Lisa's Buffalo Grille- Part II

Lisa's Buffalo Grille
65 Broadway
Greenlawn, NY 11740
Maps and Directions

Back on May 19, 2010, I visited Lisa's Buffalo Grille and tried their Honey Mustard and Hot Wings and I was impressed. My wife suggested that we grab Buffalo Grille for dinner and since I said in my first review that there needs to be a trip back there to try their other flavors, I agreed with her suggestion. So, in honor of the Season Premier of Man v. Food on the Travel Channel, I ordered up 24 wings (less than half of what Adam Richman will try to tackle tonight in Boulder, CO at the Wing King Challenge). This time I went for 12 Teriyaki and 12 Cajun wings. My wife went for her usual, a mild Buffalo Chicken Wrap sans bleu cheese, with fries.

Again, I grabbed our food to go (Lisa's was not as busy as usual, but my couch is more comfy than their chairs) and headed home with my Jeep smelling like chicken wing heaven. I sat down in front of the TV, popped on the Man v. Food marathon and started in on my 24 wings. They looked amazing! My wife took one look and decided that she needed to try one. She grabbed a teriyaki and then a Cajun wing. I am not sure how 1 wing turned into 2, but it happened so fast, I couldn't stop it.

I started with the Cajun wings mostly because I was intrigued. They are dry wings. No sauce. Just a Cajun rub generously coated over all of the wings and cooked until they are super crispy. As you are eating a wing, the Cajun seasonings pop in your mouth. The garlic powder, cayenne, salt, paprika, onion, thyme and pepper explode off the wing and just create a symphony of flavor on your palette. The Wingmen have not had Cajun wings before and Buffalo Grille has made me excited to try them wherever we can find them!

Look at that sauce-less pile of wings, fait bon i bon memm!


I then turned to the teriyaki and was not disappointed here either. Although not as drenched in teriyaki sauce as I normally enjoy, they were cooked perfectly. Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and a sweet teriyaki coating made the second half of my dinner as enjoyable as the first half. The juxtaposition of the sauce-less Cajun spiced wings with the sweet Asian sauce of the teriyaki wings made for an amazing dinner. I have to thank my wife for the great dinner suggestion!

mmmm.... Teriyaki goodness!

If I had any knock on these wings, they were a bit small. I chowed through 22 wings in no time. That many wings is usually a struggle for me these days, but not tonight! I think Adam's challenge on Man v. Food tonight inspired me to eat them all and eat them all fast!

These wings didn't stand a chance!

My wife usually loves the buffalo chicken wrap, but tonight she was less than impressed. I think it may have had something to do with how good the wings she tried were. After dinner she said, "next time, we are just going to order some wings." Is there a better endorsement than that? My best friend and the biggest Wingmen supporter campaigning for an all wing dinner!

I am not going to say weather Man or Food won the challenge tonight, so if you missed it, check it out on re-runs! All I will say is Adam, The Wingmen salute you!

The Shack

The Shack

"Clams and Chaos"

1 Stony Hollow Road

(Route 25 A)

Centerport, NY 11721

631-754-8989

http://www.theshack.org/index.html

Map and Directions

The Shack is a local roadside eatery on Northern Blvd. in Centerport. It is a favorite in the area and, when open, is always packed. I say "when open" because it is a summer hangout. It opens in April and closes in early fall. As long as the weather is nice, it is open, but if it rains, don't expect to get food from The Shack, there is no indoor seating. It truly is a roadside shack with a kitchen. There are a lot of picnic tables and some counter seating so if you go in a group or alone, you will feel comfortable eating there.


The Shack was a biker bar 20-odd years ago, but was bought out and renamed. They went from burgers and apps to seafood, pasta, salads, soups and burgers and apps. You will still find lots of bikers stopping there for a meal, but The Shack caters to a much larger clientele nowadays. Being on the north shore of Long Island, The Shack brings together people from all socio-economic backgrounds for good food. I don't care who you are, good food is just that, good food.


