Monday, March 2, 2009

Wingin from the Womb


Typically this blog is dedicated to the criticism of Buffalo Wings and tales of frivolity from our youth (and other times when we were clearly "Too old for this shit"). But the TWBB crew have decided to dip into another pool of academia for which we are completely incapable: Child rearing. When my good friend and winger/poser blogger Andy Menchal announced to Milwaukee's wing squad that he was having a little boy, we were all touched. But it wasn't until our last wing experience, that I became completely taken with the whole thing. Andy had told me earlier that day that he was going to miss wing day for a ultrasound. Needless to say I was already emotionally charged about being a man down. He later informed me that he was in fact going to make it, bringing the mother of his child to be, and asked me if that was alright?? Bear in mind that normally you would have to report weeks in advance if you have a request of this nature, and then it has to be run through this entire bureaucratic entanglement. But I reminded Andy that he was also bringing another dude, a very little dude.

Being back in school I have actually been exposed to a number of pieces of literature on the topics of breastfeeding, child birthing, and other early mothering techniques. But I am frankly shocked to inform you, that I have not come across so much as a brochure on the effects pre-natal winging. Since we only have one baby to work with, some academics may refute this piece of research as conjecture, but I believe our findings will prove to be important. For our first test we visited Barnacle Buds (Now open in the winter months!). The team was myself, Menchal, Cortney, Lonnie, Big Mike (a new staple winger), and of course our guest who has yet to be named. Cortney informed me that we were actually at the point in her pregnancy (about 4-5 months) when their child could actually begin to taste foods. Despite my expertise, I was unaware of this fact. Never the less, this was perfect timing. The Buffalo wings to the adults were pretty good!! Though only offered in one variety on the menu, the staff allowed us to order them at various levels of spice. I think the chef took some creative license here, as no one batch of wings tasted quite like another. They were a solid unbreaded wing, and sauced heavily with a traditional Buffalo Sauce with an unconventional hint of sweetness. The mediums proved to be the best option. Not because the hots were too spicy, but because the medium I believe were probably the house recipe and best in flavor. As we discussed them, our new winger kicked in approval, and I'm not ashamed to say I was truly moved.

Totally unrelated (my typical transitional genius), we have discovered a top 5 level wing in Milwaukee. Leff's Luckytown in Wauwatosa satisfied a 10 man wing team early last month. We were unanimously enamored with their brand of "ass kickin" wing and pretty much every other flavor that they offered. The "Ass Kickin" (pictured above) was the hottest on the menu. While these were delicious, they are far too hot for one winger to take down an entire order without ruining his/her insides (and certainly the rest of the day). The wings are in fact breaded with a healthy amount of sauce and spice on the outside (a wing style highly favored by Adam Loeb). These will not disappoint. Major Goolsby.. Watch your back!!

Here's the wing-down!!

Barnacle Bud's

www.barnacle-buds.com

3.5/5 wings

1955 S Hilbert St
Milwaukee, WI 53207
(414) 481-9974

Leff's Lucky Town

www.leffs.com

4.5/5 WINGS!!!

7208 W State St
Milwaukee, WI 53213
(414) 258-9886

The Future Menchal

Callin it Right now: Astrophysicist or better!!


Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Trading Places

Hello all, I know its been quite a while, but my research in the winging to be had out here in Philly has actually been bearing some fruit.

First up - The Royal Tavern

This place has some wings that are absolutely fantastic. First I have to tell you about the place, now for everyone from Milwaukee I hope this description both offends and illuminates. Imagine a restaurant inhabited by people with a love of single speed bicycles, beards, irony, and both expensive and cheap varieties of beer. Also, imagine a menu consisting of somewhat interesting food items and a daily list of specials with clever ironic names. Let me guess, a little establishment called The Comet comes to mind. Now - and I don't want to blow anyone's mind too hard here - imagine that the food actually arrives in under an hour, and the said ironically named specials are quite tasty. That is The Royal Tavern in a nutshell.

