TRUMANS!!!!!…..Were back friends.

Posted in Uncategorized on April 8, 2009 by Matthew

The wingmen have been busy lately, and we really do apologize! We had no idea how many wing loving fans we had running around Columbia, and promise that we will never drop the ball again! Thank you all who check the site regularly, and we got a few articles to write up for you wingnuts, so keep on checkin! Alright, well Matt and I went to Trumans tonight, and it was good stuff folks.

Truman’s Bar and Grill

3304 Broadway Business Park Ct, Columbia -

(573) 445-1669

This place is already pretty popular, many friends and neighbors regularly go to Trumans, although it is a bit of a hike from the WingCave, I promise that it is worth it. Excellet happy hour everyday from 4-7pm, half off all booze, same thing each week night from 10pm to 12am. How could you go wrong? The wingmen were full of wings and booze for a mere 10 bucks. Cant beat that friends. Reminds me of the early days of Bengals. Alright friends lets get to the MEAT of the review…Cmon….Eh? Meat get it? Love me some puns.

Meatiness: 8/10

Trumans serves some very meaty wings, and makes a point in doing so by mentioning that they wings are “jumbo” on the menu. I would certainly have to agree. They are not the biggest wings I have ever had (I think that award goes to CJs), but they certainly are meaty, as they won the meatiest wing award at Wingding in 2008 (this needs to be verified as I THINK they won meatiest, but may have also won peoples choice.) As I said, as relatively astute wing eater, Matt and I were only able to finish ~15 wings each, along with a few excellent pitchers of Select. I gave it an 8, as these are certainly on the large side, but some places have had meatier wings. If you like really meaty wings, which I know many of you do, youll enjoy Trumans.

Sauce:  This is really hard to rate, and Matt is going to have to help me…

Vampire Mace: 8/10

Buffalo: 6/10

Fire & Smoke: 7/10

Berry Hot: 7/10

Habernero????: 7.5/10 (ok, this is really funny because me and matt were unsure if this was habernero or not, which is what we ordered, as I had eaten them before, they seemed totally different, they were still delicious, but we  even went so far as to have the waitress taste our “berry hot (we think)” and “habernero (we have no idea)” to confirm if they gave us the correct sauce or not. She literally had no clue. It was pretty funny. Either way, the mystery sauce was pretty good, and extremely thick. None of the sauces were extremely hot, which was a point of discussion among the wingmen, and led to the misunderstanding among the sauces as last week Wingmen Nate had Habernero, and they were crazy hot, which was unlike our wings this beautiful evening.

We have more sauces to review, as they have quite a few, but sauce coverage is excellent if you ask for it. There are many sauces to try at Trumans, I believe 12 or so total, so we will be updating as the Wingmen will likely make this a regular Weds night spot.

Crispiness/Juiciness: 7/10

Oddly enough, the crispiness completely depended on the type and amount of sauce put on the wings. Our mystery sauce which may or may not have been habernero was abosolutly swamped, and therefore led to a less crispy wing, as did the buffalo wings. Our Vampire Mace and Berry Hot, were excellently crispy, which is always a plus in the eyes of the wingmen. The other few sauces were not necessarily crispy, but all around the juiciness was excellent.

Service: 8/10

Trumans as a whole offers excellent service. Our waitress was great, and although she couldn’t exactly ID our two mystery sauces, she did go so far as to taste each one halfway through our meal. Also we ended up with a pitcher, (they have chilled glass pitchers and mugs…which is awesome) and it had a huge crack and was leaking all over. They immediately replaced the pitcher as we never were sitting there wanting some service. Kudos to Trumans for hiring good waitresses and staff.

Value: 5/10 normally, 7.5/10 on Weds with$.45 wings.

Alright, Trumans wings are pretty meaty and filling, but normally, they do cost $.65 a wing, which can add up pretty fast. Ones Weds nights however, you can get full and drunk for $10.00, with great service, a great location, and a great setting in general. The Wingmen sure love Trumans, and we are most likely going to make this our Weds night establishment. So come say Hi to the two studly men surrounded by Wings and Pitchers.

Overview:

Meatiness: 8/10

Sauce:

Vampire Mace: 8/10

Buffalo: 6/10

Fire & Smoke: 7/10

Berry Hot: 7/10

Habernero????: 7.5/10

Crispiness/Juiciness: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Value: 5/10 normally, 7.5/10 on Weds with$.45 wings.

Overall (not an average): 7.5/10

Friends, the Wingmen really enjoy Trumans, as a wing joint and as a bar to drink with friends. Tuesday night Karaoke, great happy hour, and an excellent Weds night wing special earns the Wingmen seal of approval. Give it a shot friends.

