I bet they don't even make the best wings on Bleecker St. So would I recommend this place, or even go back to give them a chance at redemption? Pluck no!

Yup, that's all the sauce they gave me to coat 10 wings.

West Taghkanic Diner

West Taghkanic Diner
"The Home of Home Cooking"
Route 82 & Taconic Parkway
West Taghkanic (Ancram), NY 12502
http://www.taghkanicdiner.com/
Map and Directions

This place was awesome! I love old-school, greasy spoon, rail cart diners. I always have. Jody, Jeremy, myself and all of our friends used to hit up 24 hour diners after hockey games, high school events or even hill parties. There is nothing like an egg sandwich at 2 AM! It was a Saturday in April and I was on a mission to sell my boat... begrudgingly. As I was traveling back home after an exhausting day of running from Long Island to Massachusetts and then to Upstate NY and back, this place appeared on the horizon and I was destined to stop.

I will say that I had no idea where I was. Upstate New York is a ways from my stomping grounds and honestly, not a place I choose to visit all that often. I need to give this area a better shot because the diner was amazing. Long counter, multiple booths with tables and chairs thrown in, shiny metallic decor and a neon sign... I mean really, what is cooler than that?

My father and Uncle Phil were with me on this trip and as we walked in I was thinking breakfast for dinner all the way. It is damn near impossible for me to pass up eating breakfast at diners, but they also had wings on the menu and what kind of Wingman would I be if I did not see what the West Taghkanic Diner had to offer?

They had a few flavors of wings on the menu and for about $6.50, you get a dozen wings. That is just over $.50 per wing, which is a pretty good price. The flavors are Hot, Mild, BBQ and Honey Dijon. I asked if they could split the order 6 and 6 and they said sure, so I ordered 6 Hot and 6 Honey Dijon. My father ordered breakfast and Uncle Phil got the fish and chips, which the waiter said was one of their most popular dishes.

The wings were really good. The Hot Wings were traditional and were made well. They had a decent amount of kick while holding on to that quintessential buffalo wing flavor. They were not as crispy as I would like, but the taste and good size of the wing overshadowed the lack of crisp. The Honey Dijon were the best honey mustard wings I have had in a very long time. They were large, juicy and covered in honey mustard. They were perfectly prepared and the flavor was amazing. They are worth the trip up the Taconic Parkway. I am truly bummed that I live so far from this place.

The fish and chips, according to my uncle were pretty good and my dad enjoyed his eggs, fries, sausage and rye toast. The food at West Taghkanic Diner is better than one would expect when driving by the neon sign on the south side of Route 82. The service is a bit suspect (they forgot to bring me my fries, my dad only got 2 of his 3 eggs and they brought him white toast... he ordered rye), but they corrected their mistakes quickly and were happy to do so.

I suggest that if you are ever in the area, stop by and give this place a try... you won't be disappointed and you can buy a t-shirt as a souvenir.

Hurricane Grill and Wings

Hurricane Grill and Wings

1037 Route 112

Port Jefferson Station, NY 11776

http://www.hurricanewings.com/PortJeff/

Map and Directions

The second stop for Jody and I on our Monday off was Hurricane Grill and Wings in Port Jeff Station (it is in the shopping center with the DMV, we had a little trouble finding it). Back in November of '09, Jessica Miller Gomez commented on our Facebook page that Hurricane's was coming soon and we would have to check it out when it arrived (Thanks for being a fan Jessica!). We finally were out there and decided to give them a shot. Eric, don't get upset that we didn't stop at Grumpy's, we plan to, but it will be a huge Wingmen Event! It will take some planning.

So we walked into Hurricane Grill and Wings and instantly felt like we were in Orlando or Tampa at some waterside bar. It felt very different from your typical Port Jefferson, North Shore of Long Island, right on the Long Island Sound bars.  This was more tropical, complete with hardwood floors made to look like they have sand on them, seascapes on the walls, luau feeling decorations Reggae music playing, and fake palm trees. I feel like I have been to this exact place in San Diego, Miami, Orlando... and now Port Jeff, which is good because I can't remember when 3 feet of snow have fallen in Southern California or Florida, but it does in Port Jeff!

After polishing off quite a few wings at Tommy's Place, we decided to try the $18.49 sampler plate. Anyone who knows Jody knows he has a hard time passing up a combo plate, so this choice fit right into his indecisive sensibilities. We had 20 wings with four different flavored sauces. We ordered the Honey Mustard, Mango BBQ, Thai Ginger and Garlic, and Gold Rush as our four flavors. They mostly came at the suggestion of the bar tender, since there are a LOT of flavors to choose from. Check them out here.  You can see there are quite a bit of them and you can even create your own.

Combo Platter- Starting to the left of
the ranch dressing and
moving clockwise: Gold Rush,
Honey Mustard, Thai Ginger & Garlic,
and Mango BBQ.

