January 5, 2009

WINGS!!! WINGS!!! WINGS!!!

Is there such a thing as “the best Chicken Wing in the City”? Who know’s but it is definitely worth investigating!!! I tried to stay in the Downtown Core of Vancouver as I wanted to keep my search contained and there are too many places to choose from. This is by no means a definitive list but it’s a good damn start…

BROWN’S SOCIAL HOUSE
website
CHICKEN HOT WINGS
FLAVOUR: Classic Hot
CHICKEN: Awesome, crispy, juicy and a healthy size
# OF WINGS: 12
PRESENTATION: 3/5 - Classic
SIDES: Celery Sticks and REAL Blue Cheese Sauce… booya!
COMMENTS: Great tasting wings, spicy, crispy, meaty & juicy but nothing too original.
SCORE: 7/10

CACTUS CLUB CAFÉ
website
CHICKEN WINGS
FLAVOUR: Hot
CHICKEN: Small but flavorful & juicy, never dry, always fresh
# OF WINGS: 12
PRESENTATION: 4/5 - Solid, good pile of wings, no hot sauce spray
SIDES: Celery and Blue Cheese dip… the classic
COMMENTS: The gold standard, if you want basic hot wings, a great mix of spicy & crispy, it’s hard to beat these ones.
SCORE: 7.5/10

DEUCE BUNGALOW
website
DOUBLE BREADED CHICKEN WINGS
FLAVOUR: Natural, like fried chicken
CHICKEN: solid, good sized, fresh tasting
# OF WINGS: 10
PRESENTATION: 4/5 - cool, long thin plate, wings piled on one side, sauces on the other
SIDES: Avocado Sour Cream and House Hot Sauce
COMMENTS: The wings on their own were good but bland but with the sauces awesome.
SCORE: 7/10

DIX BBQ & BREWERY
website
FULL POUND OF BEER WINGS
FLAVOUR: Hot
CHICKEN: Good sized Wings, juicy inside, crispy (exactly like I asked for) outside
# OF WINGS: 13
PRESENTATION: 3/5 – Standard issue, plastic Basket
SIDES: None – none offered, none given
COMMENTS: Tasty but not “hot”, needed more spice. Crispy like I asked for but the odd wing didn’t taste “fresh”
SCORE: 6/10

EARLS
website
ONE POUND OF WINGS
FLAVOUR: Franks Red Hot,
CHICKEN: Medium size, crispy outside, juicy inside
# OF WINGS: 14
PRESENTATION: 5/5 – no mess
SIDES: Parmesan Cheese Dip & 5 celery sticks
COMMENTS: Good, average, middle of the road Hot Wings. Mild spice, no afterburn.
SCORE: 6/10

HURRICANE GRILL
website
GOTTA DO THE “WING THING” HOT WINGS
FLAVOUR: Classic Hot Wings
CHICKEN: Juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Could have been “saucier” though.
# OF WINGS: 10
PRESENTATION: 5/5 - Side of fries! FRIES! Awesome and Carrot & Celery sticks
SIDES: Ranch Dip
COMMENTS: Pretty good, definitely in t he top 10
SCORE: 7/10

JIMMY’S TAP HOUSE
website
HOT WINGS
FLAVOUR: Supposed to be hot but they weren’t spicy at all.
CHICKEN: Cold and soggy even though I asked for the wings to be extra crispy
# OF WINGS: 12
PRESENTATION: 2/5 - Side of Carrot sticks
SIDES: Blue Cheese Dip
COMMENTS: Cold wings… seriously.
SCORE: 1/10

JOEY’S
website
HIBACHI WINGS
FLAVOUR: Smoked/Spice Rubbed
CHICKEN: Small but juicy, flavorful and fall-off-the-bone good
# OF WINGS: 13
PRESENTATION: 5/5 - Top Notch, lots of wings, dip & BBQ to grill your smoked wings.
SIDES: Parmesan Dip
COMMENTS: Really, really tasty and a great overall presentation.
SCORE: 9/10