-Cheers,

Nate

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True Wingmen

Posted in Uncategorized on March 14, 2009 by Matthew

Recently both of the Wingmen have been extremely busy, and wanted to apologize to our loyal wing army members for not updating the site as much. We are working on getting some T-Shirts out, and have a few reviews already written up, which will be posted this week. I wanted to thank Clear 99.3 for the shout out, and wanted to thank everyone who has been checking out this site recently.

Lastly, many of you know that tragedy has befell one of the best friends of the Wingmen. In the interest of privacy I will not say anything more, but I wanted to express that the thoughts and prayers of the Wingmen, as well as many, many others are with our friend and his family.

Thanks.

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Willie’s Wows the Wingmen

Posted in Uncategorized on February 14, 2009 by Matthew

One of the top part spots on Columbia’s Broadway Strip is Willie’s. Known for its pool tables, drink specials and partnership with the very popular Fieldhouse Willie’s is packed pretty much every night they are open.

Is it the party or the wings that keeps it rockin’?

The Wingmen investigate.

Regular (Hot)

Regular (Hot)

If you’re looking for wings with a lot of meat, look elsewhere.

Willie’s wings are some of the smallest around.

I’m not knocking it, small wings happen to be my favorite.

These wings are the perfect size for snackin’ while drinkin’ and watchin’ the game.

Meatiness – 3/10

The regular wing sauce at Willie’s is top notch.

This in-house sauce has just the right amount of heat, and is slightly sweet.

Unique and very flavorful, every wing lover in Columbia should treat themselves to some Willie’s wings or a “Flaming Penguin” sandwich from Lee Street Deli and try this sauce.

Honey Mustard is the second and newest addition to the Willie’s sauce roster.

Not so hot, but the sweet flavor of the honey and the tanginess of the mustard compliments the breaded wings well.

Hands down the best “non-buffalo” or non-traditional wing sauce we’ve found in Columbia so far.

Sauce – 9.5/10 Regular, 9.3/10 Honey Mustard

Well, I thought it couldn’t be done. In my mind there was no way a breaded wing could be crispy enough for my taste, especially after being smothered in sauce.

Willie’s has proved me wrong. I have long dismissed Willie’s because their wings were breaded and I’m sorry I have.

A thin layer of breading really works well with both sauces they offer, and adds substance to the smaller sized wings.

Honey Mustard

Honey Mustard

Crispiness/Juiciness – 9/10

While the service at Willie’s isn’t horrible, it isn’t the best either.

It seems that if you’re not a regular the wait staff isn’t that attentive to your party.

High points include receiving a friendly greeting from the bartender upon entering and the fact that they leave a bottle of regular wing sauce on the table, so the customer can add as much sauce as they like to their meal.

Service – 6/10

Willie’s wings at $4.95 for 12 and $7.95 for 24 are pretty much the best non-special deals for wings we’ve found.

The wings are small, but with breading they prove to be quite filling.

I finished 24 and was super full. Nate almost got all 24 down, but had to stop a few wings short.

$7.95 for an extremely full stomach is a pretty good deal in my book.

Value – 8/10

Overview:

Meatiness: 3/10

Sauce: 9.5/10 Regular, 9.3/10 Marty’s

Crispiness/Juiciness: 9/10

Service: 6/10

Value: 8/10

Overall (not an average): 8.6/10

Junk food connoisseur and friend of the Wingmen, Jason “the Beav” Hine has always raved about Willie’s wings and now I see why.

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Heidelberg….Good wings or should they just stick to pitchers?

Posted in Heidelberg on February 12, 2009 by Nate

Ahh Heidelberg, what MU student or Alum hasnt ever downed a drink or two, or ten at this Columbia landmark. Originally established in 1963, the Heidelberg has been around for quite a while. Although it burned down in August 2003, it was quickly rebuilt in a very similar way to its original design, and most are hard pressed to find a difference. With a roomy open air second floor that is heated in the winter, there is plenty of seating, but before basketball games and the Friday before football games be prepared to wait a bit for a seat. The Heidelberg is steeped with MU tradition and is a great place to spend time with friends and family. Although there are many factors that make a place great, here at Wingmen we are focused on one thing…the wings. Have they been able to perfect this bar food staple in 46 years of business? On to the review.

Meatiness-
The size of the wings at Heidelberg were a bit above average. They certainly wernt huge, but big enough to get a nice chunk of chicken in each bite. The meat was good quality as far as we could tell, and seemed fresh. As the wings themselves were good sized, a bit above average, we gave them a 6.

