When you see a place called Sip, I think it’s fair to assume it won’t be serving food and instead focuses on drinks. But Sip Coffee and Beer Kitchen is more than just a place for caffeine and liquid depressants. It’s also a place to grab some food. And, on Friday nights it’s happy hour prices for appetizers.Check these profit singularity reviews.

So, I did what any intelligent person would do and ordered two appetizers. One was the Chicken Wings and the other was Pretzels and Beer Cheese. The pretzels not only came with beer cheese, but mustard as well. Which is dumb, of course, but the beer cheese more than made up for it. It was surprisingly spicy, but in all the right ways. The pretzels were long and fluffy, with just right amount of chewiness on the exterior and not too much salt.

As for the wings, they were grilled, which is almost always a pleasant way to eat such things. I had half buffalo and half BBQ. They came with ranch, which is not nearly as good as blue cheese dressing, but it was better than the celery that the wings also often seem to come with for inexplicable reasons. The buffalo was pretty great, being plenty spicy like the cheese sauce although it was a bit light. The BBQ was pretty good as well, although the lightness of sauce was even more noticeable for that flavor.

I liked Sip. I liked the happy hour situation. I kind of liked the concept. But I didn’t feel like it was anything overly impressive. It’s a place you go when you’re near or thinking you can use an easy and reliable meal. It’s not a place you go when you’re looking for something special, which is all just fine depending on what you’re looking for.

The Super Bowl is set! And while everyone is pumped to see the Patriots again, and the Eagles again (but not nearly as again), it is important to realize that for most people the Super Bowl is about food and commercials. So, food, right? Lil’ smokies might sound good for another year, but sometimes it’s smart to just hit up a bar. I was just given an opportunity to check out the goods* at B2 Burgers and Brews, which is looking forward to hosting a bunch of people with some pretty exciting specials.

And the goods were good. The burgers ranged from the Aloha (pineapple, ham, teriyaki mayo and provolone) to the Breakfast (over easy egg, sausage patty, bacon, ham and hash browns). And then there was the one that I ate – Spicy PBJ & Bacon – topped with its namesakes, as well as pepper jack cheese. It’s also maybe important to note that the jelly is pepper jelly.

It was another great take on what seems to be a growing trend of merging the American classics of bacon, burger, and peanut butter and jelly. And perhaps even more important than the execution of the toppings was the perfect medium rare that the burger was cooked to.

The burgers can be ordered with a variety of buns and also with some delicious fries or sweet potato tots. I’m generally not a sweet potato man, but if you’re into that I’m sure you’ll be into these.

Oh and there were the wings as well. Because no self-respecting sports bar can go without wings, right? Unlike some places that resort to an all-out blitz of flavor options, B2 only has buffalo, honey BBQ, and teriyaki. I tested out the buffalo and BBQ, which both tasted like your standard buffalo and BBQ. Most importantly, though, they were meaty, juicy and fried just right. Which, of course, brings me to the point of all of this.

For the Super Bowl, B2 has specials up the wazoo:

• 75 cent wings all day (boneless or the good ones)
• $1 domestic beers from kickoff until the first score
• $5 bloody mary bar
• All day happy hours (think cheap drinks and lots of $5 apps)
• Raffles at the end of each quarter, including a 55 inch TV at the end of it all (must be present to win)
• 10% off pre-ordered takeout and $15 growler fills

Those are some pretty sweet deals if you ask me, at the very least good enough to get you out and about instead of sitting on your couch alone watching the Patriots and Eagles play for it all.’

*Which is code for free, but those specials are really close to free so there’s that.

Sometimes all you want to do is watch sports and eat wings. And sometimes there’s not enough time to get home to watch said sports and you have to find the spot closest to your office. Thus, I found myself at House of Wings in La Verne. House of Wings not only had a great variety of wing flavors, they also sported a pretty great happy hour for beer and food.

I ended up ordering the happy hour wing special, which came with 5 boneless, 5 bone-in and fries to boot! For my bone-in I ordered the Spicy BBQ and for the boneless I got Sriracha Glaze.

The Hot BBQ was pretty delicious, managing to balance a perfect mix of spicy and sweet. Spicier BBQ flavors at wing spots usually disappoint me, but this did not. On the other hand, I was kind of disappointed with the the Sriracha Glaze. You see, the wings were tossed in a sweet sauce, but then the sriracha was just kind of squirted onto the wings afterwards. If you’re not going to toss it all together it doesn’t really make any sense to me. Plus, that made the blue cheese dipping kind of strange because the sriracha came off a good amount in each dip.

