BY Staff Writer : Randy Lovelace
Three Towns. Three Bars. Thirty-two Buffalo Wings.
45th Street Pub vs. Ott’s vs. Whistlers Inn
45th Street Pub
I sat down in my stool (Look, I have a ‘condition’). Okay, I sat down at the bar. The environment could be summed up as “hillbilly funk”. It was pretty slow that night. However, it took about five minutes before the bartender acknowledged my existence. I thought I was Patrick Swayze’s ghost…not the one in Ghost, his actual one... Anyway, I ordered my Sam Wheat, err…I mean Samuel Adams and ordered ten hot buffalo wings, well done, for $7.49 (It was Coors Light by the way). When I received my wings, I was given two bowls, one for the wings, and one for dispensing the bones. Overall, 45th Street Pub had the best presentation. However, the wings did not come out with celery so they did lose some points for that. I really don’t care for celery though. After biting in, the wing itself was a tad bit on the salty side, and I like salty food. The wings were not tossed well in the sauce, which had pooled at the bottom of my black bowl. After I doused the wings a little bit more in the sauce, the wings did a one-eighty and became a rather enjoyable experience. I looked forward to eating each subsequent wing and was very satisfied. The sauce was the best tasting and hottest out of all ‘hot’ wings across the board, but there wasn’t enough sauce in the bottom of the bowl to get the coating I desired. The wings were not that hot to my taste buds, but they may have been mildly discomforting to a two year old with open sores in his mouth. The wings were on the meatier side, not Flintstone dinosaur-sized, but meaty. The wings were also cooked perfectly.
Special: Fifty-cent wings on Sundays
Wing Guarantee: Order ten wings, and if you don’t love them after eating one, you get your money back.
Pros:
Sauce - Hottest, tastiest
Presentation - Dispensing bowl, wet naps
Cons:
Sauce - Could use more
Presentation - No celery brought out with order. Small amount of bleu cheese.
Regular Price - $.75/wing
45th Street Pub - Edgewater Park, 4303 S. Route 130, Edgewater Park, NJ 08010, 609-877-5610, http://www.45thstreetpub.com/
Ott’s
After walking up on top of the outside deck at Ott’s, I noticed there was a younger crowd. I told one of my younger brother’s friends that I was doing a wing review there and he said, “You came to the wrong place.” I tried to eat the wings with an open mind and without bias, but I can truly say that his remark was not completely unfounded. So to keep it standard, I ordered ten hot buffalo wings, well done, for $6.95. Right there, you can’t beat that price. Well you can, but shut up. The waitress was pretty cool and was cracking jokes almost immediately. What Ott’s did have going for it was at that point in time I was starving and could probably eat tree bark smeared in rat liver. Hungry now? As I said before, the waitress was nice, but she didn’t raise our umbrella at our table. Minus four. We also had to go scavenging for napkins. Plus five. What? Scavenging is fun. What is with that anyway? I’m counting the days until they start charging extra for napkins, and for each time you slap the waiter on the backside (yes, waiter). Ott’s had by far the best bleu cheese out of the three bars I visited. The outside area was very nice. It could have used a couple more TV’s though, especially when I was trying to watch the Phillies comeback, from ten miles away, with some dude smoking a cancer stick right in front of me. The wings were not as salty as 45th Street Pub’s which was a plus. The skin was a bit on the dry side. The wing itself tended to be a bit chewy, but the taste of the chicken was quite good actually. The sauce was not that hot, and it had a stronger Tabasco flavor. They did not bring out any wet naps, but Ott’s was the only bar whose wings came out with celery. Plus negative ten.
Pros:
Price - $.58/wing
Presentation - Celery
Cons:
Skin - dry
Sauce - Not enough sauce. Flavor was not there.
Ott's Tavern, 3112 Bridgeboro Rd, Delran, NJ 08075, (856) 764-8100, http://www.ottsrestaurants.com/
Whistlers Inn
When I walked in, I immediately worried if my uncle and I would even find a spot to sit down at. The place was packed. I guess it was trivia night and everyone had their phones out to show how awesome they are at Googling. When we first walked into one of the back rooms, I noticed it had a bit of a mildew smell to it that quickly dissipated. Maybe it was a funeral home? I ordered ten hot buffalo wings, well done, for $7.45. Then out came the celery, or wait, no it didn’t. The yellow Styrofoam plates the wings were served on looked like something a homeless shelter might use to divvy out their gruel. There were plenty of napkins. I noticed that their telephone number’s last four digits spell ribs so I will definitely have to give them a look next time. However, Whistlers Inn’s wing was by far the juiciest and the skin was very crispy and delightful. Where the wing itself fell short was the sauce. I was not in love with the taste of the sauce. The chicken wing by itself was incredible, but when paired with the sauce, I think the wing actually went down a few notches. If I don’t remember them for their wings, I will certainly remember them as the place I was when Eli Manning got his head cracked open by a Jet.
Pros:
Sauce - plenty of it
Service - very fast
Presentation – Tons of napkins
Cons:
Sauce - Didn’t scream buffalo sauce
Presentation - “I’ll have some...of the yella. And don't get cheap on me.”
Regular Price - $.75/wing
Whistlers Inn, 901 Rt. 130 South, Cinnaminson, NJ 08077, 856-786-RIBS (7427), http://www.whistlersinnnj.com/Welcome.html
Results:
Sauce - 45th Street Pub, Ott’s, Whistlers Inn
Skin - Whistlers, 45th Street Pub, Ott’s
Chicken - Whistlers Inn, Ott’s, 45th Street Pub
Bleu Cheese - Ott’s, Whistlers Inn, 45th Street Pub
Price - Ott’s, Whistlers, 45th Street Pub
Presentation - 45th Street Pub, Ott’s, Whistlers Inn
Service - Whistlers, 45th Street Pub, Ott’s
Verdict:
45th Street Pub wins. When it comes down to my personal preference, the sauce is what makes a wing. The wings looked the best and they tasted the best. I can always ask for extra bleu cheese and extra sauce. You can’t always ask for the wing to not taste like toasted cardboard. The chicken itself wasn’t bad. The other two bars probably just stood out due to the fact that 45th Street Pub’s sauce alone titillated my palette. If you like buffalo wings, you might want to check out my wife’s recipe for Buffalo Chicken Lasagna. If you like this review, you can find more of my antics here. Enjoy.