Being in a luxury beer fueled adventurous mood I decided to order the sampler platter consisting of equal portions of the following flavors: buffalo, chipotle barbecue, and mango habanero. Let me tell you, all three flavors are amazing, even the barbecue. These wings come unbreaded and amply sauced without being sloppy. They also come with pickled daikon - an innovative substitute for the common celery garnish, carrots, and a sauce I was quite shocked to find out about. Get this, the brilliant kitchen staff managed to combine the two staple wing dipping sauces into one. These wings came with a Gorgonzola Ranch Sauce. Now I know this could be considered herecy by some wing purists, but seriously, you must try it. Oh and this is for Mr. Alonso, they sell pabst for $2 a bottle here, and its great lurking territory.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 wings

Royal Tavern
937 East Passyunk Ave

Philadelphia, PA
215-389-6694

www.theroyaltavern.com

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Wing-dings: The Font

My friends and Wingers alike. Therewingbeblog has taken 2 major hits this last couple of weeks. The first is numerous threats from the staff of assoutsince.blogspot.com to change our status here to ass out. Recognizing the permanence of such a status suffered by the likes of Beck, The Crunchwrap, and the dude that threw his shoes at GWB, I have decided to try to save TWBB from this irreparable fate. The second major blow comes as our editor and chief: Josh is leaving Milwaukee to pursue Cheesesteak research in Philadelphia. While his qualifications are more than adequate for this line of work, I fear that this topic has been rehashed many times. Hopefully this will motivate the 2 other founding members: Menchal and Lonnie to educate the world about wings in the greater Milwaukee area, however I will not put a great stake in this. In addition we have added an Asian Correspondent: Mike Gee, to review flavors not familiar to our palettes, such as Thai, Sweet and Spicy etc..

Getting down to Brass Tax..

Though we have not been blogging, fear not, because we have been winging. To play "catch up" I am going to review the wings of my entire neighborhood, and incorporate it with a true holiday story which occurred the night before Thanksgiving 2 years ago.

Our travels today brought us to a location called Black and White. The wings, while having an original flavor were pretty middle of the road. Their signature "B&W" sauce was delicious to Mike Gee, but confusing to the rest of us. Their Buffalo sauce, was a lesser Griabaldi/Magoo style wing. In their defense they said they were available hotter. In any event the wings were no substitution for the former establishment located in the Black and White space. El Chico Zuma was the premier spot in Milwaukee to ensure that the rest of your body felt as miserable as your head upon waking up after a night of drinking on North Ave. Though I don't claim to be any kind of Shitty Burrito critic, I don't know if Milwaukee can deal with the loss of El Chico and Atomic records within the same time frame.

On that faithful night 2 years ago I did something else to ensure the equal misery for the rest of my body. After a night of drinking and winging with Lonnie and Mike at G-Daddy's BBC (probably the best wings on North Ave: very large/tender/ and well spiced classic style buffalo wing- but Lonnie does not approve of them), it was bar time, and everybody flooded into the cold street on North Ave. As we ventured to Mike's car on Prospect, we were drunk (Mike was not) and giddy, on one of the biggest "Going out nights" of the year. In my state I walked onto Prospect Ave. and failed to notice the White Lexus barreling down at me. As he hit his brakes I braced myself. According to Mike I flew up in the air and landed on the guy's hood. He gets out of his car and says "I just fucking hit you with my car." Mike G and Eric said it was the most insane thing they ever saw. I stood up and told the guy in the Lexus, who seemed to be equally intoxicated, to get lost. He and the hot blond in shotgun reprimanded me while I repeatedly asked Mike and Lonnie "How awesome did that look?" The couple then realized it was probably best to flea the scene which had attracted many bystanders at this point.

After a separate night with similar results my friend Adam and I stumbled into La Piazza: another North Ave haunt. At the time we probably thought we "Looked very awesome" shoveling wings down our gullets. But much like the wings themselves, upon further review there was nothing awesome about the way we felt the next day. I should add that there is currently a post on Craigslist with the opportunity to buy into this business for $60,000. If you choose to partner in this venture, please contact Therewingbeblog upon a decision to reformulate the wing sauce.


