Legend had told me of Birmingham Bridge Tavern‘s 50 cent wing night on Mondays, but for some reason it took me far too long to get there. I arrived with some friends for dinner and found the place surprisingly empty, but on the other hand it was the South Side and school wasn’t in session, so the emptiness could at least be explained.
The wings had to be ordered in fives by the sauce, so for no reasons aside from pure gluttony and a desire to try as many flavors as possible, I decided to order twenty. I began with Erik the Red (the third hottest on their menu, which was far less intimidating than Hot Metal and Death Metal), Spicy Garlic Parm (by the suggestion of the waitress), Golden BBQ and Jerk. I asked for some blue cheese for dipping, and while nearly everything came out looking beautiful, there was a pile of celery atop the Golden BBQ.
Fortunately, I could avoid the celery, but that didn’t soften my perpetual resolve against unnecessary veggies. I began with the Erik the Red out of sheer fear of needing all of the other wings as a buffer against the heat. Some like to save the hottest for last because they might hurt the taste buds, but I am not one of those people. It turned out that Erik the Red wasn’t as spicy as I had feared, retaining great flavor while still dropping a good amount of heat.
The Spicy Garlic Parm was a good recommendation from the waitress over the normal Spicy Garlic. I say this because the parm didn’t detract from the flavor and actually seemed to add a nice element to it. The Golden BBQ was a fine flavor, but really didn’t stick out as anything special. Finally, the Jerk was a pretty good dry rub with a nice amount of kick. I also got a chance to try out the Bourbon BBQ, which kind of fell into the same category as the Golden BBQ.
Perhaps more than anything else, the wings were big and meaty for the price, and the sauces covered a really nice range. So nice, in fact, that if I went back again I would order a completely different set of flavors. Not all were good, but that doesn’t necessarily mean any were bad. With such variety, though, it’s worth going back and seeing if the sauces I tried could be topped.