Regardless, I was very happy with my House of Wings experience. The happy hour was pretty great and I would definitely love to try some of the other flavors to see what might pair better with that Hot BBQ.

Chicken Wings (or Buffalo Wings to everyone else) can be found pretty much anywhere in Buffalo. And while pizza places around the country have tried to introduce wings as a side to pizza over the last few years, this is nothing new to La Nova Pizza. With a location in the city and another in Williamsville, we made our way to Williamsville to get all of their goods.

Little did we know that this location was more of a carry out situation, but we grabbed seats at basically the only stools available and placed our orders. We began with some of their hot wings, then topped it off with their bacon cheeseburger pizza. And before I go any further, I should also mention that my buddy got some Bar-B-Que Wings “from the Pit” that had no business being as good as they were. Much of this was due to the fact that they were actually grilled and had perfect char to go with the rest of the flavor.

But as for my food, the wings were certainly tasty. By no means was their sauce amazing, but it was better than average and at a heat level that most people would find comfortable. The pizza we ordered was massive, sliced into squares and oozing with cheese (mozzarella and cheddar), ground beef and bacon. It also had tomato sauce, which was actually the best part of the pizza. Sure, the cheese, beef and bacon were great. I mean, how could those things not be? But that tomato sauce really solidified why La Nova was a worthy pizza joint to visit.

Having now visited La Nova, it is obvious to me why nationwide pizza joints want to capitalize on the addition of wings. The trouble is that to do so, they have to really care about their wings, like by preparing them the way La Nova does. It doesn’t hurt to make a damn good pizza either.

I don’t always go to Pittsburgh’s North Side, but when I do, it is for BOGO (buy one get one free) wings. And these wings were at James Street Tavern, a sort of gastropub with a jazzy theme and some actual live jazz music if you show up at the right time. I, of course, did not, but I did show up on Thursday night when the place has those 2-for-1 wings. And we went all-out with the wings, beginning with some Classic Hot Buffalo over there on the left.

These were not bad, but not especially hot or unique in any way. We also snagged some Chipotle BBQ, Parmesan Herb and Habanero Jelly. By far my favorite was the Chipotle BBQ. Like, to the point where I would only order these if I made it back. This is not to say the rest were bad, but they were simply not for me. The Habanero Jelly was also not very hot, the Parmesan Herb was, well, what you’d expect from Parmesan Herb and the Classic Hot was neither very hot nor very flavorful. The Chipotle BBQ, though, had a great flavor and just a touch of heat. More heat would have been nice, but whatevs.

After chowing on all those wings I picked out a burger for my entree called Singing the Blues. This was topped with gorgonzola and bacon, plus some invisible (from the menu) lettuce, tomato and onions. I ordered without those, asked for it medium-rare and upgraded my chips to their White Cheddar Grits. Unfortunately, when I asked for no veggies on my burger, my waitress failed to recognize my hatred for vegetables and the burger (eventually, it actually took quite a while) still came out with a pickle spear. This resulted in the loss of at least one good chip (oh yeah, I was given both chips and grits because at some point a mistake was made), but at least the juices didn’t hit the bun.

The burger turned out to be pretty good, albeit not quite at medium-rare. It was char-grilled and tasted like a delicious barbecue burger and the cheese and bacon were just right. The White Cheddar Grits were inconsistent, in that I tried a friend of mine’s as well as my own and mine were better. Next time, though, I’m worried I could get a bad batch. And while my burger also turned out pretty well, not everyone felt the same. Some people had items missing and whatnot, which I attribute to this being an off-night in the kitchen. Surely the place is capable of success as it was with my burger.

I’d check out James Street Tavern again to ensure that it was just an off-night. But I can say for sure that BOGO wings are a good way to go, although I’m not quite sure I can say the same for medium-rare.

While Walnut Street in Shadyside is the typical haunt of my fellow students, Highland is another street in Shadyside that has a lot to offer. One of those offerings is Buffalo Blues, a sports bar with a fair amount of food options that you might expect at such a place. Wings dominate the menu, but there are also burgers, sandwiches and a few other things for those not so inclined towards the wings.