Black and White
1814 E. North Ave.
Milwaukee
, WI 53202
2.5/5 wings

G-Daddy's Bradford Beach Club
2022 E North Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53202
3/5 wings (and usually very affordable)
1.5/5 wings according to Eric Alonso

La Piazza
1504 E North Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53202
5/5 wings (in Adam's and my state)
2/5 wings in reality

Hooligans
2017 E North Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53202
2.5/5 wings (but too expensive for wings)
(sorry I didn't incorporate this into the blog, but I have no stories about this place that don't end with my brother severing part of a finger).

Next weeks blog: Dock o' The Bay and Incidental Winging
(including details on a 10 year High School reunion complete with pictures for Faythe)

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Return of the Wing!!!!!

So, it has been quite a long time since I have kept you informed about Milwaukee's wing establishments. Part of that is my laziness, I also have been absent for a few of the more recent wing days. I will say this about some of my recent winging, Big Alke's was shit, Magoo's is the jam, and there's no point in me even discussing my opinions on music (see Loeb's remarks about Beck below). This week, we tried a new spot called The Irish Pub. I know, the name makes one a bit suspect. According to those who got the tip on this place, they were rumored to have 25 cent wing day on Tuesday, which was true, but we were unable to get this deal. Apparently we had the right day, just not the right time. The 25 cent wings are available only from 3-6 with the purchase of a beer. Now, the beer purchase is not what caused us the problem. We all would have gladly indulged in a noon beer for cheap wings. Remember, we really don't have what some people might call a "normal" work day. Maybe Loeb, but I have my suspicions about what that kid does all day. I just know from years of experience a lot of errands are usually involved.

Enough rambling, and on to what you're really interested in. The Irish Pub had only one sauce option which was a Whiskey Buffalo Sauce. I liked that they didn't fuck around with other flavors that just wouldn't be any good. No BBQ, which I must say is the most difficult wing flavor to master, and no ill fated attempts coming from the Asian flavor palette. A proper BBQ wing is quite tasty, but there must be absolutely no margin for error. I can honestly say that 95% of wings with this sauce are either okay or garbage. But that 5% that get done right are spectacular. Anyway, since I obviously did not think I had done enough rambling thus far, lets get back on track here. The wings were amply sauced and lightly breaded, and started off pretty tasty. Good heat, good flavor, nice meaty wings. Unfortunately after about 4-3 wings (I should note none of us ate fewer than 7-8) they got kind of stale. The sauce got the wings a bit soggy. This was the downfall of this place. A properly prepared wing platter should stay tasty from the first wing to the last. All in all, not a bad wing not that great of a wing, definitely not one wing to rule them all. I do think they would be a great option with a happy hour beer on a Tuesday.

Rating: 3 out of 5 wings


The Irish Pub
124 N. Water Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
(414) 225-9400

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Big Alke's, The New Joint, And Some of our Other Worthless Opinions

Let's keep this one real formal like. So our latest wing experience brought us to Bigalke's Sports bar out on 7th and Layton that was clearly a Ponderosa in its previous life. In addition to our normal team of Wing Experts/Lotharios we had our friends Adam and Bob in tow. The wings are available breaded and unbreaded which is a plus. The sauce pretty traditional with nothing particularly great about it. With the team of half a dozen we managed to veer from the topic at hand: wings (if you can believe that) to discuss another topic:

90's Alternative: and this is what we figured out (Proceed with Caution here; once every body threw in their two cents we had about 8 fifty):

Alice In Chains:

Me- Will entertain the idea that Dirt is kind of a good album

Bob- Became a fan after Layne Staley's successor, Some black dude, joined the band whom he saw perform live with the band.

Some Dude Adam saw speak who writes for Rolling Stone- Layne Staley's Death did not necessarily send a wave through the rock world, but maybe a ripple.

