Food, Super Bowl Style

Just in time for the Big Game (well not as big without the Packers) The Food Network has an entire page of the best Super Bowl recipes for snacks, apps, dips, sandwiches, sweets, drinks, pizzas, and of course WINGS! There are 11 wing recipes listed in that section alone, and they all sound mighty tasty if you ask me. Check out all of their Super Bowl suggested Recipes at Super Bowl Snacks at Food Network and let us know what you think in the comments below.

What Am I Making?

My wife’s co-worker gave us some authentic jerk seasoning made by Grace in Kingston Jamaica, so I’ll be making grilled Jerk chicken breasts and chicken wings. I’m a firm believer in real deal Jerk seasoning and this stuff is authentic and amazing. Keep an eye on our Facebook page on Sunday for some pics.

What will you be making for the big game on Sunday?

Club Garibaldi’s has been on our radar for quite some time. I started hearing about this place last year, as Sol aka The Piranha (Rest In Peace) would stop here for lunch. A few other people here and there also recommended this place, and I even heard them mentioned on 88.9 fm as having the best wings in Bay View. After much ado we finally got around to going there for a review and it has since become one of our favorite places in the city for wings.

Located just a couple blocks from the shores of Lake Michigan at the intersection of Russell Ave and Superior St, this understated corner bar with a green awning doesn’t scream “awesome wings” from the street. But as we’ve come to find out from some of the best wing joints in the area, looks can be deceiving. The atmosphere inside Club Garibaldi is all it’s own. The main bar area has that local, “corner-bar” feel, complete with friendly bartenders and colorful regulars. A large hall towards the back makes up the other two thirds of the interior. The hall has an eclectic feel, with Spanish influenced architectural cues, pool tables, dart boards, and a stage where live performances are held. The bar and the larger “hall” area almost feel like they were two separate buildings at one time and someone decided to knock a hole in the wall and combine the two. I have no idea if that is the case, but the space is definitely appreciated.

We’ve been to Club Garibaldi’s a couple times before the official review so we knew the deal about ordering the wings. That deal being they take some time on their wing night (which is Wed). Plan for an hour if you’re there at peak times. The “hot wings” are available in 3 varieties; Regular, Hot, and Nuclear. The night we came for our review we brought eight people, and it was sort of a medium busy night. After grabbing a beer everyone decided what they wanted, and we placed our orders at the bar. Surprisingly our wings didn’t take as long as usual, and no one complained.

What makes these wings so special is how they’re prepared and cooked. The wings are first fried, then marinated, and THEN grilled. This unique combination makes for a fantastically cooked, crispy, and flavorful wing. Most of the fat is rendered out of the wing during the frying process, while still keeping the wing moist. The marinating process allows the spices soak deep into the wing, ensuring flavor in every bite. When the wings are finally grilled they are left with a wonderful charred exterior with skin that has the right amount of bite, chew and crispiness. Because they are grilling sooooo many wings at once on such a small grill (about two feet wide to be exact), you end up getting a wing here and there that spent a little too much time over the open fire and gets “extra crispy”. We didn’t find this to be that big of a deal, and some liked finding them. This is a local place making wings after-all, not a chain with bottled sauces. I’m OK with a burnt wing here and there.

The sauces themselves are equally pleasing. The names perfectly reflect the level of heat. Just want a deliciously tasting wing, with a slight kick but hold the fire extinguisher? Then the Regular are right up your alley. The heat is still there, but not enough to get your forehead dripping. The Hot are a perfect progression up the heat scale. The same flavors, and spices are throughout but with enough heat that you don’t feel like a 7 year old girl eating them. The Nuclear are HOT. Not even close to one of the hottest wings we’ve ever eaten, but hot enough to cause some discomfort (see the pic gallery for said pics of discomfort). But the kicker here is that even as hot as the Nuclear are, they still taste damn good! Very damn good in-fact. I personally save those kind of wings for when I’m done eating the rest of my wings just so they don’t ruin the rest of the wings for me, which most of the time super-hot wings will do.

There’s not much else to say about Club Garibaldi except, if you haven’t tried them yet, GO NOW. These wings are excellent and no matter what side of town you’re on they are worth the drive. People claim these are some of the best wings in Milwaukee and we agree completely.