Now for the wings. On the menu you can order, and I quote, "A Classic... Shack 'Buffalo Wings' with celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing," so I did just that. I also ordered some onion rings. They came out piping hot, and looked a bit different than normal wings. The Shack deep fries the wings naked, plates them (and by plates I mean puts them in paper trays) and then adds the hot sauce. They then garnish them with some fresh parsley sprinkled on top. The wings were crispy, very juicy on the inside and were pretty big. There were about 10 wings and a few stalks of celery to the order.

How did they taste? I personally prefer the wings to be completely coated in hot sauce. I want every ounce of the wing to be covered so that no matter where I grab the wing, my fingers will be sticky. At The Shack my fingers did not get all that sticky, which is a minus in my book. Also, I am pretty sure they use a generic hot sauce. This is only bad if it tastes bad, which it definitely did not, but making a "Shack" hot sauce would be a solid idea. I am sure they could come up with one, bottle it and sell it on the website. All that being said, they were pretty good wings. They were spicy, but did not kill your mouth, they were big enough to fill you up and cooked well and quickly. The onion rings were also quite good and they have a pretty extensive beer selection.

I really don't think you can miss at The Shack. The prices are a bit high ($9.95 for the order of about 10 wings), but it is the north shore of Long Island, so you have to expect the prices will be a bit higher. The staff was friendly, helpful and quick. All in all, this was a great Saturday afternoon and I can't wait to try their burgers! As I sat there, I saw a bunch come out and they looked pretty damn good. So if you are enjoying a nice scenic drive along the Long Island Sound on Route 25A and want a good bite to eat, The Shack is good place to do just that.

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.

Nicky's of Centerport

Nicky's of Centerport

"Where Everyone's A Regular"

6 Little Neck Road

Centerport, NY 11721

http://www.nickysofcenterport.com/

Map and Directions

Sometimes a place completely takes you by surprise. I have lived in Centerport for about a year and a half now and I have driven by Nicky's everyday. It is in a little, unassuming shopping center just off Northern Boulevard and nothing about the outside of it says "come on in for wings." Don't get me wrong, the parking lot is ALWAYS packed and I just assumed that the price point was good and the food was good enough to get the local Centerport faithful to come in and eat. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I walked through the door. Please indluge me here while I go on a bit about this place. If you are looking only for the wing review, please skip the next six (6) paragraphs.

To call this place local is to completely underestimate what "local" means. When I walked in, I felt like a tourist, I may as well have been wearing a Goofy t-shirt and Mickey Mouse Ears because everyone seemed to have their place in the bar. I would not have been surprised if they told me that there was assigned seating. They all knew the bartender (Sandy) and she knew all of them. They all knew the waitress, they all knew each other and here I was, a foriegner, crossing their border into a country I did not have a Visa to enter. One patron even brought a board game to play at the bar. Nicky's did not give me a bad feeling, but walking in alone, it was a bit uneasy.

I pulled up a seat at the bar, hoping I did not take someone's assigned seat, and was greeted quickly and kindly by Sandy. I ordered a beer and a menu. As I looked over the menu, a young couple sat down in the two empty seats next to me and they were regulars. Sandy guessed exactly what he was going to order. I ordered my wings and a side of jalapeno poppers. When the wings arrived, I took out my phone and took a picture of the wings (you can see our pictures of most of the places we review on our facebook page). As I took the picture, the couple inquired as to why I was taking a picture of my dinner. I explained to them about the blog and we chatted for a while about wings and the local area.

The young couple told me about Off Broadway, a place in Greenlawn, NY (just south of Centerport), that has a wing night on Wednesdays. They don't have a kitchen, but Lisa's Buffalo Grille (which is right across the street) supplies the wings. They are owned by the same person, according to the husband. They were also very interested in what I thought about Nicky's wings, since Nicky's is known locally for having the best wings. In fact their menu tells you that their wings are their most popular appetizer. The husband also ordered a plate of wings, which was exactly what Sandy had guessed he would order. Something tells me he has had them before, but that is just a guess.

Enter Kenny. An infamous local at Nicky's. He walked in and the insults started flying. Nothing offensive on this night, but from what I can gather, this was more of an off night for him. He was wearing a bright orange sweater, drank red wine and was hilarious to observe.

