Fox n Hound: Spicy Garlic, Hot Honey & More

After a long work week last week, the Queen and myself decided to make a trek for the evening to see what exciting happenings were going on around town.  As we traversed my Wingdom, we became weary and decided we needed to stop at the nearest tavern to regain our strength, quench our thirsts, and have some wings.  It just so happened that the nearest tavern was the Fox n Hound in Richardson.  We were soon joined by the Queen's entourage, and the festivities began.  The Fox n Hound has several locations around town, and they generally have plenty of pool tables, a large beer selection ($2 pints during happy hour), sports on television, and of course they offer wings.  Like many other establishments, they also offer $.50 wings on Mondays.

We decided to get an order of 20 split across four flavors, which was reasonably priced for around $16.  Add on a side of fries, a few pints, and we are set.  The wings themselves are slightly above average in size, and they are fairly meaty.  They are naked wings, and fried up pretty crispy which is always good.  They are served with celery and blue cheese/ranch.

Our first flavor is Honey Mustard BBQ.  I don't have much to say about these wings.  They were decent, but mostly just tasted like wings coated in BBQ sauce.  I didn't detect any mustard or honey content in the sauce, and to be honest I'm not completely convinced we were given the actual Honey Mustard BBQ as opposed to the regular BBQ sauce.  There wasn't much spice to these wings.  Either way, it was OK, but I probably wouldn't get these again.  There's other flavors I'd rather try.

Honey Mustard BBQ (maybe?)

Heat: 3

Flavor: 7

Overall: 6

Our second flavor is Spicy Garlic.  These were only slightly spicy, which is pretty weak when "spicy" is in the name.  They had a light garlic flavor, which is different from other places that offer a garlic wing where the garlic punches you in the mouth when you take a bite.  These were the crispiest of the wings which is a result of them also being the lightest-sauced of the bunch.  These were the Queen's favorite wings of the bunch, but not mine.

Spicy Garlic:

Heat: 4.5

Flavor: 7

Overall: 7

Our third flavor is the Hot Honey sauce.  At first these might have been my least favorite of the bunch.  However, the more I ate them, the more it grew on me.  The wings themselves were very crispy, but coated in a thick honey sauce that wasn't too sweet.  There wasn't any heat to them, which I would like to have seen with something called "Hot Honey", but the sauce is very pleasant and I ended up enjoying these very much.  Something about them that reminded me of a nice hot tea with some honey drizzled in it.  Not any actual tea flavor, but just a nice warm feeling to make me happy.  Or maybe that was the pints starting to add up.

Hot Honey:

Heat: 2

Flavor: 8

Overall: 7.5

The final flavor was "Hot", which is the top of their heat scale when it comes to the Buffalo style sauces.  The sauce itself is very tasty, and had more of the vinegary kick I like in a Buffalo sauce as opposed to some other places that are more on the buttery side.  The heat itself wasn't very much, and I would say these are more along the lines of a medium sauce at some other locations.  However, I'm not going to throw a fit over it because this isn't an established wing joint and these are only on the appetizer menu.  This was my favorite flavor among the four we tried, and I would definitely get again.

Hot:

Heat: 6

Flavor: 8.5

Overall: 8

Overall, we thought the wings were better than we expected.  I'm certain we will be returning soon thanks to these wings, and our likelihood to return has absolutely nothing to do with $2 pints and being half a block from our castle.

Wingstop: Original Hot, Lemon Pepper

Good afternoon everyone.  We're back today with a little update for you.  I was starving all day at work and didn't get a lunch break, so I decided to give in to the craving and make an unscheduled stop at Wingstop on the way home (the Queen didn't make this trip, she was still at work).  Wingstop happens to be the closest wing joint to my house, so it is frequently in the regular rotation, and I happen to be a big fan as one could imagine.