- Mel “Boneyard” Russell

Nick’s Take

I felt it was important for me to add my opinion on this review for a few reasons. First, Club Garibaldi’s was the first place that I’ve ever ordered real wings. Yes, I know. I’m not proud to say that I was a boneless wing eater before. I’ve tried them before, just never ordered them. Second, I like to think of my contribution to this site as sort of an outsider’s opinion, since I don’t really consider myself a wing connoisseur like the rest of the boys. Because of that, I think my take on future reviews might be useful for readers who want to take their friends to a wing joint, but know said friends might be a little picky about wings on a bone.

So after much convincing from Mel, and partly because this was the place my late best friend used to frequent for lunch, I ordered a batch of the Regulars.

One of my biggest deterrents about eating real wings is if they’re cooked or prepared poorly. Too much oil or grease, no thanks. Too much fat, no thanks. Too much stretchiness, no thanks. Club Garibaldi’s preparation is still my favorite of any place in Milwaukee, and it’s what keeps me craving their wings. I don’t have to worry if I’ll bite into an undercooked wing, or one that has that stretchy piece that turns you off. Like Mel mentioned above, every wing’s fat is mostly rendered off, leaving crispy, thin, flavorful skin over juicy, marinated meat.

And I wouldn’t clarify the flavor as a “sauce” necessarily. It’s different than a lot of other places I’ve since had wings from. The strong tangy flavor penetrates throughout the wing, cooked through rather than basted on the surface. No doubt a result of the marinating process, but different enough than most other places.

Finally, I believe that “only” having three flavors isn’t a bad thing if they’re done as well as Club Garibaldi’s. You go there for their signature flavor in an excellently prepared wing. You don’t go there to be wowed by their new experimental blend of exotic spices coupled with imported plantains and sugar maple whozawhats. Although there are places that do the exotic sauces very well (and I think a review might be coming with just that type of joint) this ain’t one of them. Frankly, I don’t give a damn. They’re still my favorite wings in Milwaukee.

What do you think aboutClub Garibaldi’s wings? Was our review right on or should they be rated higher or lower then 3.5 out of 5 stars? Let us know in the comment section below!

We’re big fans of motorsports, cars, and motorcycles here at aWingThing.Com and the folks over at Axis Racing decided to get on board with us and do our vinyl stickers that we will soon be selling on our site. So got check out their facebook page to see what they’re all about and let them know aWingThing.Com sent ya.

Take your coat off and stay a while. It’s nice around here.

Over the last couple of months we’ve been hard at work thinking about how we can make the aWingThing.com experience better for you. What’s new? Glad you asked.

aWingThing.com Changes for 2012

1. The first thing you’ll notice is we have a brand new logo and color scheme. Plus you have our crazy looking faces staring at you, so now you can get to know us a little better.

2. We felt the last iteration of the site was getting pretty cluttered. So to make things easier to find we made some adjustments to the spacing, placement of things, colors, and overall layout.

3. The next big thing, FINALLY a legit rating system. For all of our existing reviews, we’ve given them simply an Overall rating. But going forward, Wings and Wing Joints will be rated in 5 specific categories;

• Sauce
• Cooking Method
• Variety
• Size and
• The Joint Itself.

The quick reference rating system will definitely be easier to understand. And any Wing Joint that scores over 4 stars is considered a Certified Wing Joint. You know…to make it sound more official. You can find a break-down of the rating system on the About Us page.

4. Speaking of, another addition is the About Us page. We thought it might be useful to let you know a little more about each of us. The About Us page also give us an opportunity to firm up our rating system, so you know exactly how we rate those suckers.

5. And finally, on the right sidebar you now see all of our Certified Wing Joints without having to search page after page for the good stuff.

So that’s about it. There are still some things we’ll tweak here and there, and we’d love some feedback. So feel free to let us know what you think of the new look.

