October 11, 2010
The Long Room
The Long Room
The Long Room is located on 120 West 44th Street between 6th Avenue and Broadway. This place was awesome in every way. It is now on the top three replacing my past number four and five. Nice size bar, with a tremendous amount of televisions; perfect for football. I had the opportunity to celebrate my father in law's birthday in Manhattan a few weeks ago. We went to see "The Perfect Crime" and hit up the "The Long Room" for dinner afterward. Don't see the show. It was aweful. The bartender at the bar, next to the show said one of the actors in show hates the show. Others around us laughed as well since it was so true. Anyway, back to the "Long Room" The bar keeps it dim lit to almost give it a trendy appeal but the actual bar is huge and plenty of tables and t.v.'s to watch.
Now on to the food. The wings were awesome. They had the Hooters type of texture to the wings as well as the sauce flavor. If you can't get your gal to go to hooters for the wings, go to the Long Room. The meat to bone ratio was perfect along with the kick to the sauce. The difference between the two was the wing itself. They weren't as edgy as the Hooter wings. They offered the traditional flavors, BBQ, mild, medium and hot. I, of course, ordered the hot and they were nice. Nothing "hot" contest worthy, but nice. I wish I ordered more but this place is on my radar to go again. Absolutely worth it. I did, however, top the wings off with a ridiculous bacon blue cheese burger covered in tobasco sauce. This dinner absolutely destroyed me but soooooooo worth it. Next time you're in Manhattan, gonna catch a game, go to the "Long Room" and tell em the wing men sent ya!
October 02, 2010
J'n"R's Rocky Point
J'n'R's in Rocky Point has a big history behind it. This place used to be the one of two Big Barry's. If you have just jumped on board with the Wingmen, Big Barry's is how it started. As high school students, we used to pack in the mighty max, Steve's boat and whatever was working for Jody at the time. Maybe the vete.......chevete. Big Barry's had the atmosphere of an old western saloon. If were drunk enough, we used to put a quarter in the automatic piano and make like we were crooning an old country and western song....we'll at least I did. The burgers used to come out in a pan somewhat similar to what the cowboys used to bring with them during an adventure. The wings, however, were about 3 cents a wing. Good ol' large use to down about 50 hot wings and grub some of ours. Good times.I had the opportunity to visit J'n'R's in Rocky Point a while ago. The outside and the inside were basically the same bringing back a lot of memories. Immediately, I checked the menu to see the wing selection. The menu had the basic choices of mild, medium and hot. Once the wings arrived, you could smell the sauce permeate through the entire dining room. They smelled fantastic. The wings had a nice texture to them with enough kick from the hot. The hot wasn't something an average joe couldn't handle but good enough. The meat to bone ratio was very good and they were cooked to perfection. In addition, there was plenty of blue cheese.
In my opinion, this is a place worth going to. Food was outstanding, prices were cheap, friendly service and best of all.....has the ol' Big Barry's appeal. Next time tell em the wingmen sent ya!
September 22, 2010
Our Top 5
Yes, this is what happens when you have a site run by a bunch of dudes... we forget anniversaries and birthdays, even our own. Our first post went up on July 16th, 2009. We wanted to have some sort of event to celebrate. Maybe take over a bar and have wing and beer specials all night. Well, our birthday came and went. We didn't even realize it until the guys at Our List asked to interview us for our one year mark. There were no parties, no cakes, no streamers.
However, we did manage to come up with our lists of top 5 wing joints. These lists (we each came up with our own) are not meant to be the be-all-end-all. They're more of a conversation starter. As you can see, we rarely even agree with each other so, chances are, you guys may have some discrepancies as well. Feel free to pass along your top choices. There are still thousands of places dishing out wings that we haven't visited yet. If you don't see your favorite on any of our lists, most likely we haven't been there yet... Either that, or you have terrible taste in wings.
So, without further ado (or any fanfare), I give you our lists - year one edition:
Jeremy:
1. O'Neills, Maspeth, Queens. Bar/restaurant offers a wide variety such as honey mustard, jack daniels, traditional-mild, medium, hot, garlic butter, cajun, teriyaki, and some more but drawing a blank. Good meat to bone ratio and the sauces are excellent. Decent service, great atmosphere. Offers valet parking. 4 dollar plates for 10 wings on Monday nights.
2. Hooters, Anywhere. Hot 911 flavor. Can't go wrong. Sauce is excellent, excellent meat to bone ratio. Atmosphere is unbeatable. A little pricey and obviously there are a ton of locations. Gives you the option of going naked and east meadow hosts western wednesdays.
3. Candlelight, Scarsdale, NY. Wings come conjoined. Not breaded. Hot sauce has a lot of kick but not anything that would hinder you from eating only hot in abundance. Service is so-so and the joint is kind of hole-ish. Bit of a dive, but I like that. No specials that I can speak of and the prices are decent.
4. Longhorns, Rockville Center. Chipotle BBQ. Meat was abundant as well as enough crisp on the outside with excellent moisture inside. Flavor had a kick to it as well. Actually went back to have the wife try and they were given the thumbs up. Atmosphere was cool. Kind of a texas thing going on and the service was great.
