Wings Around The World – Chicago

7 09 2009
  • 510 E. 75th Street
  • Chicago, IL 60616
  • (773) 483-9120
  • Website
  • Menu
Wings Around the World on E. 75th in Chicago.

Wings Around the World on E. 75th in Chicago.

Back in May when J and I got engaged, the first thing out of my brother’s mouth was, “Where do you want to do the Bachelor Party?”  I chose a baseball game.  I knew right away what I wanted to do. 

Like every other time that I go somewhere with a group of people, my goal is to bring as much local flavor to the party as possible.  We decided on pizza for after the game, but we needed some tailgate food.  BBQ was thrown around as was hitting up a bar near the park, but I eventually found a wing joint not too far away that got rave reviews on Yelp.com and Google.  It had been voted best wings in Chicago and I believe I saw the place on a Travel Channel show (although I can’t remember which one).

Wings Around the World is on 75th Street at South Eberhart Avenue.  It’s strictly a carry-out place with a small store front along the commercial district in this particular neighborhood.  My brother called on Friday to see if we needed to pre-order since we were putting in a pretty large order.  The guy he talked to said no, just call right at noon when they open. 

I was already at J’s parents, so the van of guys picked me up a little after noon in the south suburbs.  Bad news whenI got in the car.  My buddy K had been calling non-stop since noon and there was no answer.  I grabbed my brother’s Iphone and started looking for a backup plan.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Categories : Chicago, Chicken, Illinois, Restaurant, Reviews, Wings

Wild Wing Cafe

1 08 2009
  • 2085 W. Grand River Avenue
  • Okemos, MI 48864
  • (517) 349-2321
  • Website
  • Menu
Wild Wing Cafe on Grand River Avenue in Okemos.

Wild Wing Cafe on Grand River Avenue in Okemos.

When I rolled out of bed this morning…er, afternoon, J started asking about lunch.  She was hungry.  I was hungry, so we started getting ready to leave the house.  Last night, I gave her the option of Mexican or wings.  Today, I wasn’t really in the mood for Mexican so I made the call to head to Okemos to try out the new chain in town. 

Wild Wing Cafe is on the corner of Grand River Avenue and Okemos Road in the building that used to be Bennigan’s.  The chain is an east coast franchise based in South Carolina.  The Okemos location is both the farthest north and west. 

I never went into the Bennigan’s, so I have no idea if anything has changed inside.  The dining room is anchored by a large bar in the middle that is covered with LCD TV’s.  In fact, that’s pretty much the whole design theme.  LCD TV’s everywhere.  Everywhere!  The place really has a sports bar theme.  The TV’s are accented with MSU pictures that have been blown up and hung on the walls. 

There are tables and booths that fill in the space around the bar.  We were shown to a table near the stage that hosts local bands on weekends.  A waitress came over and took drink orders while we looked over the rather large menu.  I knew I wanted wings, but there were a lot of options.  J isn’t in to the traditional wing as much as I am, so she needed a little more time to work her way through the choices.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Chicken, Michigan, Okemos, Restaurant, Reviews

Pizza Hut/WingStreet – Lansing

19 04 2009
  • 6200 S. Cedar Street
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 393-1565
  • Website
  • Menu
The Pizza Hut/WingStreet in South Lansing.

The Pizza Hut/WingStreet in South Lansing.

When I was growing up just south of Chicago, there was always a fight in my house about where to go for pizza.  I always wanted to go to Pizza Hut because I loved their bread sticks.  My dad and brother always wanted to go to Monical’s (a regional chain which I’ve blogged about before).  I usually lost. 

To this day, I still really like Pizza Hut’s breadsticks.  The pizza is alright, but nothing I really crave.  J and I have been saying for a year we needed to check out the Pizza Hut Italian Bistro on Cedar Street.  The commercials always made the pasta look really good.

A couple weeks ago, I noticed the “Italian Bistro” signs coming down and “WingStreet” signs going up.  I do like me some wings, so we finally got around to trying something other than pizza at Pizza Hut.

The Lansing Pizza Hut is on the south side of town on South Cedar across the street from Meijer.  It sits in the corner of a strip mall that also has an Applebees and Finlay’s.  We decided to hit up Pizza Hut for a Sunday night dinner.  It was about 5:30 when we pulled in to the parking lot.  That’s important to remember.

When you enter the store, you come in t the carry out counter.  There were a few people in front of us picking up pizza and we didn’t want to get lost in the shuffle, so J went right up to the hostess stand and waited.  Fortunately, we were noticed right away and taken to a booth.  Later in the night, we may have had to wait several minutes until someone noticed us. 

The dining room was much nicer than any Pizza Hut either of us remembered.  J can only faintly eating at one a long time ago, but what she remembers is that everything was red except for the lights which were green.  This dining room had a more intimate setting like….wait for it….an Italian bistro.  All kidding aside, the dining room was actually pretty nice and not what I think of when I think of Pizza Hut. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Chicken, Lansing, Michigan, Pizza, Restaurant, Reviews, Sandwiches

Hooters of Lansing

8 04 2009
  • 172 E. Edgewood Blvd.
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 393-7997
  • Website
  • Menu
Hooters of Lansing on E. Edgewood Blvd.

Hooters of Lansing on E. Edgewood Blvd.

I’m going to be honest.  I’ve never been a fan of Hooters.  Even as a horny teenager, I thought their gimmick was ridiculous.  The only Hooters close to where I grew was over an hour away and every time my friends and I were close to it, we’d have to stop.  They would all cover by saying, “but the food is so good.”  I disagreed.  I always thought it was overpriced for what it was.  It was fine, but it seemed like you were paying for something other than the food.  The only redeeming quality to Hooters for me was the hot wings.  At the time, Hooters was about the only place serving up chicken like that.  This was long before Buffalo Wild Wings and long before chicken wings became staples on sports bar menus. 