This is a review I’ve been meaning to do for a very long time. You may have seen my posts on Facebook about them. I LOVE this place. Not just because of their killer wings, but everything about it. Stubby’s Pub & Grub is located just south of North Ave on the Humboldt Bridge. When you walk inside you get the feeling that this a place you can just kick back and relax. In the summer the have a sweet outdoor patio that sits high above the river that is perfect for that cool night dinner or weekend brunch. The big wrap-around bar surrounds one of the best parts of Stubby’s, the 53 different beers on tap from not only Wisconsin and the U.S, but around the world. And the staff knows their beer so don’t hesitate to ask about a certain beer you have never had before. If you pay attention to their Facebook, you can find out when they have special tappings of limited edition brews from around the world. But that’s not the only special thing about this place. The food is OUTSTANDING. I’ve been there many times since it opened and have never been disappointed with anything I’ve ordered off the menu. Even when they changed chef’s late this past summer, the menu’s got an upgrade. Still the great quality with even tastier selections. I can’t say enough good things about the staff they have. Probably top 3 in the most friendly restaurant staff I’ve encountered. There’s been many nights my friends and I have just hung out at the bar and shot-the-breeze with the bartenders and tried different beers. It’s a big reason why I don’t stay local and make the drive from Germantown all the way to Stubby’s for a beer.

Ok so enough with me talking about how much I love Stubby’s. This is a wing site. So you want to hear about their wings right? Right. Every Monday night they have their  $.50 cent wing special. They also do a special sauce. The chef comes up with some crazy sauce that you sometimes wouldn’t expect to be on a wing. I can’t think of any off the top of my head but I do remember something with ginger craziness and red pepper something or another. They also participated in The First Annual Brew City Wing Fest and from what I heard from talking to people, got very good reviews. The wings themselves are above average in size but cooked just right and with a good quality wing. The skin has just the right amount of crisp and the meat is tender but with a good “snap” to it as Mel would put it. Their everyday sauces are BBQ, Buffalo and Honey Habanero. I’m going to stay away from the BBQ review, not because its a bad sauce (its really good in fact), but because we don’t focus on BBQ style wings here. The Buffalo on the other hand is F*CK*NG SPECTACULAR. Probably one of the best buffalo sauces we have had anywhere. Mel was trying to get through his other wings just so he could enjoy the buffalo sauce. It has just the right amount of heat you would expect from a good buffalo sauce. Last is the Honey Habanero. It is a great sweet and sticky sauce. I personally like it a lot but kind of wish it was hotter. I would compare it to Asian Zing from BW3s. I would like to feel the heat from the habanero compliment the awesome sweetness that it already has.

Do you think you have what it takes to take on Stubby’s Wing Challenge? Do you think you can eat 53 wings in 53 minutes? HA I dare you. If I remember correctly, only 3 have conquered the challenge, with the highest being 63 I believe. I bet you think 53 isn’t shit. Go try.

Tell them we sent you.

There’s my review on Stubby’s Pub & Grub. Its been a long time coming. I love this place. Plain and simple. I recommend it to everyone I talk to. I’ve had many friends and family members tell me how much they loved this place and it makes me happy. Stubby’s is a great place with great food and awesome people. Shout out to Brad, Tom and Rachel. I’ll see you guys soon.

After many long months of work by our video editor, the First Annual Brew City Wingfest video is finally compete!

What a great event the organizers put on. We can’t say enough about how much fun it was and how huge of a success it was for the first try. There was just the right amount of vendors, and everyone seemed to have brought their A-game. I know they would have preferred to cook  , but under the circumstances (Chicago’s Wingfest is indoors too) the wings were phenomenal.

Again, I’d like to the entire aWingThing.Com group for all their hard work at the event and afterwards getting this video ready for our fans.

So enjoy! Show a friend! Share it on Facebook!

Also enjoy the picture gallery on here and on Facebook.

Two wing fests in one summer? Milwaukee is really showing their love for chicken wings!