I, however, am a man who often inclines towards wings and this meal was no different. The food was a little expensive when compared to the beer prices, but still nothing to complain about. I ordered ten wings and chose two sauces. The first was Spicy Garlic and the other was Wet Cajun (their regular Red Hot sauce with a Cajun rub). Neither one disappointed. The wings were reasonably meaty and both went well in the blue cheese dressing. As usual, they came with celery, which I often fail to order without, but went untouched. Fortunately, celery is one of those veggies that doesn’t affect the outcome of the meal, but is still an annoyance.

I also have to put a plug in here for the Buffalo Blue Fries, which I had here on a later visit. These fries are topped with an incredible spicy blue cheese dip and pulled chicken and hit the spot no matter what mood I’m in. They eat like a meal, but they are also acceptable as an appetizer to split with a bunch of people. They will likely be the end of me.

So yeah, the wings were good enough to bring me back, but that dip is the real winner at Buffalo Blues. As a bonus, the place is slowly being converted into a Michigan bar.

Remember when Hooters was as exciting as restaurants got? Not food-wise, of course, but ummm boob-wise. Well, those days are as dead as the Cold War. Last year I learned this firsthand at the Tilted Kilt and on my recent visit to Las Vegas the point was driven home, hard, at Twin Peaks. It was at Twin Peaks that we basically established our base camp for our time in Las Vegas. The only trouble was it was hard to concentrate on the basketball games with so much else to look at.

But somewhere in the middle of all the viewing, we managed to eat. As a lover of wings, I figured these were my best bet. Over the course of the weekend I tried three of their four flavors, which were Red Hot, Smoky BBQ and Ghost Pepper. I skipped Green Chili Parmesan because it seemed dumb.

These three flavors were all quite good, with the Ghost Pepper being the tastiest and not at all as intimidating as it sounded. I had been falsely led to believe that the Smoky BBQ would be spicier than the Red Hot, which was okay because of boobs and because the BBQ sauce was pretty good. The chicken itself was also nice, with each wing and drummy being meaty, juicy and tender.

As with most wings, these came with celery despite not mentioning this on the menu. This counted against Twin Peaks, but luckily celery is not a vegetable prone to ruining food by simply existing near it.

As a bonus, Twin Peaks also has a climbing wall, which is how they avoid simply being a pun of a bar.

Come for the views, stay for the food. It’s not as good as the views, but it’s still great bar food.

Pop quiz: What are the only five-letter sovereign nations that contain two Is? If you and five of your best trivia-playing friends can’t come up with India and Haiti, you probably don’t want to be at The Irish Times in Palms on Tuesday nights. You see, every Tuesday is Trivia Night and begins sometime between 9 and 9:30, but were it simply a bar with trivia it would not be worthy of meat-blogging. Fortunately that is not the case, because every Tuesday also means $5 buffalo wings. And while they have a full kitchen and a decent bar food selection, there is really no other option in my mind.

Ordering must be done at the bar and The Irish Times is notoriously slow to take bar orders. I’ve never seen more than one bartender, yet that is almost part of the charm of the place. Yet, while it might take some time to order, the food comes out pretty fast and I quickly found myself staring down a plate of sexy, glistening wings. They were accompanied by those nasty wing-groupies known as carrots and celery, which are like the ugly girls that pretty women keep around to feel better about themselves. They’re harmless in that they don’t impact the flavor of the wings and there is always a friend willing to take them down, but they are wholly unnecessary.

Vegetables aside, the wings were quite good. The sauce was exactly what I expect from bar wings. Nothing fancy, nothing creative and nothing disappointing. It matched up nicely with the blue cheese dressing and my pint of Fat Tire. There was, however, one minor hitch. A few of the wings had spent a bit too long in the fryer and were chewier than necessary. Luckily, this hadn’t dried out the wings, but it definitely prevented them from toppling the Backstage as my favorite LA bar wings.

Yet while they may not be the best, I will certainly be returning to The Irish Times and ordering them again as I pit my trivia brains against the rest of the bar in a battle for eternal glory (and $30 off my bar tab).

Not too long ago, a new bar/grill opened in Culver City called Rocco’s Tavern. If you are at all from my generation, the name Rocco evokes memories of one of the greatest Nicktoons ever: Rocko’s Modern Life. Okay, the name is spelled differently, which may explain why neither wallabies nor turtles were on the menu. Instead, the menu was chock-full of some typical bar food. With the Tigers game on the TVs surrounding the bar, I sat down, ordered a happy hour beer (2 for 1 from 3-7 everyday) and decided what to order.