There's a lot of little pluses at Wingstop that I am a fan of.  They serve beer, which is great since it is more of a fast food joint in my mind than a sit-down restaurant.  They have 50 cent wings on Mondays.  The combos come with a big ol' pile of fries, and their fries are great.  They are fresh cut and fried, and have a blend of seasoning that is slightly sweet.  In the commercials, Troy Aikman says he goes to Wingstop for the fries (not the fat check they write to him apparently) so you know they must be good.  I also love their blue cheese dipping sauce.  I actually use it more for the fries, because the wings themselves are quite tasty and not spicy enough to need the soothing relief of the dip to calm the burn.  The final thing that I love about Wingstop is that I often get lucky at Wingstop (hmm that didn't come out right).  Sometimes I'll get a five-strip combo, and BAM! Six strips!  And if you carefully examine the photos below, you'll see a ten wing combo WITH ELEVEN WINGS!  As we speak, I was telling the Queen the story about the eleventh wing, and she said she went to Wingstop for lunch today too (match made in Heaven obv).  She too got an extra wing.  WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?  I don't know, but this is a great day for all Americans.  On to the wings for today.

The wings themselves are of average size, they are naked, and they are fried.  The first sauce I went with was Original Hot.  It is a buffalo style sauce, but I feel that it lacks that little buffalo punch you can get in sauces at other places.  This is pure speculation but it tastes like it has more buttery flavor in it than the vinegar kick I like in a buffalo sauce.  This is the third spiciest flavor they offer, but is doesn't have much spice at all to me.  The sauce itself is slightly on the thinner side, so they are a bit slippery in texture.  I personally prefer a crispier wing, but to each his own.  This is still a tasty sauce, and my Queen usually gets it when we go to Wingstop.  As a result, Original Hot is a flavor I get to enjoy regularly.

Original Hot

Heat: 5

Flavor: 7.5

Overall ranking: 7.5

The second half of my order was Lemon Pepper.  This is easily my favorite of the flavors at Wingstop.  I'm pretty sure the sauce itself is some type of lemon butter, but there's more to it than the sauce.  These wings come out very crispy (hallelujah!), and after the sauce is applied, I think they sprinkle on a lemon pepper.  These wings have no real heat to speak of, but what do you expect from a lemon pepper wing?  These have a tangy and rich flavor that doesn't leave me asking for more heat like I do on a lot of wings.  The Queen says they are "citrusy and refreshing" and she enjoys dipping her fries in the leftover lemon pepper sauce.  The flavor, the texture, and the seasoning makes this one of my all-time favorites at any wing joint.

Lemon Pepper:

Heat: 1

Flavor: 9

Overall ranking: 9

Buffalo Wild Wings: Blazin', Curry, and more!

I'd like to welcome all of my loyal subjects to our first wing review.  To kick this thing off I thought I'd ease into it with a trip to somewhere generic, so I took myself (The King), my girlfriend (The Queen), and two of my buddies to Buffalo Wild Wings on Saturday night.  I couldn't very well review all of their flavors in one trip (as much as I'd like to try), so we got 18 wings split into 4 sauces and a nice basket of buffalo chips.  Perhaps a cocktail or two as well.

The wings themselves are average in size.  They are naked wings (no breading, although they now offer breaded wings as a new item), fried, and then tossed in your choice of what I believe to be 16 sauces or 3 dry rubs, along with your choice of a dressing, celery and carrots.  I go with blue cheese dressing(obv) while the Queen prefers ranch.  You can't go wrong with Buffalo Wild Wings whether you want wings, beer, or want to watch the big game (all of which I do).

Our first flavor was Thai Curry.  In the last few months these have recently become my favorite wings to get at BWW.  According to the BWW website the sauce contains a mix of sweet chilies and a "hint" of curry.  My girlfriend, the Queen, attempted to replicate these once upon a time using a "hint" of curry, and we discovered that the "hint" of curry used in this sauce must be quite a large amount to overcome the other flavors.  These have a very slight heat to them which is enjoyable, and they have a very warm and pleasant flavor if you like curry.  Like I said, these are currently my favorite wings at BWW, and my only complaint is that I'd love a spicier version of these in a perfect world.