Summer isn’t over folks, and on the September 17th things are going to heat up again with the Rock the Roost Buffalo Wing Fest at Milwaukee Harley Davidson. Brought to you by Harley Davidson, Milwaukee Harley, MilwaukeeFood.Com, AND aWingThing.Com, the Rock the Roost Buffalo Wing Fest will have more the 15 restaurants grilling, and frying wings on site for your spicy pallet pleasure. The event starts at Noon and goes until 8pm. The day is chock full of happenings including samplings of Milwaukee’s Best wings, craft beers, cocktail tasting, and live entertainment including Brew City Bombshell Burlesque, Great Lakes Drifters, Chrissy Dzioba, Scott Rockit Band. Other events going on throughout the day are the World’s Largest Beer Bong Attempt, a Harley-Davidson Burn Out contest, and of course the Best Wing Contests – Judges Favorites & People’s Choice. You can’t beat the price either. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.  Witht eh ticket you get admission and 8 wings of your choice from any of the vendors. You can buy tickets HERE. And for the next 10 hours (as of 1:11pm central) you can get tickets on Groupn.Com, 2 for 1! Groupon.Com

The list of restaurants that will be in attendance are:

-Points East Pub and Grill
- Tomken’s Bar & Grill
- Red Rock Saloon
- Tally Ho Tavern
- Madam Belles
- Showtime Sports Club
- Charcoal Grill
- Hooters
- NYPD,
- Ashley’s BBQ
- O’ Lydia’s
- Major Goolsby’s
- Off the Clock Bar and Grill
- Chubby’s Cheesesteaks
- Oscar’s Pub and Grill
- And many more….

If you follow our site you know there are some great wing places on that list. We. Can’t. Wait!

So go get your tickets or just see us there. You can check out some more info on the event at the links below.

Rock the Roost Facebook Page

Rock the Roost Website

Who who’s going? Leave us a comment and let us know.

Boneyard Pub & Grill in Mukwonago, WI was recommended to us by a couple people over the last year or so and we finally got a chance to try it out. Did it live up the hype?

A good friend of ours who used to live in Milwaukee, who was actually a transplant from Alabama, who now lives in Florida, comes up to hang out a couple times a year and one of the times is usually on Memorial Day weekend. The week before he came up he hit me up on Facebook and said “Get the gang together. I want some wings!”. Boneyard Pub & Grill, in Mukwonago, had been recommended to us a few times so I checked out their website and seen that they had a lot of flavors for a local joint. Since it is a little ways away from us (most of us live in Milwaukee and Menomonee Falls/Germantown area) I thought James visiting would be a good excuse to make the drive out there.

Most of the gang was present for the review including, myself (Mel), my wife Nicole, Adam, Dan, Dave,  Jer, Jeanna, James, and Amanda. Boneyard Pub & Grill is located in a strip mall, but the place is quite big. When you walk in you get an immediate sense of the atmosphere. In fact, it feels strangely familiar. I don’t think it’s coincidental that it has an almost Buffalo Wild Wings feel to it. Right upon entering there’s a take-out counter complete with bottled sauces ready to buy. Make a sharp right and you enter the main dining area with flat screen after flat screen playing various sporting events. Adjacent to the dining area is a spacious, and well lit bar area. Similarities to BW3′s aside, the place is quite nice and probably a great sports bar for people in the area when compared to some small bars with maybe 2-3 TV’s. The sports bar theme is well done, casual and inviting. Boneyard has the perfect atmosphere to sit down and rip through plate after plate of wings when you are in Mukwonago.

As I mentioned before the list of sauces for a local joint is quite impressive. Here it goes:

• Mild Buffalo
• Garlic Buffalo
• Medium Buffalo
• Hot Buffalo
• Super Hot Buffalo
• Insanity Buffalo
• Stupid Hot Buffalo
• Boneyard BBQ
• Traditional BBQ
• Spicy BBQ
• Caribbean Jerk
• Roasted Garlic
• Teriyaki
• Honey Mustard
• Mango Habanero
• Apricot Chipotle Mustard
• Asian
• Dry Cajun
• Dry Garlic Peppercorn

That is an impressive sauce list indeed.

We placed our order and, between all of us, were able to get most of the flavors, initially staying away from the Stupid Hot Buffalo. Our order was placed and the beer was flowing. The service was great. Our waitress was always nearby filling up our pitchers or replacing our empty bottles.  The wings came out in a timely manner considering how many we ordered. At some places when we come in and order wings, in the amount we do, it can take a while depending on the cooking methods used.  A few waiters and waitresses came out to help deliver our gigantic order. Everyone’s mouths were watering at this point. After a few seconds of ogling each other’s tasty mound of wings, we all dug in.