5. Hurricane Wings, Port Jeff Station. Ridiculously Hot. The hottest I've had so far. Only ordered and ate six and paid for it the next day. Even saw one of my buddies try one, turned red and threw the towel in. Great service, decent prices but were always running out of beers. Meat isn't as abundant as the rest but it didn't matter. Anything larger would have killed me.
Jody:
1. Blind Tiger Ale House - West Village, NYC
The only thing keeping these from being the perfect wing is a little crisp - they're baked. They've got great flavor, moist and tender meat and just the right amount of kick. Probably my favorite so far.
2. Mike's Place Too - Mastic, NY
These could just as easily been my top choice. They're actually very similar to Blind Tiger plus they have the crisp. The only thing they're missing is the kick. If I could just mix the two together. Special mention to Grumpy Jacks and Coach's Corner. All three locations had the same recipe at one time or another. We have plans to visit Grumpy's soon. Maybe they'll make the 2nd Anniversary list.
3. Mooncake Foods - Soho, NYC
These wings are unlike any other I've had. Like all of Mooncake's dishes, the Asian inspired flavors are infused into the meat and somehow makes it seem as if you're tasting it from the inside out - if that makes any sense. They are huge, meaty and come conjoined. Definitely an under appreciated wing.
4. Virgil's Real Barbecue - Times Square, NYC
I have finally turned over a new leaf and can appreciate a good BBQ wing, and I have Virgil's to thank for it. These are the real deal, no overly sweet and sticky, ketchup based sauces here. They're slow smoked to perfection and rubbed with a mixture of spices to compliment but not overpower the BBQ sauce. I'm sure there are people out there that will say Dinosaur BBQ or Blue Smoke is better. Well, I haven't been to either of those yet so Virgil's is the default king of BBQ... so far.
5. Black Rock Tavern - Yaphank, NY
Just a towny bar in a small town, cooking wings the right way. They're simple, but good and can be made to order. This was one of my favorite spots of the last year for a basic, traditional, Buffalo style chicken wing. I'm sure there are many that can compete for the final spot here, but Black Rock just stands out to me so I'm giving it to them.
Honorable Mention: Cabo, Bourbon Street, Canz, 1849, PJ Carney's.
Steve:
1- Nicky's of Centerport: Centerport, NY
When it comes down to making buffalo wings, you can do no better than Nicky's. They are piping hot, cooked to perfection, drenched in sauce and spiced perfectly... not too mild, not too hot, just plain old perfect. To top that off, it is just a completely local and welcoming bar that is full of characters and just plain great people. They are famous for their wings, but you'll go back for the company.
2- Bourbon Street: Bayside, NY
If you are looking for some New Orleans inspired cuisine, Bourbon Street is the place for you. They have Cajun just about everything and the wings are no exception. They take your traditional buffalo wing sauce and spice it up with some traditional Cajun spice. The mixture of hot sauce, butter, salt and Cajun spices are phenomenal and you won't be sorry you ordered them.
3- Lisa's Buffalo Grille: Greenlawn, NY
Lisa's would be higher on my list if the wings were bigger. Their hot sauce is amazing and super spicy, the honey mustard is great, teriyaki is salty, sweet and close to perfection and the Cajun wings are a great change from sauced wings. They have an amazing dry rub on them that has my wife asking me to get wings a lot more than before she tired them. I'm not complaining.
4- Brian Dempsey's: Bayside, NY
This was our go-to place before we started this project and always worth a trip on Wednesday Nights, which is Wing Night. $00.20 wings and $3.00 pints of domestic beers. Their wing sizes vary from week to week, which dropped them in my list, but the hot wings are usually some of the best in Bayside and the teriyaki are also forces to be reckoned with. They even have a good BBQ wing, which is strange because I really don't like BBQ sauces. The service even seems to have picked up a bit lately.
5- Cabo: Rockville Centre, NY
At the suggestion of Jimmy Junior on our Facebook page, Jody and I checked out this place and we were impressed. The sauce they use was nothing we have ever tried before and the wings they serve are huge. The sauce is a tamarind and pepper blend that melds sweet and spicy in a tropical way that has a late burn to your mouth which is soothed by the tropical tamarind fruit flavor. Completely intriguing flavors in a pretty cool restaurant.
Honorable mentions- Longhorns- RVC, Barefoot Peddler- Greenvale, Miller's Ale House- Levittown, Cavanaugh's- Bluepoint
September 19, 2010
Blind Tiger Ale House
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| 281 Bleecker St. New York, NY 10014 Website |
Craving wings, but running out of places to try in SoHo, I took advantage of the nice weather and crossed Houston St. into the West Village (along with my co-worker, Chris). I've heard of Blind Tiger Ale House a few times on various "best of" lists so I've wanted to try them for a while. This microbrewery has a cool old school vibe accentuated by the use of wood from a 19th century farm house (according to this article in New York magazine). It's really cozy, the type of place you enjoy spending some time in.
