Since 1991, WingZone has been delivering wings to Gators, punks and drunks into the wee hours. And come midnight, when their only other rival is 5-Star pizza, it seems imperative on the occasion of their three new flavors to give them a try. As for the wings, they're good. They're just what they're supposed to be, crispy fried crunch, not over or undercooked wing meat, and a nice bone structure to nibble from. It's the sauces that take you up or down and we are presented with three new choices:
1. Cinnamon Maple
2. Mango Fire
3. Bacon Nirvana
And as this will be an educated review from a refined super-taster palate, you can be sure of accuracy. And for those who know me, I will call your shit out if it sucks. Luckily, all three flavors pass the edible test. Here are the details:
CINNAMON MAPLE: Thank the colonists because when they found out Native Americans were harvesting the sweet maple syrup from the trees, they had to steal that too. Maple and chicken has been in American heritage, amplified by the African American community. Somebody, (some say Thomas Jefferson but some say Herb Hudson from Harlem) threw some maple down on some chicken and the world changed. The sweet w/ bird flavor profile (Honey in Medieval thru Reconnaissance) was some fancy shit back in the day. This may have been the precursor to Maple and ultimately, the chicken-n-waffle craze. You'll have to ask a bloated dead king. WingZone's sauce is heavy on the Maple (perhaps artificial? They say no, but I ain't sayin' nothing...) and the smell will hit you when you open up the personal plastic container. It's no heat, so great for the shy types. I quite enjoyed it--hints of brown sugar, caramel undertones, and pretty darn thick. You'll think chicken&waffles, breakfast, probably a good choice for a bender that lasts into the wee hours of the morning. Uber-sweet.
2. MANGO FIRE: In my opinion, the best of the three. Complex, a wonderful whiff of mango screams off this sauce. And just when you think you are going to get off easy, there comes that sizzling fire (it's a good heat, about a 4.5 on my Richter scale, but then I have an unusually high threshold. I did snort wasabi in a now legendary contest of wills, after all. It's a bold choice. You have the sweet and the heat, married to a chicken wing. Is that even legal? Thousands of years ago, we find mangoes in South Asia, and from there, the mango conquered the world. Mangoes probably introduced themselves to chickens in India. This flavor is a distinctive winner for those on the sweet side, and the heat is there for a PG-13 tongue dance.
3. BACON NIRVANA: The nirvana is there. This sauce, all on its own, is easily something as good as any for a rib cookout, barbecue chicken, pork, and the like. It's deep, rich, thick, flavor hints of vinegar, molasses, a touch of black pepper, a shadow of heat, and depth--bacon depth. Thing is, I sense the depth from the bacon but bacon is not a forward flavor. I got a lot more nirvana out of this deal than bacon. There are witty-bitty bits of bacon. You'll understand that given the worship of bacon in this country and the fact that everything is better with bacon, including bacon...I want more fucking bacon. If more fucking bacon gets in this sauce, it will be more popular than the traditional barbecue sauce. It will rule the galaxy.
WingZone has about 17 flavors listed on their menu (my personal favorites being the garlic parm and the nuclear Armageddon.) I think the Mango Fire is a great add. I like the other two as well, for variety's sake. Nice that WingZone has fun witht the options. More fucking bacon, I say, and nice to see great flavor diversity in our local late-night munchie operations.
-- TOM MILLER, Foody Snoot / CLICK HERE FOR TOM MILLER'S 'FOODY-FOOD' PAGE WITH MORE REVIEWS
1. Cinnamon Maple
2. Mango Fire
3. Bacon Nirvana
And as this will be an educated review from a refined super-taster palate, you can be sure of accuracy. And for those who know me, I will call your shit out if it sucks. Luckily, all three flavors pass the edible test. Here are the details:
CINNAMON MAPLE: Thank the colonists because when they found out Native Americans were harvesting the sweet maple syrup from the trees, they had to steal that too. Maple and chicken has been in American heritage, amplified by the African American community. Somebody, (some say Thomas Jefferson but some say Herb Hudson from Harlem) threw some maple down on some chicken and the world changed. The sweet w/ bird flavor profile (Honey in Medieval thru Reconnaissance) was some fancy shit back in the day. This may have been the precursor to Maple and ultimately, the chicken-n-waffle craze. You'll have to ask a bloated dead king. WingZone's sauce is heavy on the Maple (perhaps artificial? They say no, but I ain't sayin' nothing...) and the smell will hit you when you open up the personal plastic container. It's no heat, so great for the shy types. I quite enjoyed it--hints of brown sugar, caramel undertones, and pretty darn thick. You'll think chicken&waffles, breakfast, probably a good choice for a bender that lasts into the wee hours of the morning. Uber-sweet.
2. MANGO FIRE: In my opinion, the best of the three. Complex, a wonderful whiff of mango screams off this sauce. And just when you think you are going to get off easy, there comes that sizzling fire (it's a good heat, about a 4.5 on my Richter scale, but then I have an unusually high threshold. I did snort wasabi in a now legendary contest of wills, after all. It's a bold choice. You have the sweet and the heat, married to a chicken wing. Is that even legal? Thousands of years ago, we find mangoes in South Asia, and from there, the mango conquered the world. Mangoes probably introduced themselves to chickens in India. This flavor is a distinctive winner for those on the sweet side, and the heat is there for a PG-13 tongue dance.
3. BACON NIRVANA: The nirvana is there. This sauce, all on its own, is easily something as good as any for a rib cookout, barbecue chicken, pork, and the like. It's deep, rich, thick, flavor hints of vinegar, molasses, a touch of black pepper, a shadow of heat, and depth--bacon depth. Thing is, I sense the depth from the bacon but bacon is not a forward flavor. I got a lot more nirvana out of this deal than bacon. There are witty-bitty bits of bacon. You'll understand that given the worship of bacon in this country and the fact that everything is better with bacon, including bacon...I want more fucking bacon. If more fucking bacon gets in this sauce, it will be more popular than the traditional barbecue sauce. It will rule the galaxy.
WingZone has about 17 flavors listed on their menu (my personal favorites being the garlic parm and the nuclear Armageddon.) I think the Mango Fire is a great add. I like the other two as well, for variety's sake. Nice that WingZone has fun witht the options. More fucking bacon, I say, and nice to see great flavor diversity in our local late-night munchie operations.
-- TOM MILLER, Foody Snoot / CLICK HERE FOR TOM MILLER'S 'FOODY-FOOD' PAGE WITH MORE REVIEWS
RSS Feed
