Mitchell’s Hilltop Pub & Grill Part Deux

If you recall a few of the guys stopped at Mitchell’s Hilltop Pub and Grill back in June and Dave wrote a raving review about how good the wings were. Funny thing is my wife and I have stopped at Mitchell’s in the past on our way up to the north woods of WI. We were impressed with the food we had there as well, but we just had a sandwich and soup.No wings.

Well this past weekend my wife and I headed back up north and decided we were going to stop there for lunch so I could try their wings out myself and give a second opinion. We arrived around 1pm on Sat and were seated in the dining area, which is much more appropriate setting then the bar area considering we had our 4 month old son with us. Dave went over the cool, old time atmosphere in the previous review so I’ll skip past that and get right to the wings.

So of course they have their normal sauces to choose from, Original, Medium, Hot, Tequila BBQ, Inferno, but just below their wing prices they had a new menu item which was a Beer Battered Wing made with their Hilltop Hound Ale they brew right there. In WI beer battered fish is a very common menu item. The beer batter is made like a typical batter but with the addition of beer for added flavor. Us Wisconsinites love our beer. How could I go wrong? I asked our waitress Erica (who happened to be the same waitress the gang had the last two times they visited) how they were and she said that she wasn’t really sure because she hadn’t tried them yet as they’ve only been on the menu for 4 days. Awesome! I love trying brand new food. So I ordered up 6 with a side of Hot Buffalo Sauce because I wanted to try one of their sauces as well.

I expected the wings to take a little longer to cook since they are breaded, but they were out pretty quick, and boy did they look good. The best way to describe them is they looked like giant McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets. They actually smelled like them as well but with a hint of yeasty beer in the background. As far as the eye goes they things were winners. They things were blazin hot (temperature wise) when she brought them out so I had plenty of time to soak in the wonderful aroma while they cooled off enough to eat. A few minutes later I finally jumped in. I didn’t try the Buffalo Sauce with them at first because I wanted to take in the flavor of the wing as they were meant to be served. The breading was nice a cripsy…on the outside. Sometimes with beer battered fish you get that little bit of mushy breading under the surface. The breading is done right, and the fish is cooked, but there’s still a little bit of that batter that stays a little mushy. I’m not sure why this is. Well that was kind of the case here. The chicken wing was done and the outside crispy, but that little bit of soft batter was a real turn off. Besides the initial crisp on the outside the rest of the bite through the wing was pretty soft and lacks the crispy texture that makes for a perfect wing. The over-all flavor was also pretty bland. I could taste the beer, but I felt there needed to be some salt and pepper or some other spices to really make the batter stand on it’s own. or maybe the wings needed to be marinated first.  After a few wings with out any Buffalo Sauce I decided to pour the Buffalo Sauce all over the rest of the wings and give them a toss. I’d say it certainly improved the over-all flavor, but obviously didn’t do anything in regards to the texture.

So all-in-all I’d say the Beer Battered Wings were a miss for Hilltop. It’s a great idea in theory I just don’t think a wing is the right vessel for that type of batter. This won’t stop me from stopping there again the next time I go up north (probably next month) and trying out their normal wings. I’m still looking forward to giving them a try.