The doneness and size of the wings were on point; Perfect, crispy skin with the right amount of chew and crunch. The meat inside was juicy and not dried out. We could tell they were all freshly made as well. None of them seemed to be sitting too long before they came out. The sauces all looked fantastic, with fresh ingredients and spices evident in most of them. As we all plowed through the first few wings, and started passing our wings around to share with each other our verdicts slowly started to come in, and there was a common theme… the sauces were just ok. Don’t get us wrong, none of them were bad, but none of them blew us away. There’s nothing wrong with Buffalo Sauce that just tastes like Buffalo Sauce if it’s really good. I don’t think that every sauce I like needs to be earth shattering or different, but something has to stand out for us to get that “Whoa!” feeling. As we all kept trying all the sauces we all just kept saying “Yeah, they’re good, but they aren’t blowing me away”. It’s really hard to explain. We didn’t hate the wings, in fact we liked them. But that was as far as the emotion went with them. To be more specific, Dave thought the Honey Roasted Garlic just weren’t garlicky enough and thought it was like a sweet honey glaze. Granted he is Italian, so garlic pulses through his veins much like techno music and spray tans.  The Garlic Buffalo again wasn’t garlicky enough (see the previous sentence), and the Buffalo wasn’t quite there either. Dave was also on the fence about Asian. He said it was good but it was just average.  Jer thought the Mango- Habenaro was missing the habenaro because there was little to no heat and there wasn’t a very apparent mango flavor either.

But there was one thing worth noting that did stand out. The owner stopped by to say “hi” and introduce himself (really cool guy too) and chat it up a bit. He asked if we had the Stupid Hot and I told him we hadn’t yet, but were planning on it. After we chewed the fat for a few minutes he disappeared into the kitchen and emerged a few minutes later with 7 Stupid Hot wings.  After the 7 wings were dispersed amongst the brave-er souls in the group that night, and we all bitched and moaned about how much were weren’t going to enjoy this, we manned up and inhaled the painful wing and sauce as fast as we could. Even before taking the first bite, the scent of habenaro was very strong, warning us that this was going to be bad, and our intuition was right. These were Stupid Hot Wings. Probably in our top 3-5 hottest wings we’ve had. All of our heads started sweating and turned a shade of red much like the outside of a ripe tomato. Tears dripped from our eyes, snot dripped from our noses, and cuss words spewed from our mouths. The heat was relentless too.  Even after a few minutes the heat hung on. A few of us decided to take a trip to the restroom and wash our faces off and try to do anything to cool ourselves down. Here’s where it got really uncomfortable for me. After wiping my sweat drenched brow I decided to relieve myself in the urinal. As I was pissing out four Miller Lite’s I started to drool uncontrollably. Unfortunately for me, I drooled exactly in the wrong place and dripped my flaming hot saliva right on my manhood! Instantly I knew I was going to be in some trouble. The first words out of my mouth were “Oh sh*t! I just drooled on my d*#k!” Laughter ensued. We returned to the table and not a second later someone said “Mel how’s you d*ck feeling”. I had to explain to everyone that wasn’t in the bathroom about my unfortunate experience. At this point I still wasn’t feeling any ill-effects, but I knew it was coming. Sure enough about 5 minutes later it hit me…and it was terrible. It was almost the exact same feeling I just experienced in my mouth (no homo), but slightly less, and in a worse location. Not cool. I tried taking my mind off of it by drinking more beer, but it wasn’t that easy. Luckily for my dumb-ass it didn’t last long. Maybe just 10-15 minutes and it was gone. Thank god. I had no idea if I was in for minutes or hours of burning pain.

So, all in all, Boneyard Pub & Grill was just OK. Again, the Boneyard’s wings were cooked perfectly, and the sauces were good, but nothing stood out and blew us away. The owner and the waitstaff were excellent, which counts for a lot in my book. Yes, we’ll all return probably at some point if the road steers us in that direction, but I don’t see any of us making a special trip.

