BWW: Lemon Pepper, Spicy Garlic, etc.

So after a long Saturday spent celebrating the kickoff of college football season, the Queen and I decided to relax on Sunday, and meet up with my brother and his ladyfriend to split a chicken wing or 40.  From this point forward, he will be known as Skittles and she will be the A-Train.  They were unaware of my status as wing royalty, so this was quite the treat for them I'm sure.  Or maybe they think I am a complete nerd, but this would be coming from the couple who was rushing dinner because they had a WoW raid to get to.  Whatever, we're cut from the same cloth.  I digress.

So upon meeting Skittles and the A-Train at Buffalo Wild Wings in Lewisville, we discover a few things.  The service is pretty bad, but I get that feeling at every BWW we go to so I am not surprised.  We also sat in a booth next to a window, which had some scratching in the shape of a football on it.  This led to the discovery that I am the only one of our group who has ever used the word "graffito" in conversation.  We also discover the black cherry mojito.  Quite good.

The Queen and I decided to get 18 wings split into four flavors (the waitress seemed not thrilled with us wanting four flavors), and some buffalo chips.  We went with Thai Curry (our favorite, previously reviewed HERE), Spicy Garlic, Lemon Pepper rub, and Wild.  Upon arrival, the wings tossed in Wild sauce were quickly determined to actually be Blazin' Sauce, which I like, but we did not come for.  Due to this error, they will be stricken from the record and never spoken of again.

Our first new flavor is Lemon Pepper.  This is one of their new dry rubs and not a sauce.  I have to say this is the first one of their dry rubs I have tried, and this was hardly impressive.  BWW is a sauce-driven wing establishment and should probably stick to it.  They were pretty crispy as you can see in the photos, but were somewhat dry.  They also had neither the lemon nor the pepper that we would like in a lemon pepper wing.  These won't be in the regular rotation (we only got them because the menu threatened us by saying lemon pepper is here FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY).  If you want a good lemon pepper wing, go to Sauced or Wingstop.


Lemon Pepper rub
Flavor: 5.5
Spice: 0
Overall: 5.5

Our other new flavor tonight was Spicy Garlic.  We weren't really sure what to expect when we ordered these.  Would be be a garlic sauce with some pepper kick for the heat?  Would it be something like the garlic parmesan wings at Wingstop covered in powdered parmesan cheese?  When they came out they looked like they were covered in a buffalo sauce.  I think it might actually be a hybrid sauce like you might find at Pluckers (think spicy ranch at Pluckers). It seemed like a mixture of one of their buffalo style sauces and their garlic parmesan sauce.  It had a decent amount of heat which was pleasing, and had a garlic flavor that I noticed second.  The garlic was still noticeable which is always appreciated since sometimes wings advertised as containing garlic flavor have very little.  There's a good chance these will find their way into the regular rotation at BWW for us.  The Queen definitely liked these more than I did, but that's because she loved them.  I thought maybe she had a new favorite, but confirmed to me that Thai Curry is still her #1.  The only fault I could find is that these are very heavily sauced, which as you know by now can be highly dangerous to pants, shirts, nearby people's faces, and unprotected eyes.  These are still highly recommended so give them a shot.

Spiciy Garlic
Flavor: 8
Heat: 6
Overall: 8

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