Thai Curry
Heat: 4
Flavor: 9
Overall ranking: 8.75

Our second choice was Caribbean Jerk.  This sauce used to be my favorite before I discovered Thai Curry, but I still love it.  It is near the middle of their heat scale, and although it is listed right below Thai Curry, I personally feel these are slightly hotter than Thai Curry.  These have a little bit of sweetness along with the blend of jerk spices they use.  The Queen said these tasted more like a BBQ sauce than a true jerk flavor that she is used to.  Whatever the case, these were the most heavily sauced wings we had by far and it is a fairly thick sauce.  I wish they had a little less sauce, because when they drown the wings in such a thick sauce, the wings can be difficult to pick apart.  As a side note, if you visit BWW and feel the need to go off the beaten path and get something besides wings, the only other thing I will get is the chicken tender salad with Caribbean Jerk sauce and blue cheese dressing.  Thai Curry may be my favorite wings here, but this sauce is the best one to stand on its own to me.  Absolutely delicious.

Caribbean Jerk
Heat: 4.5
Flavor: 8
Overall ranking: 7.5

Our third choice was the famous Mango Habanero wings.  These are listed third on the heat scale behind Blazin' and Wild, but it is a fairly significant dropoff from the top of the scale to this sauce.  The sweetness of the Mango flavor does quite a bit to cool these wings down, but there is still a definite kick to this sauce.  This sauce actually has visible flakes of the peppers which give a little extra heat up front without a lingering heat (similar to your generic crushed red pepper).  Mango Habanero is a great mix of sweet and spice as I'm sure you can imagine, and my Queen really enjoyed these (having never had them before).

Mango Habanero
Heat: 6
Flavor: 8
Overall ranking: 7.5


Our fourth and final sauce had to be the Blazin' sauce.  I frequently get half my order in Blazin' sauce when we go out to BWW, and I find that the heat level on this sauce can vary quite a bit and I'm not sure why.  At this time I do not know if they make this sauce at the restaurant or if it gets shipped to the joint in a jar.  I would tend to think they make it in-house with how much the spiciness can vary (day to day, depending on the season, different locations, etc.).  This particular order we had Saturday night was one of the tamer orders of Blazin' wings I've had there.  According to the Scott Roberts website (http://www.scottrobertsweb.com/scoville-scale.php) which I often consult, these can rank on the scoville scale from 200,000-350,000 scoviles, so I'd guess we were closer to the 200,000 mark.  However, don't be fooled, these are still a very powerful wing.  They come with a (unnecessary) warning sticker you can see in the picture.  They don't have a particularly powerful flavor (or if they do it is quickly masked by the heat), but the main flavors we detected were the habaneros and the cumin.  Why would I waste my money on something the lacks a fantastic flavor with so many options available?  Because sometimes I just need to feel the burn.  There are better places to get really spicy wings that also have great flavor, but I still get these as a matter of principle.  BWW is also famous for hosting the Blazin' Challenge, whereby if you can eat 12 Blazin' wings in six minutes, you can get a t-shirt and a picture on the wall.  I have no doubt I could handle the dozen wings, but I'm not sure I could do a dozen in the time allowed (I am on the Pluckers Wall of Flame for example).  Plus I like to enjoy my food.  Being that this is the first establishment I have reviewed, the BWW Blazin' Sauce is by default crowned the hottest wing I have reviewed... so far.

Blazin' Sauce
Heat: 7.5
Flavor: 5
Overall ranking: 7

Welcome!

Welcome to the launch of my new blog: The King of the Wing.  As a die-hard fan of all things hot wings and all things spicy, I have begun my journey to find the ultimate wings in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex (and beyond).  Check back often to join me on this quest to find the Holy Grail of hot wings as I crown myself the King of the Wing!