Monday, September 04, 2006

Not quite WOW

It was supposed to be a normal Saturday. Relax and do some work around the house before going out for the game. But the game plans fell apart. The Brewers tickets we were to be getting from a friend were now gone. His wife gave them away. Thus, during a break in the Cherry Pie show, I made a phone call to set up new plans. Instead of baseball, the game was now football. Badger football.

Having seen commercials for a new wing joint on the East side- WOW- I suggested to my friend Cor that we try the place out. I may favor the Hooters wing overall, but I like to try new places. In the case, it was a mistake. A very disappointing mistake.

For a place that calls itself a World of Wings, they had to be some of the crappiest wings I have had. First, they were fatty. Yes, fatty. You took a bite in the wing and had chicken fat with the meat. That is usually the sign that the place doesn't buy the best available wing. It is extremely rare that you get fatty wings at Hooters or BW3s. You always get lean wings at those places.

Second, the sauces were a mixed reaction. They do have quite an interesting selection of which to choose. We decided to get a sampler plate which would give us 5 sauces of which to try. Because I like my wings hot, I had to try the Buffalo 2 (which was suppose to be 3xs as hot as Buffalo 1) as one option. When going with hot wings, you really don't want to start at the hottest and work your way down. You want to work your way up. Sad thing is this sauce- what little was actually on the wing- wasn't hot at all. I have no clue what is was suppose to be 3xs hotter than, sugar?

The Italian Herb and Garlic was pathetic as well. It really flavor. Unlike BW3s garlic wing which had full garlic flavor, this had none. Wasn't worth the time eating.

However, there were two winners in the group. The Jamaican jerk sauce was tangy and spicy and quite good. So was the Nacho wing. Yep, nacho. It was a taco spiciness with cheddar cheese melted onto the wing. Surprisingly good. The last one we had was the Kansas City BBQ. It was your typical honey bbq sauce. Nothing special.

Even though the Nacho and Jamaican were good, I couldn't get pass the fact the wings had fat on them. The fat killed the experience.

But the beer was cheap during the game with $2 pints of Lite. Which leads us to the next issue I had with WOW. When the Badger game started, they turned the volume up so the 9 people in the bar could hear. Yep, just 9 of us. Each time the Badgers score or did something good, I was the only one that was clapping or making any noise. It was like a morgue. I ended up laughing about it towards the end of the game.

But the manager made a dumb mistake as well. At halftime, he turned down the Badgers and put the Notre Dame game on. Ok, it was halftime. I don't care if the 2 people interested in the Irish can hear the game. But when the second half kicked off, they didn't put the Badger game back on. WTF? In fact, the bartender acted like he had no control over it. I asked him to put the Badger volume on again. Hey made up some stupid excuse like he was suppose to touch the TVs. I asked again and the ball-less wonder went to find the manager. When the testicularly challenge barkeep came back, he turned the sound up on the Badger game, but kept the sound on the Irish game as well (which was louder) and left the noise for us to disseminate. What an idiot! Thankfully the table next to us complained and the manager sound something to the 2 Irish fans and turned their volume off. It shouldn't have been that difficult.

After we settled up the tab and finished grousing about the fatty wings- which still ticks me off 2 days later- we headed out to see what was going on here on the East Side. The 9 pints I had wasn't enough to satisfy my thirst. The warmup was over and the real consumption would take place.

We started bar hopping. And getting drunk. We hit up 5 bars, quitting just before close. The drink list was:
Spaten Optimator
Delirium Tremens
New Glarus Fat Squirrel
some IPA
Goose Island Honkers Ale
Jim Beam
Maker's Mark
Blue Moon

Simply put, I felt on Sunday. But it was nothing a few Leinie Sunset Wheats could take care of later that night. It also took care of any interest of going down to the East Side for a while. Though I may have to head to Brady St. to check out the Urban Playground thingy.

1 comment:

Kat said...

I'm bummed to hear of your WOW experience. I went there shortly after it opened and got the cajun wings and thought they were wonderful. Now you have me worried about trying them again. Unfortunatly, apathetic-attitude and glazed-over-minimum-wage-looks are what you get from most bars when the owners or managers are never around. Check out Joe Cats next time your on Brady the owner is almost always there. See ya at Urban Playground. BYOB baby!