Thursday, May 15, 2008

Wild For Wings?

If you don't know, one of my favorite foods happen to be Buffalo Wings. So, naturally, I had to track down a wing place gaining some noteriety here on Long Island:



Yes, it's a chain, but hold on a minute, it got successful for a reason. At first glance...it was a chain, and chain restaurants aren't really known for A+ food. After being dragged there by family, birthday bash, or just drunken fraternity hooplah (or, in my case sometimes, a combination of the 3), anything would taste good after having your senses numbed by the atmosphere, mindless chatter, and outdated "Chain Restaurant Muzak."

My personal theory of Chains is that it's all the same restaurant, just with different crap on the wall. Seriously, tell me the differences between Applebee's, TGI Friday's, Boulder Creek, Bennigan's and Outback. If you can, feel free to do so in the comments.

I've tried wings at most of them and a majority of them were not that specatcular. Out of all chains in general, I'd rank Outback the highest, then Applebees, and then Hooters of all places (but seriously, no one goes for the food, and even the "atmosphere" wasn't as impressive as they made it out to be). It just seems like an afterthought appetizer, which at most of these places, they usually are.

But Buffalo Wild Wings turned out to be different. Hell, you'd think a restaurant with "Buffalo" and "Wings" in its name would have to have good wings.

It turns out, I was pleasantly surprised.



My only problem? Those wings in the above pic are actual size (kind of kidding with that one). Other than that, I think they're pretty good. I was there earlier today and thought the wings were tender, hot, and had good sauce. One of the better things about this place is that there's not just "Mild, Medium, Hot" sauces, there's 14 different ones for your liking.



To test the waters, I went with "Hot," while my friend Steve went with "Blazin'." Although he was warned for how hot they were...he said that it was only "kind of" hot, and he has the same taste & tolerance for hot sauce as I do. Probably a bit hotter than mine, whose heatness didn't creep up on me until Wing #4 or so.

I had em with a Ribs combo, and they were pretty good too. The fries though...I'd skip the fries, they're ok, but not bad. All in all, these were the best chain wings I've had.

And to my college & fraternal bretheren: I have discovered a few interesting details about the place.

1) 40 cent wing Tuesdays. Yes. Explains why they're so small...they're cheap as hell.

2) Free Mindless Trivia. During my stay there, there's an option where they give you little machines that have you play the trivia games on the various screens of the place. It's fast-paced and kind of distracting from the food & chatter, but it's something I'd look into for a future date.

3) 1/2 Price Appetizer Specials! Yes, you may be delighted to hear that BWW does it too. Mon-Thurs, it's after 10pm, but Friday & Saturday, it's after 11pm. My friend Steve & I have agreed that this will be our new "Spot" for these outings.

Sure, I've had better, but there's a difference than a chain, and going to actual Mom and Pop Wing & Rib joints.

But those are for another blog for another time.

(None of these pics are from my trip, they're just random relevant ones that I found on Fllickr)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hearing someone talk about BW3s, a place I've frequented as much as once a week, as something foriegn is kind of funny.

I don't like Applebee's, TGIF and have never had Boulder Creek or Bennigans but my one experience with Outback was honestly great. Maybe I'm thinking of another chain but their food was a lot more hardy and plentiful than the other two.

Galileo said...

You're not missing much with Bennigans, but Boulder Creek is pretty good. It's a steakhouse, I hear the steaks are good, but I eat ribs. Theirs are pretty good, but I've had better.

Anonymous said...

Well I was gonna ask what the heck kinda sauce the orange cheesy looking stuff is but since it's not something you ordered nevermind. I am excited though, they are building a BW3 close to my house so I may have to go for some cheap wings.

Galileo said...

I'm pretty sure the "Orange, Cheesey-looking stuff" is Cheese Fries.

Also, a small update: I went back on Tuesday, and found out that the wings are of...Normal, Good-Eating Size. I just happened to have gotten a fluke of nothing but small wings.