O'neills Is The Latest Wing Spot To Fall Victim To Fire

[Queens Courier] A 5-alarm fire engulfed O’Neill’s Restaurant in Maspeth [on May 1st] sending six fire fighters to the hospital.

The call came in just after midnight of a fire at 64-21 53rd Drive. The fifth alarm came after 3 a.m. and the fire was under control at 3:23 a.m.

One hundred and ninety-eight fire fighters responded to the scene. The six injured were taken to Elmhurst hospital.


O’Neill’s Restaurant has been a Maspeth fixture since 1933. There is no known cause of the fire. An investigation is under way.


"O'Neill's Restaurant has been a staple in Maspeth," said Conuncilmember Elizabeth Crowley. "Last night's tragic fire was a loss for the whole community."

Well, I don't know how I'm going to break this news to Jeremy. This is one of his favorite wing joints. I'm really kicking myself now for never having made it there. I can't tell you how many times I told Jeremy we should go and then one thing or another came up. Well, RIP O'neills. Hopefully you can pull through and reopen a new location in the future.

- Thanks to Joe Piscatella for the heads up.

A New Champ is Crowned!

Bell Peppers... wimps.  Jalapeños... pantie-waists.  Ghost Chiles... move over, a new champ is in town and its name is the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T Chile.  This pepper is equivalent of just about 1.5 Million SHU (scoville heat units).  To give you a sense as to what that means, well, a Bell Pepper has 0 SHU, Jalapeño ranges from 2,500 to 5,000 SHU and the Ghost Chile hits just over 1 Million SHU.  Good luck eating that bad boy.

Naga Jolokia is also known as the Ghost Chile

By the way... the growers say this pepper gets its heat from "worm juice" which is liquid runoff from a worm farm.  Yummy.

$.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.

Hunter's in Glen Cove Decimated By Fire

According to Glen Cove Patch, another potential wing establishment has burned down.  Hunter's Grill in Glen Cove was located on Forest Avenue and was known for its hunting lodge atmosphere and barbecue cuisine.  The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

For us wing enthusiasts, Hunter's menu boasted "Smoked BBQ Wings: Flames that roast pieces of fresh cherry wood, create smoked atmosphere for our savory wings that cook to a perfect temperature with the addition of a homemade BBQ sauce (choice of Sweet, Hot and I Dare You!)."  Just reading that, I want to try them, and I have never been a fan of BBQ wings.  This is a shame, let's hope Hunter's can recover and re-open soon.

Keep checking with the Wingmen and the Glen Cove Patch for more information on this story as it develops.

The Wellington In Middle Island Is Gutted By Overnight Fire

"A longtime local tavern with deep roots in the Middle Island community, Wellington Bar and Grill is likely no more after an overnight fire gutted the inside of the watering hole early Wednesday." (North Shore Sun)

Well this is sad news for wing enthusiasts. The Wellington has been on our list for a while, but we just don't get the chance to get that far out East for wings too often. Has anyone eaten there before? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

UPDATE: South Houston

331 W. Broadway
New York, NY 10013
Website

Wingmen favorite South Houston in SoHo has added a couple new flavors to their menu. In addition to their grilled Buffalo and Apricot-Peach BBQ wings, they now offer honey mustard and teriyaki - two of my personal favorites. Jeremy and I gave the honey mustard a try on Friday and they live up to the original flavors. I can't wait to try the teriyaki.

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?