Lets get into the review-

1- The Honey Mustard were good. The flavor was a bit on the sweet side, not enough mustard, but it is understandable, since a lot of people are getting into the sweeter flavored wings these days. Miller's Honey Mustard was way more traditional, as are Wings To Go in York, PA (which I have not been to in years. We need a trip down there boys, those were good wings). I would suggest staying away from these only if you don't like sweet wings.  If you are a honey mustard fan, go for it.

2- Mango BBQ were a wildcard for us. As our faithful followers may know by now, we have never been really happy with any BBQ wings we have tried, but Mango BBQ, how do you pass up Mango BBQ? They were quite sweet, as I am sure you can imagine, but also completely solid. A lot of flavor. Best BBQ wings I have had, and I have tried a lot of BBQ wings.  The Mango adds sweetness, but also distracts your mouth from the tomato and molasses base that usually makes BBQ too much for me.  I'd eat these again.

3- The Thai Ginger and Garlic wings were way too gingery for my liking and sickly sweet. There is way too much honey in that recipe. They were good, but the flavor was just too strong and sweet for me. If you are into ginger, give them a whirl.  We all have our own particular tastes and these just were not for me... they can't all be winners.

4- The big winner of the afternoon was the Gold Rush Sauce. They are described as a "special honey mustard sauce with a hint of heat" in the menu and as "not honey mustard tasting at all" by the bar tender. In my opinion, it was honey mustard mixed with a buffalo sauce with some spicy red pepper thrown in the mix.  This sauce is great and I wish I had some bottles of it right now, I'd BBQ myself some winglets and douse them in the stuff.  I'd go back for these... and of course to try some of the other flavors.

All of the wings were large, juicy and had a good crisp to them, like all wings should. They reminded Jody of Rookie's in Huntington because they had some many flavors on the menu and they were big juicy wings. Hurricane's has a good beer selection, advertises a happy hour everyday from 4-7PM with two for one appetizers, $2 pints and $8 pitchers, and is a nice novelty bar. If there were outside seating and it was located closer to the water in Port Jeff Village, I could see this place being crazy in the summer. I am looking forward to seeing how popular it becomes.

The Wingmen should make another trip there with some fans to help us get through all of the wing sauces. It is a job for more than 3 people! Who's in?

We will give this a preliminary Wingmen Approved stamp, we have to go back, try more and see what else we enjoy.

Taxi's Grille

217 New York Ave.

Huntington, NY 11743

www.taxisgrille.com

I was working in Huntington recently and a couple of co-workers and I ordered some lunch from Taxi's Grille, which is up in the Village. I'll keep this one short and simple: STAY AWAY - from the wings at least. We got two orders, Buffalo and honey mustard. They were both over-cooked and dry with very little meat. The buffalo wings were made with Texas Pete's sauce, right out of the bottle. I have nothing against that, but there wasn't much of a coating. The honey mustard was down-right awful. It tasted more like a mayonnaise than a mustard. Gross.

Luckily, we only ordered these as a side. And luckily, their steak sandwiches are really good as are their chicken sandwiches. I did eat there a few times during my six weeks working in Huntington, but I never went near the wings again. I'd advise you to do the same.

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.

The Black Rock Tavern

The Black Rock Tavern

450 Main St.

Yaphank, NY 11980

631.354.6000

My cousins were in town from Florida last weekend, so I was in the old neighborhood again.  We hit the local tavern, Black Rock, to grab a few drinks and catch up.  My cousin, Jenn, and I were getting a little hungry, so we put in an order for some wings.  When they came out, we both thought they were pretty damn good.  As a matter of fact, it only took us a few minutes to devour the plate and put in an order for round 2.  As we waited for the next round, I was talking to the bartender, Pat, who I know very well (he's my sister's boyfriend).  He was saying that the cooks will take requests on how to cook your wings.  What?  Wings, made to order?  I like that.  Plate #2 came out shortly and we dug in.  As I was mid bite, Adam, one of the owners, came over to me to talk about his wings.  I guess he got word that we review them and wanted to give me the scoop.  He told me something happened with his meat vendor and they couldn't get their usual stock of wings.  He seemed disappointed in the wings they served us and assured me that if I came back they would be better.  Really?  I thought they were pretty good anyway.  So, you're telling me that next time they'll be better AND I can have them made to order?  Not to mention that after looking at their website I discovered they also serve Honey Buffalo, BBQ, Backwards, Jamaican and Honey Mustard wings.  If you're a frequent reader, you know I love the honey mustard...and what in the world is a "backwards" wing?  There's no question I'll be back to find out, and I'll have the rest of the team with me to make this place official.