Is this restored German style Bar & Grill a South Side Milwaukee gem? Or is it just a fresh coat of paint?

In 2010 Jeff & Diane Toczek and George Stevenson took a historic South Side Milwaukee building (formally Roberts) and went to town restoring it for their new bar & grill. The foundation was there as was the wonderful German style architecture and detail, it just needed some TLC. Their hard work paid off and the building is now restored to it’s former glory.

George is the main man in the kitchen, and just talking to him you can feel his love of food. He focuses on using fresh, local ingredients, and not skimping on quality. From wings to deserts, the flavors really shine through and his extra effort pays off.

The atmosphere is inviting and the owners and staff are extra friendly. The clientele is also very diverse and laid back. This is a place you can go to dinner with your wife, or out with the guys for a good night of drinking.

Off the Clock Bar & Grill has a fantastic menu with a wide variety of appetizers, salads, entrees, and deserts. From steaks, to sandwiches to amazing deserts (you HAVE to try the Go Bananas desert!), Off the Clock has something for everyone. But it’s their wings that brought us in. And one thing that attracted us to Off the Clock was the long, impressive list of sauces. The menu lists the sauces in heat order from Plain (no heat), Teriyaki, Sweet BBQ, Honey Mustard, Parm Garlic, Sweet Asian, Mild, Chipotle, Hot Mustard, Hot BBQ, Fire Asian, Medium, Hot, Spicy Garlic, and the hottest of the hot, Fire in the Hole. I’ve personally sampled 8 of the sauces, and they never disappoint. The wings are served hot , breaded, and crispy with just the right amount of sauce. If you’ve paid attention to my reviews in the past you know that I love BW3′s Spicy Garlic Sauce and that it’s really hard to duplicate. Well George didn’t bother duplicating BW3′s Spicy Garlic, he went his own route with great success. The night we did our review it was clear that the Spicy Garlic was the clear standout for us. The Parm Garlic, Medium, Hot Mustard, and Fire Asian are also stand-outs.

A couple months ago we had a chance to go there with our cameras rolling, meet the owners, get behind the scenes and see how their great wings are made. We had a blast and here’s the video to prove it. Enjoy! Let us know what you think of the video.

Almost a month ago aWingThing.Com lost a valuable member of its family, Nick Amezquita aka Sol aka The Piranha. Nick peacefully passed away after an unfortunate motorcycle accident. Nick’s passing has been a shock to so many people. He was only 33 years old. Far too young for him to have taken from us. But we can take comfort in the fact that he’s in a better place now.

Nick was an unbelievable person. He was a husband, a father, a brother, a son, and a best friend.

And Nick was one of my best friends. I’ve known Nick longer then I haven’t known him in my life. Another good friend of mine introduced us way back in the day, and although we didn’t become bff’s immediately, as the years went by we got closer and closer. We shared so many passions for life, hip-hop and b-boying, modifying cars, eating chicken wings, and being devoted husbands and fathers. I can honestly say that I feel privileged that I was as close to him as I was.

It was actually after Nick and I’s annual trip to Detroit in 2010 that I came up with the idea for this website. Before we left for our trip that year we both did some internet sleuthing and found a couple places that were supposed to have great in wings in Detroit. That Saturday was the first time we tried Sweet Water Tavern in downtown Detroit and that stop, that day, is what planted the seed. We were both so blown away by how amazing these wings were that we couldn’t stop talking and thinking about them. It must have been fate that that week I got an email from my hosting company offering me a free domain for being a loyal customer. Surprisingly it was only a matter of minutes before the idea for this website popped in my head. Later the day I had the site up and running. And here we are a year and 8 months later.

But it won’t be the same. It’s going to be even better. With the help of the rest of the gang we are dedicated to making this site bigger and better than ever because we know that is what he would have wanted.  So here’s to Nick. Love ya man.

Keep a look out for our Boneyard Pub & Grill review, a video from our review of Off The Clock in Milwaukee, the full length Brew City Wingfest Video, and our video from Summerfest where we went on the hunt for the best wing at Summerfest.

And PLEASE wear your motorcycle helmets!