So, even though there’s a Hooters just around the corner from where we live now, it’s one place we haven’t really been itching to get to.  That is, until I saw a commercial for 10 boneless wings and fries for $5.99 on Wednesday’s.  I figured if nothing else, it was a cheap meal and it would give us an excuse to check out the Lansing store.

Hooters of Lansing is on Edgewood Boulevard in South Lansing.  It’s got the same design as every other store and the same decor and layout as every other Hooters.  They use wood paneling and bright orange colors to accent their waitress uniforms.  J called it an outdoorsy field.  It is a very vibrant atmosphere and one of the original sports bars.  The unique thing that I’ve always liked about Hooters is how they send orders to the kitchen.  Sure, they may use POS systems now, but they still put a piece of paper on a clip and send it along a zip wire to the kitchen.  When something is ready, the kitchen sends it back. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Chicken, Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews, Wings

Wing Zone

1 02 2009
  • 340 Morgan Lane
  • Lansing, MI 48912
  • (517) 332-9464
  • Website
  • Menu
Wing Zone in the Frandor Shopping Center in Lansing.

Wing Zone in the Frandor Shopping Center in Lansing.

Wings and the Super Bowl go together.  It’s just a fact of life.  For the last five or six years, I have slaved over a deep fryer for hours making wings for my friends on the day of the game.  Every year, I’d come up with a new sauce or way to cook them.  Last year, I skipped the deep fryer all together and went for baked wings.  This year, I just wasn’t in the mood.  I still wanted wings and have been craving them for days.  My two choices were to make a trip to Kroger for wings and oil or let the professionals do all the work.

My favorite wing place, by far has always been Buffalo Wild Wings.  It’s the one chain I don’t mind telling you that I love.  When the company opened their first store in the Peoria area, I spent three or four nights a week there.  I worked second shift and my buddies and I would hit B-Dubs after work for drinks and wings.  Most Tuesday’s, our orders were waiting for us when we got there. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chains, Chicken, Lansing, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews, Wings

Lansing Fish Market

6 11 2008
  • 815 Edgewood Blvd.
  • Lansing MI 48911
  • (517) 882-2676
  • No Known Website
  • Menu
Lansing Fish Market on Edgewood and Washington in Lansing.

Lansing Fish Market on Edgewood and Washington in Lansing.

I’ve seen a couple of these “You Buy, We Fry” places around town and I’ve been curious.  I don’t like fish, so that’s kept me out, but for some reason, I was cutting across Edgewood Blvd. a few weeks ago and noticed the Lansing Fish Market.  It said they also did chicken, so I made a plan to go back.  J wasn’t able to come home for dinner tonight, so I was free to explore a little bit and not drag her to a place she might not like. 

The Lansing Fish Market is on the corner of Edgewood and Washington right next to a liquor store in a little strip mall.  There’s not much to the place.  There is a small dining room on the right side of the room with less than six tables.  On the other side of the room, there’s a fresh fish case with different fishies on ice.  There was no menu posted, but they did have paper menus in a couple different locations.  I grabbed one on my way in and flipped back to the chicken section.  They have a number of different options mostly consisting of whole chicken wings.  There’s also options for half a chicken and a “specials” board had buffalo wings and chicken strips.  I settled on the 6 wing dinner since it was pretty cheap and came with coleslaw, fries, and bread.  The clerk was on his cell phone when I walked in and didn’t even set it down when I ordered.  He was kind enough to the person he was talking to to move the phone away from his face so when he asked me what I wanted they didn’t have to hear it.  He never did tell me how much my food was.  He just kept going with his conversation.  I handed him a ten knowing it would be around five bucks. Turns out, it was just under five bucks.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Chicken, Lansing, Michigan, Reviews

Buffalo Barbeque Wings

18 08 2008
  • 1085 N. Wisner St.
  • Jackson, MI 49202
  • (517) 782-4344
  • Website
  • Menu
Buffalo Barbeque Wings in Jackson

Buffalo Barbeque Wings in Jackson

I first heard about Buffalo Barbeque Wings (yes, Barbeque, not Wild) a few months ago when the Jackson Citizen-Patriot ran a blurb about it’s opening.  I blogged about (here) and I have gotten hundreds of hits for that post.  When you type “Buffalo Barbecue (sic) Wings” in Google, that post is the first hit you get.  Seems there are a lot of people wanting to know more about this place but since they don’t have a website, they keep getting directed to my site.

My girlfriend and I were down in Brooklyn for the Sprint Cup race.  I was doing some work and we both had garage passes.  The concession stands in the pits suck and the media lunch was at noon, so by the time 6:00 rolled around, we were both starving.  As we were waiting for Carl Edwards to make his way to the conference room, J asked about dinner.  Since we were already going through Jackson, I asked her if she was up for some wings.  I figured if people are going to come to this blog looking for information, I might as well give it to them.

We avoided the mess on US 127 by staying on US 12 after leaving the track and cutting through the country on Jackson Rd.  We ended up only sitting in traffic for 20 minutes instead of the hour plus we did last time.  Since we took Jackson Rd, we ended up going all the way through town to get to where we were going.  That’s not necessary on a normal day.  We found on the way home Buffalo Barbecue Wings is less than a mile from I-94 and US 127.  We found the shop in a strip mall.  There was just a sign that marked the spot.  Had we not been looking for it, it would have been easy to miss.  It’s behind Biggby and that’s how I knew to start looking.  I saw the Biggby and turned into the parking lot.  After a quick scan of the storefronts, we found Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Bar, Chicken, Jackson, Local Flavor, Michigan, Restaurant, Reviews, Sports Bar, Wings