I was with a buddy of mine, who sometimes goes by the name of Dan, and he and I decided we needed to order two apps, with one needing to be some sort of wings. I say some sort of wings because they actually had some options. We could choose from their regular “Rocco’s Famous Wings” with bones or Corn Flake Crusted boneless. Plus, there were a couple of sauces to choose from. We went with the Corn Flake Crusted because they sounded so damn intriguing, with hot sauce. Then, as our secondary appetizer we chose the Seven Cheese Mac-N-Cheese.

First, the mac came out. Bubbling with cheesy, oily goodness, this dish was filled with mozzarella, provolone, jack, brie, cheddar, American, parmesan and finally a garlic alfredo sauce. The noodles were not of the elbow macaroni style and more wide and hollow. It was an interesting noodle choice and an interesting mix of cheeses as well. I firmly support the use of as many cheeses as possible, but I was a little disappointed that the strongest flavor came from the garlic alfredo sauce. It would have been great if one of the stronger cheeses had stood out more, but I was at a bar and certainly could not complain.

As for the wings, they were surprisingly pretty awesome. The corn flake crust gave the little nuggets of chicken a great little crunch and also a touch of sweetness. The best part about the sweetness, though was that it did not detract from the heat and flavor of the sauce. It was an ideal combination of flavors and gave me a new favorite local buffalo wing. Now if only they could reproduce that flavor in a real bone wing, life would be even more awesome.

So for the newest tavern in Culver City, Rocco’s has some surprisingly good food. It falls just short of amazing, but still a place I am looking forward to returning to again and again for beer, food and sports.

As a man spoiled by Buffalo Wild Wings, it is often difficult to try out new wing places. But going to a place where 50% of the name is Wings and the other 50% is Hoagies seems like a recipe for success. So even if Hoagies and Wings isn’t the most creatively named restaurant, it certainly makes clear what you will be offered. To be fair, they do offer some burgers and sides, but other than that, the menu is pretty much limited to the name.

When I went with my buddy, he recounted his experience of attempting the Suicide wings. These are the spiciest they have to offer and apparently it was not an enjoyable experience for him. Although my recent consumption of the hottest wings at Hooters didn’t kill me, I wanted to avoid suicide and ordered 6 Hot wings and 6 Mambo (spicy BBQ) wings ($12.99). As I was placing my order, my idiot friend rudely peer pressured me and it went kind of like this:

Me: I’d like six Hot and six Mambo, please.

Idiot Friend: Oh you aren’t getting the Suicide?

Me: I don’t think so.

Idiot Friend: Alright.

Me: Ok fine I’ll get the Suicide.

Whatever, it felt like peer pressure to me. So it was time to see if the straightforward name of the restaurant carried over into the sauce names and I was ready for some untimely, yet self-imposed death. I still held onto six Mambo wings in the hope that they could give my mouth some sort of buffer.

When the wings were ready, they looked beautiful and shiny. The Suicide didn’t singe my nostrils, so I thought I was in for another weak sauce and assumed my friend was a wuss. Yet, I figured if the Suicide was as hot as he said, I wanted to get them out of the way first, so I grabbed a wing and bit in. Not so bad.

Oh wait. Dear God. Fire! And not just my tongue, but mostly the back of my throat. Somehow these wings sent their potency to the back of my throat, preventing me from speaking to anyone more than five inches from my face. It seemed these wings had been created to prevent any eater from warning any other unfortunate eater. I got the rest of that first wing down and was already tearing up. I grabbed at a Mambo wing in the hopes that it could give me some buffer, but my mouth was so burned that anything not called water or ice burned it as well. Realizing these could offer me no buffer, I just went full throttle at the Suicide wings. Slowly I devoured every last one, killing about four trees worth of napkins and drinking about two small lakes worth of water.

Finally, I was done with the burning and hoped I could still enjoy my Mambos. No such luck. Each bite burned and I even had my friend try one to test whether it was really spicy or I had just committed taste bud suicide. Apparently it was the latter, and although I ate the rest of those Mambos, I deemed myself unfit to give them a fair review.

Mouth burning aside, Hoagies and Wings served up some big, juicy and crispy wings. I would definitely never try the Suicide again, but I wouldn’t mind another visit with a slightly weaker sauce or a slightly stronger mouth.