O'Neills Pub

O'Neill's Restaurant
6421 53RD Dr
Maspeth, NY 11378-1621

O'Neills Pub in Maspeth, Queens was one of the first places the Wingmen decided to go with guest reviewers. Diane (my wife), Mary and Chris joined me (Jeremy) two Mondays ago to chomp down on some serious wings and maybe catch a couple of plays from the Minnesota Vikings game. Needless to say, nobody paid attention to the game but everyone paid attention to the wings.

O'Neills offered the following variety: Honey Mustard, Garlic Butter, Jack Daniels, Regular, Medium, Hot, BBQ and Terriyaki. The plates consisted of 10 wings for $4. Our group decided to order the Jack Daniels, Garlic Butter, Hot, BBQ and Honey Mustard. Diane and Mary (Queens Natives) stated that this place normally packs out with a younger audience because O'Neills will serve food to all regardless of being under 21. This night, however, was not packed. It was just the right amount of people and noise to have a conversation and eat some serious wings.

The wings were serious. The Jack Daniels Wings were simply my favorite. I actually had the opportunity to eat the Jack Daniels wings in Tennessee a few years ago and these were just as good. Next, without a doubt, was the Honey Mustard. They were dripping with sauce. The Terriyaki and the Hot were no different than any other establishment. The Garlic Butter, on the other hand, were dry but packed a lot of flavor. They were a little misleading at first, but you grew to like to them. The wings were thick. They possessed a lot of meat. You definitely got a good bang for your buck with their wing special. Overall, all of us agreed that O'Neills was a place you would return to. In addition, the wait staff and bartenders were extra hospitable. Two thumbs up in my book and I know my guests agreed.

Miller's Ale House

Miller's Ale House

3046 Hempstead Turnpike
Levittown, NY 11756

The latest stop on our tour to sample the tastiest wings around was Miller's Ale House in Levittown, NY.  I'll just get right to it -- they were damn good.  I don't think I'd be going out on too much of a limb here by saying they were the best we've encountered on our young mission.  

Miller's offers 8 different varieties of wings:  4 of the 'hot' category (mild, medium, hot and Mt. St. Helens), garlic, bbq, sweet and sour and honey mustard.  Since Steve was running a little late (Congrats Aunt Lauren) Jeremy and I did the ordering and went with Mt. St. Helens (of course), garlic and honey mustard.

First, the Mt. St. Helens.  Finally, a hot wing that was hot.  I don't think a hot wing should be so hot that you need to sign a waiver to eat one...however, sweat beads on your forehead after you've stacked a couple of bones in your bowl is a must and Mt. St. Helens delivered.  It took Jeremy about five wings to break a sweat while Steve was perspiring after a couple of bites.  Some might call him lesser of a man, but it was humid out so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.  I think I came in somewhere in the middle.  Aside from the heat, the Mt. St. Helens had some great, peppery flavor, a solid amount of meat and were nicely cooked -- crispy outside with a moist and tender inside.  They had a generous coat of sauce that formed a dipping reservoir in the bottom of the bowl for those looking for a little extra kick.  I'm not really sure what else you can look for in a wing.

Next up, the garlic.  This wing had a very potent flavor that hit you in the face before the meat even touched your lips -- I mean, it's garlic right?  Although Jeremy and Steve really seemed to enjoy this one (am I right guys?), I was a little more on the fence.  I love garlic, so it definitely had that going for it...but it was very buttery/oily.  Think of it as a buffalo wing scampi.  If you like a scampi where you need your napkin after every bite, or spaghetti and broccoli where the olive oil is running down your fork hand, you'll love these wings.  I liked them, but they were my third favorite of the night.  I also thought, in contrast to the very wet coat, that the wing itself was a little over-cooked and dried out.  I'm going to assume that this isn't the norm though since the rest of the wings were cooked just fine.

Finally, the breakthrough performer of the night.  The dark horse.  The surprising upset.  The honey mustard buffalo wing.  They were meaty and dripping with honey mustard and I couldn't keep my hand out of the bowl.  They were awesome.  I was honestly craving them the next day.  The flavor was so good, they were large and cooked just right.  I could go for a dozen right now, my mouth is watering.  I guess this goes to show us that it doesn't have to be off the charts on the Scolville Scale to be a good wing.  Lesson learned.

As for the other factors, it was pretty crowded but we had no problem grabbing a couple of seats at the bar.  Once the bartender realized we were there, she was on top of things and made sure we were taken care of.  I think there was a 30 minute wait or so for a table though.  The Yanks/Sawx game was on, so that might have had something to do with it.  Pricing was so/so.  I think an order of 50 (which can only be broken up into different flavors as 25/25) was around 26 bucks.  Not breaking the bank, but not 10 cent wings either.  

Alright Nassau County, you're on the map and, so far, topping the list.  But don't worry, there's still lots of time for another pub to knock Miller's Ale House off of it's throne and steal the crown (I'm looking at you, Grumpy Jack).