To expand my ever-growing knowledge of what kind of food the valley has to offer, I set off for Big Wangs one night after work. For a long time I thought that the place was actually called Big Wings, since everyone seemed to talk about their wings. Then when I was corrected, I assumed the place was called Big Wang’s, presumably under the assumption that it was owned by a large or tall Chinese man named Wang. Again, I was wrong and learned that it was actually called Big Wangs. No possession here, just plural, so I was a bit apprehensive before entering what I now expected to be a large sausage fest. Well, luckily it wasn’t one of those. Instead it was a semi-divey bar and restaurant that still managed to specialize in wings, which I’m sure continues to promote the general misunderstanding of the name of the place. Continue Reading»
‘Buffalo Wild Wings’
Battle of the Sauces: Black Swan vs. Buffalo Wild Wings
December 8th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble RedditIf history winds up the way I fully expect it to, the city of Buffalo, New York will only be remembered for one thing: Buffalo Wings. This isn’t exactly a bad thing for a city which would love to forget about the four consecutive Super Bowl losses, the freezing winters and the fact that they aren’t quite at Niagara Falls. And since, Buffalo Wings are one of the greatest culinary creations in history, it’s not exactly a bad thing to be remembered by.
In honor of Buffalo Wings, the Black Swan sauce company sent me out a free jar of their Wing Commander sauce to test out on some wings. Just as in any good experiment, I wanted to have a “control,” so I chose my all-time favorite buffalo sauce, Wild, from Buffalo Wild Wings. Continue Reading»
Growing My Wing Palette at Wingstop
November 16th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble RedditNot too many places in the world are endorsed by a star as big as Troy Aikman, well at least not too many buffalo wings places. Wingstop, however, has Aikman, which is why the last time I was hungry for wings, I decided to listen to the Hall of Famer and check it out.
The closest Wingstop to me is in Lawndale, so I took the drive to the little strip mall and was tempted to just hop into Chuck E. Cheese and abandon the wings. Luckily, my friend put me back on the right path.
The interior was done up in a sort aviation-esque theme, which I think alluded to the fact that wings are both on chickens and airplanes. I saw that they had a pretty cool-looking combo, which included 10 wings (with or without bones), fries and a drink for under 10 bucks. Continue Reading»
Buffalo Wild Wings Reaches LA
October 29th, 2009 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble RedditWell, sort of. It’s in Burbank, which sure as hell beats the next closest one in Chino Hills. Either way, it’s good to know that it’s now easier to drive to Buffalo Wild Wings than to fly back home to Detroit for my Bdubs.
I wasn’t able to make it to the grand opening, where the first 100 people in line got free wings for a year. That would have been nice, but I also have a job I had to be at on that Monday morning. Instead, I settled for a visit the next week. This Buffalo Wild Wings is part of a sort of outdoor mall/downtown area in Burbank, with tons of people walking around and tons of shops for them to spend their hard-earned money. The money I had would be going for some wings. And beer. Continue Reading»
Rants and Raves
A Theory I Can Get Behind
June 3rd, 2009While perusing the blogosphere (with the help of Google Alerts) I came across a great blog entry by a guy named Jeff Erno. In it, he theorizes on why people should eat animals rather than plants. A lot of this theory stems from the fact that animals are simply a safer food to eat.
He explains, “If you are an animal then evasion seems a great way to avoid predation. Run faster. Climb higher. Fly…” These are things that plants simply cannot do. Instead, for the most part, plants became toxic or poisonous to avoid predation.
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Going Global at Plan Check
A couple of weeks ago, The Backyard Bite invited me to The Burger Culture Clash, sponsored by Stussy (which apparently still exists) and Plan Check. Plan Check, by the way, is a sort of new (since February) restaurant in West LA with Chef Ernesto Uchimura of Umami Burger fame. As my love of burgers, especially those of the umami variety, I jumped at the opportunity.
Although I arrived alone, I was not the only lone eater. Just next to where I was seated, I met e*star LA and we decided to share a meal called loneliness, because it’s better than eating alone. We made quick friends over our respective blogs and Midwestern roots, then got to work at dissecting the special menu, which Plan Check will be featuring for the next month if anything tickles your fancy.
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