LIBRARY SQUARE
website
CHICKEN WINGS BY THE POUND
FLAVOUR: Honey BBQ
CHICKEN: Medium with a few larger drumsticks
# OF WINGS: 11
PRESENTATION: 2/5 – old discolored plate, sloppy sauce marks everywhere
SIDES: none
COMMENTS: Sticky & crispy. The honey added a nice sweet touch but the bbq sauce tasted like it was out of a bottle.
SCORE: 5/10

MILESTONES
website
SPICY THAI CHICKEN DRUMMETTES
FLAVOUR: Thai goodness drizzled with a great peanut sauce
CHICKEN: big wings, crispy with a flavorful coating.
# OF WINGS: 8
PRESENTATION: 4/5 - Nice plate, arranged wings on top of a drizzle of peanut sauce
SIDES: Toasted sesame-cucumber mayonnaise… awesome
COMMENTS: So tasty, so good, if you like thai flavours, these are the wings for you!
SCORE: 9/10

MOXIES
website
CHICKEN WINGS
FLAVOUR: Hot
CHICKEN: medium sized wings but the chicken didn’t taste fresh
# OF WINGS: 9
PRESENTATION: 3/5 - Nice rectangle plate, dip on the end
SIDES: Buttermilk Ranch Dip, Celery & Carrots
COMMENTS: Disappointing, a nice spice but batter wasn't crispy and wings felt soft & gummy
SCORE: 4/10

THE REEF
website
JERKED WINGS
FLAVOUR: Tasty, mellow burn comes after a few wings
CHICKEN: Baked not fried and fall off the bone good!
# OF WINGS: 8
PRESENTATION: 3/5 - Small plate with a portion of eight
SIDES: none
COMMENTS: Small portion but the baked Jerk spice and tender meat make these a winner
SCORE: 8/10

ROXY BURGER
website
MONSTER CHICKEN WINGS
FLAVOUR: Chili Lime & Honey Garlic
CHICKEN: Gigantic, basically a drumstick. Crispy yet tender but some were a bit dry & gamey.
# OF WINGS: 6 per order
PRESENTATION: 4/5 - Wow! These things are huge!
SIDES: Asked if I wanted Blue Cheese, Ranch or Sour Cream. Nice!
COMMENTS: A plate of six fills you up! Some dark meat here which was a surprise, almost too big. Meat sweats!
SCORE: 5/10

STELLA’S TAP & TAPAS BAR
website
CHILI & POMEGRANATE WINGS
One pound of Piquin chili & pomegranate molasses glazed chicken wings
FLAVOUR: Cool with a hint of heat. You get sweetness, then heat, then the cool – it all works!
CHICKEN: Nice, crispy, meaty, yet juicy
# OF WINGS: 12
PRESENTATION: 5/5 - Fantastic, stacked on a rectangular plate
SIDES: None but the wings are drizzled with a mild tstaziki and covered with green onions
COMMENTS: A nice departure from the usual Wing & the mellow flavors make these a treat!
SCORE: 8/10

YAGGERS
website
FREE RANGE CHICKEN WINGS
FLAVOUR: Baja Spice
CHICKEN: good size, some small, some large
# OF WINGS: 11
PRESENTATION: 5/5 - Great, small plate w/ garnish of chives
SIDES: none
COMMENTS: Notes of Cilantro, Citrus & Pepper, crispy outside & juicy inside. Mellow burn.
SCORE: 8/10


So here's how it all shakes out:

FAVORITE WING: Milestones Thai Drumettes
MOST UNIQUE WING: Joey's Hibachi Wings
BEST "HOT" WING: Yagger's Baja Spice Wing
WEIRDEST WING: Roxy's drumstick-like Monster Chicken Wings
WORST WING: Jimmy's Hot Wings


More wing reviews to come...

1 comment:

BedHog said...

Go to Phenom Penh. Get their wings. End your search for the "City's Best Wings".

ps: You should add prices to the wings.