Eric, Josh and Menchal- Stayin out of this one


Nirvana:


Bob- In Utero is shitty (rape me is an especially shitty song), but Nevermind is Flawless

Adam- Unplugged in New York is the only good album they ever put out. "They waited their whole career to play that one show."

Menchal- In Utero is in fact good. So is Nevermind but the Song Polly sucks, and Territorial Pissings is a great name for a song. Incesticide Sucks except for the covers.

Bob and Menchal- Rape me is a shitty song. Sliver is a good song.

Me- Aero Zepplin is a great song (also in retrospect nobody brought up Bleach... interesting).

Josh and Lonnie- Stayin out of this one.

Rage Against The Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers:

Eric (Lonnie)- If you go back and listen to that first record, its a piece of shit. The Red Hot Chili Pepper's are heinous (no exceptions).

Josh- The First Rage Record is the only good record. Because of negative past experiences he does not care for the Chili Peppers

Me- I celebrate Rage's entire catalog, but have to concede to Lonnie a little bit about the first Record.

Menchal- Jon Frusciante is a modern day George Harrison.

Adam- Is Evil Empire Rage Against the Machine's "One Hot Minute?"

Bob- "One Hot Minute is the only good Chili Peppers album."

Adam, Menchal, and I: Blood Sugar Sex Magic is a great album.

There's more on these two bands that I can't remember, and I'm sure I've fucked up some of who liked what. Any how....

Beck

Josh- Never been a huge fan

Lonnie- Stayin out of it

Menchal- Loves Guero. Really Likes the New one.

Me: I like it all (much like wings in general, easier to please than my compatriots)

Bob- (On the new record) Its like Gnarls Barkley with Beck singing instead of Cee-Lo- Bullshit.

Adam- "That dude's been ass out since Odelay"



We also covered The Bases on Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and maybe even entertained the notion of discussing Screaming Trees. I'm sure somebody made a crack about Tad's "Inhaler" album (probably me or Menchal).


If you actually read all that I apologize. But before we're finished here I need the attention of the most inquisitive wing minds. We have discovered what maybe the best wings in Milwaukee thus far (but don't say that to Josh, it makes him irate). Magoo's Bar in grill will now be patronized by the Therewingbebloggers on the regular. I was tipped to this joint by a big gentleman that works for KISS FM. When I told that to Menchal he said "That's the best lead we've ever gotten." And it was (Bob informed me that it is now acceptable to begin sentences with "And," but I'm still skeptical). What makes these wings so good is that the hottest wings available are not a novelty. They have the exact amount of spice that a really spicy wing should have. They are NOT breaded, proper size, with a traditional wing flavor in a higher echelon than most dives around this City. The Magoo wing maybe the best wing I've had in the greater Milwaukee area, and I encourage you to go balls to the wall and order the hottest wing they have to offer.

Magoo's Bar & Grill- an emphatic 4.5/5 wings!!
8911 W National Ave.
Milwaukee
414-329-1477

Bigalke's Sports Bar and Grill- a regular 2.5/5 wings
3300 S 27th
Milwaukee
414-649-0159


Beck- That Dude's been ass out since Odelay.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Country Thunder, The Confederacy, Elsa's and Points East Pub

So Wingers,

Josh has really been the heart an soul of therewingbeblog, and I'm not going to try to steal any of his Thunder, but I am going to take a cue from his format. Wingday has had some issues recently mostly motivational, but some forces beyond our Control.

One such week I was at a festival called Country Thunder (for work OBVIOUSLY!!) in Twin Lakes WI. Very far from Wingday and pretty horrible on all other counts. The previous week our Florida correspondent and my brother: Toby Silverman was in town and we attempted a wingday at Milwaukee's Elsa's, who informed us that they don't serve wings until after 3pm. I don't think they understood how reputable TWBB was becoming in the world of food criticism.