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| ... and the bottles. |
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| The chalk board menu for draught beers... |
Luckily for us, when we ordered we were told the wings were baked, not fried, so they were going to take a little while to prepare. It was clear by the boards posted on the walls that there was an outstanding selection of beers. Since I'm always a fan of making a slightly negative situation positive, we decided to sample some of the brews. They have over 30 rotating beers on tap and an almost countless amount by the bottle. I decided to spend my wait with the Alagash White.
After about a half an hour, the wings came out. They absolutely lived up to the hype and were worth the wait. Obviously, since they are baked, they are not going to have that crispiness that we usually demand of a wing. This would be the only negative though and I was happy to make an exception. Baking does give you a nice and tender meat though, and these were fall of the bone tender. The flavor was pretty unique, although there were some similarities to Mike's Place wings (which are right around the top of my list). Maybe it was Italian dressing? What separated it from Mike's though, was a nice smokey flavor - probably chipotle. They also had a nice, creeping kick. It doesn't get you right away, but the heat does sneak in and kick you in the mouth after a minute or two. To me, this was an exceptional blend of flavor and spice. The sauce was "suck-off-the-bone" good. I'd probably drink it out of a cup. Well, probably not. But still, it's really tasty.
So, head-to-head, I'd give Mike's the advantage in crispiness while Blind Tiger gets the nod in heat and a slight edge in flavor. Did Blind Tiger Ale House just knock Mike's Place Too off the top of my list? Hm, I think they did.
September 10, 2010
Press 195
Press 195
40-11 Bell Blvd.
Bayside, Queens 11360
718-281-1950
It was the Monday before the National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo NY, and Jody and I needed to get together to discuss details about travel, itinerary and iPod playlists for the drive up. Instead of just meeting at one of our homes, we decided to make it a working review... which is kind of like saying we were doing work while we worked. A bit redundant, but it was just that. So we met at Press 195 in Bayside, NY, ordered a couple of Allagash White beers and took a look at the menu.
Press 195 has two flavors; buffalo and BBQ. We decided quickly that BBQ was not happening and went with the large order of buffalo wings. For $8.00 you get a normal order and for $15, you get a large order. The large had about 16 wings, making them just under a dollar per wing. We also placed ordered up some french fries. Press has amazing french fries and they have homemade dipping sauces as well. More on that later.
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| Large order of wings... about a buck a wing. |
So, if they smelled good and the sauce was good, what was wrong with them? Well, they were a bit inconsistent in size, making them a bit inconsistent in how well they were cooked. The larger wings had a nice crisp on the outside, but juicy on the inside, making them delicious. The smaller wings, on the other hand, which probably cooked just as long as the large wings, were a bit overcooked which robbed them of their juicy cores. Having about eight wings each, we may have had 2 or 3 over cooked wings each, which is not horrible, but not great either.
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| Let's rearrange the alphabet and put U and I together. Oh yeah! |
As you can see by the above picture, the sure do make some good looking Belgian fries. I mean, if I were at a bar and saw those fries, I'd do a shot, walk up to the bar, order the fries a drink and do my best to get their number. I'd probably strike out, but hell, just telling my buddies that I tried with something that hot and failed, now that would be a great story. They taste better than they look too. Hand cut, double cooked, seasoned perfectly and served with your choice of dipping sauces ($.75 each), these were worth the trip alone. I took the picture before we threw the ketchup out. Who needs ketchup when you have Chipotle Jalapeno Mayo (not pictured) and Traphagen's Honey Jalapeno Mustard? Both sauces were amazing compliments to the fries and both had a nice spicy kick to them. Try the fries when you go!
Press 195 is first and foremost a sandwich joint. With 40 hot sandwiches, a bunch of cold sandwiches and burgers on the menu, Press will impress you with their gourmet selection. I suggest getting fries every time you go, they are just that good. The wings were not too bad either and I have to say, I would order them again. They also have a very large selection of beer and they keep a lot of micro brewed beers on tap and bottled in stock, so step out of your comfort zone and try an Allagash or Magic Hat or even an Arrogant Bastard Ale. Last thing I'll say is that the atmosphere is pretty cool as well. It is not a sports bar and can seem a bit yuppie-ish from the paintings on the wall and modern feel, but they have a few TV's with the games of the evening playing, a very nice staff that is also very helpful and Elvis Costello on the radio and any place that plays "Veronica" is ok by me.
It is safe to say that Press 195 is Wingmen Approved!
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| This is why fruit-ing the beer is ok. This fry lived to see another day. |
September 08, 2010
Irish Times
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| 254 West 31 St. New York, NY 10001 Website |
Right up the road was a place called Irish Times (I wonder why no one has ever come up with that name for a bar before [sarcasm]). The crowd was much more manageable so we decided to give it a go. We ordered a plate of traditional Buffalo wings, which were their only choice, and got to work.
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Decent flavor, but rubbery and salty - Pass |
It was not a very good experience overall and we promptly moved on. It's possible we caught them on an off day, but there are just too many promising wing joints in NYC to find out. Maybe we should have just waited it out at Brother Jimmy's.
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