I heard him reffered to as "Comb-over Kenny" for reasons that would be very obvious if you were there and he did nothing but insult me from the second we spoke to each other. He seemed harmless enough to me, but he has a very wicked tounge at times. I get the sense that they humor him a lot at this place. Kenny owns a local business that claims to be "Specializing in Courtesy" and the people at the bar seem to find this hilarious. He went from calling me a "nice man" to saying that he was "done with me" back to being a "nice man" to saying that I should be kicked out of the bar for being mean to him. I was cracking up. When Sandy came over, I explained to her that Kenny wanted me to be kicked out of the bar, so she bought me a beer. Kenny's plan seemed to backfire.

I have not laughed or had this much fun with people I had never met before in my life in about a decade. By the time I left, I really understood the slogan, "Where Everybody Is A Regular," because I felt like a regular. The young couple, Kenny and Sandy did not care that they had never met me before, I just became a member of the Nicky's family. It was a very good time.

Now, for the reason this blog exists, the wing review. Nicky's offers two different buffalo wings options on their menu. You can order the Half Serving Buffalo Wings for $6.95 ot the Full Serving Buffalo Wings for $9.95. They come in Hot, Medium and Mild. The half serving is 12 wings and the full serving is 25, which makes the wings between under $.60 per wing on the half serving and $.40 per wing on the full serving. That puts their wings about average in price, if not a little below average. I ordered the half serving of Hot wings, I was not feeling 25 wings that night... I would have been hurting.

My dozen hot wings came out and I dug right in. This place is known for its wings for a reason. They were big, juicy and cooked perfectly. I see why people, who know about Nicky's, drive from all over the island to visit this place. They take the traditional hot sauce and do it as well as it can possibly be done. I really have no complaints. They were hot. My nose was running after a few wings and I was actually looking to the jalapeno poppers to soothe the burning... yes, jalapeno poppers worked to soothe the buring in my mouth. I was impressed by the wings and am really pissed that it took me this long to step into Nicky's.

Overall, I really liked Nicky's of Centerport. I suggest that if you are off the beaten path and in the Centerport area, check this place out and definitely try the wings. It is truly a diamond in the rough.

P.S.- T, C, S and yes, even you K... it was very nice meeting you all! Thanks for making me feel at home!

Rookie's Sports Club

70 Gerard St.

Huntington, NY 11743

http://www.rookiesny.com/

On a recommendation, a bunch of us hit Rookie's Sports Club in Huntington. It's a pretty cool sports bar with all kinds of nightly specials. We went a little earlier in the day so we missed out on their $16 all you can eat wing night (9-11 PM Mondays and Wednesdays), but we did not miss out on their "Rookie's Wing Sampler". What?! Sampler? 3 wings x 8 flavors?! Honey Thai, Chipotle BBQ, Honey Thai Hot, Buffalo, Jamaican Jerk, Parmesan Garlic, Pan Asian and Hell Fire all one ONE PLATE?! Holy shit. I was a little flustered. Anyone who's been out to eat with me knows that I get overly excited for anything with the words "sampler" or "combo platter" in it. It was obvious what we were going to order. The only question? How many? There were four of us, so if we divide the number of flavors x 3 by the amount of...screw it. We each got our own. Bring it on.

We were all a little shocked when they came out. These were not your average size wings. Hell, they weren't even large wings. These were mini drumsticks. All of a sudden, the all-you-can-eat option looked like the worst deal in town.

So, variety - check. Size - DOUBLE check. But how did they taste? Um, they were ok. We all pretty much agreed that the Pan Asian was the best, followed by the Parmesan Garlic and Hell Fire (yeah, surprisingly something called "Hell Fire" actually had some of the best flavor). The Honey flavors were by far the worst. The reason I say they were just ok is that we all felt like the flavors weren't bold enough. They just lacked a little bit. There was so much potential with the variety and size that I'd love to give them another chance, but judging solely on flavor these were middle-of-the-road type wings.

Since Rookie's was recommended to us, it can't just be dismissed. And don't get me wrong, they weren't bad. We just thought they would be better. Maybe it was an off night. I know just the mention of the word "sampler" would be enough to get me to give them another try. Have you been there? What do you think?

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.