Now the only way I can link these 2 stories (and probably not seamlessly) is to tell a story from an experience I had at another festival with a similar contingent to Country Thunder. 4 years ago, I was working for Camel Cigarettes, and we spent all day at Ozz-Fest at Alpine Valley. Aside from having an excellent soundtrack for winging there were many other things Ozz-Fest had to offer. One such service was a team of artists who painted abdomens, for all the women who decided it was too hot for shirts and bras. Many women took advantage of this service, as it was very hot out.

I noticed one such Woman standing in line to obtain free cigarettes for me. She was by far the most attractive woman I saw that day, which really is not saying much. If you've ever been to OzzFest you know what I mean. As she got nearer to me I realized she actually had the confederate flag adorning her impressive upper half. When she finally reached me, the only piece of chit chat I could muster was: "So are you Southern?"

She replied: "No I just want everybody to know how racist I am!"

Impressively I gathered.

At Country Thunder the Stars and Bars were just as popular. The most incredible display of it was about 8 guys in a pickup truck driving to the fest. One was waving the flag while his buddy held a 2 by 4. Hardly a sight a jew wants to miss Wingday for.

What I'm getting at here is Elsa's may be a great looking venue and the burger I had instead of wings might have been spectacular. But much like that gorgeous racist: If you have heinously ignorant beliefs like Wings aren't a lunch food, it doesn't really matter does it??

For the sake of getting an actual wing review in here I'm gonna make this short. After another cancellation of Wingday today mostly due to me working an event in Sheboygan hungover from my birthday last night. talking to the Budweiser fucking Clydesdales, Josh and I "persevered" and had a quick wingday at Points East Pub when I got back. He had been before, I had not. These wings are really fucking good. My kind of wing: no bredding, fairly dry, and ample spice. Similar to Club Girabaldi, but not quite as good in my opinion, better in Josh's.

Elsa's: We implore you to rethink your policies.

Country Thunder: Too many policies to rethink

Points East Pub- 4/5 wings
1501 N Jackson St
Milwaukee, WI 53202
(414) 277-0122

Friday, June 20, 2008

Wingiam Ho's

This weeks wing day took an interesting turn. I was texting Silverman about where to wing and we were out of fresh ideas. He suggested Harry's Bar and Grill in Shorewood. Unsure of whether they have wings on the menu or not (We'll let you know as soon as we find out, we have been too lazy to further research this issue) I remember having seen a sign in front of William Ho's which happens to be across the street.



Here's a rundown of the mornings text communications:



Josh: We winging?



Eric: I can't today. Gotta wait for the internet guy to come between 1 and 3



Josh: Fuck man, make Purvis do it!



Silverman : Yes sir. But Lonnie can't. Where to??



Josh: Don't care, any ideas?



At this point I decide to just call Silverman, he suggests Harry's, and I tell him about the sign in front of William Ho's. I express some apprehension toward winging at a chinese joint, and Silverman declares: "That's our job man, the public needs to know." Point: Silverman.



We head to the spot and discover not only does this place have wings, but there is also a $6.95 linch buffet. If you know me and Silverman, you are aware that not getting the buffet was simply not an option. We sit down, and finally hear from Menchal who will be joining us this afternoon. Silverman decides that our best course of action is to order one order of wings for the table and we'll get the buffet. We wait about 10 minutes for Menchal, and decide the hell with being polite, we are going to start eating. I do have to admit that the impetus for such ungentlemanly behavior is that we saw an employee come out of the kitchen with a tub of skewered chicken and dump it into the skewered chicken buffet pan. At this moment Silverman simply declares: "That's our cue man." Point: Silverman



Menchal arrives about the time we are finishing our first round of china buffet. The wings arrive about 5 minutes later. The wings are pretty tasty, especially considering the location. The breading is a little heavy, but the sauce is not bad. It has a bit of a kick to it, and a pretty decent flavor. The wings were ample as well. The wings do not come with celery or any side sauces however. I found this a bit disappointing.

Ratings:

Wings: 2.5 out of 5 wings

Lunch Buffet: Suprisingly good, but I haven't developed a rating system for chinese buffet yet


William Ho's
3524 N. Oakland Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53211
414-963-9781
www.williamhos.net