Meatiness- 6/10

Sauce -
I will have to split this up into two sections, as we tried two different types of wings.
Regular “Hot” Wings – The sauce was a very simple buffalo sauce mixture with a nice bright red color. Its always hard to tell what exactly makes up a wing sauce, but if I had to guess I would say it was just some Louisiana hot sauce withheidelreg little or no butter, and thats it. This isnt necessarily a bad thing, as the sauce was enjoyable, and decently spicy. Sauce coverage was a bit on the weak side, and we didnt end up having a chance to ask for extra sauce, which would have been nice. Its funny how often Matt and I order then wish we would have ordered them with extra sauce to begin with. However, the sauce was good, albeit very simple. Well give it 6.

Marty’s Wings – Ok. So a couple people have suggested these to me so matt and split an order or regular and an order of Martys. I will be frank. The Martys wings were really disappointing. I dont know what we were expecting but they were just wings…fried….with no sauce….and in the place of sauce sprinkled with a mixture that seems to be mostly made of up seasoning salt. They were just like overly salty, sauceless fried chicken wings. I mean hey, maybe some martyshitpeople like this but Matt nor I dug the Martys wings at all. One interesting note is that after the meal, the bartender said we should have asked for a cup of hot sauce to dip the martys wings in, and thats how most people like em. That seems weird as the only difference that we could see in the two types of wings was the lack of sauce/addition of seasoning salt on the Martys…but whatever. Sorry but we have to give the Martys sauceless, salty seasoning a mere 2 (I had to argue Matt out of a 1) on the Wingmen sauce scale.

Sauce – Regular – 6/10, Martys – 2/10

Crispiness/Juiciness
Matt and I both agreed that the strongest point of the Heidelberg wings was the the deliciously crispy skin. They were cooked well and were nice and juicy. The regular wings stayed nice and crispy even when sauced and the Marty’s wings had a beautiful golden brown color and perfectly crispy skin. I guess if thats really what you look for in a wing, maybe the Martys wings are for you. We decided to give the Heidelberg a solid 7 on the crispiness/juiciness scale.

Service-
The service at Heidelberg has always been solid, and usually ranges anywhere from average to really great. We have often come in with huge parties, and the waitresses have been extremely accommodating, keeping our pitchers full and our served has been served in good time. However, when we went in recently to do this review, I would say the service wasnt too hot. We sat at the bar, so we were not too surprised by this. We got our food and beer in good time, but the very busy bartenders didnt really seem to pay any attention to those eating at the bar, and we tried a few times to get her attention for extra sauce to no avail. They totally got some extra points though, as we thought we were being funny and wrote “See how you did at Columbiawingmen.com” on our receipts, expecting to leave, and the bartender to find it afterwords. Well, we were still sitting there when she got the receipts, and reading them sorta of laughed in a what the heck kinda way, and I quickly explained we were from a website that reviewed wings. The extra points come from the fact that she actually recognized us from the article in the paper! Ah its so nice to be a fledgling Columbia celeb. We gave em a 5.

Service – 5/10

Value -
Heidelberg wings come at a decent price, and are served in these fun little metal dish things, like what people will eat off of in the future. Or what a robot would eat off of something. I kinda like em. The wings cost $6.99 for ~10 decently sized wings, which comes in at a bout a 5 on the value scale, but during happy hour, appetizers are B1G1, so they come out to $3.50 each, which earns them a pretty strong 8 on the value scale. This lasts from 3pm to 6pm each weekday. As long as you bring a friend, its a pretty good deal.

Value – 5/10 normally, 8/10 during happy hour.

Heidelberg is a great place to drink a million beers, no one can deny that, but I have to say there are better choices if you are going out strictly for wings.

Overview:

Meatiness: 6/10

Sauce: 6/10 Regular, 2/10 Marty’s

Crispiness/Juiciness: 6/10

Service: 5/10

Value: 5/10 Normally, 8/10 Happy Hour

Overall (not an average):

5.8/10 Regular

3/10 Marty’s

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Hoss’s Market and Rotisserie – The Wingmen go Gourmet

Posted in Hoss's with tags on February 2, 2009 by Matthew

I like Hoss’s. Their steaks are prime, their cheeses are rare and imported from Europe, and their ingredients are top notch. It’s the perfect place for the Columbian who loves having the best when it comes to food.

Unfortunately, on my student budget my visits to Hoss’s are more like a trip hoss1to a museum than to a market. Hopefully, in a few months after I graduate and get a job, I’ll be able to stop student charging all of my meat from the Mizzou meat lab and start purchasing the beautiful marbled cuts from behind Hoss’s meat counter.

Until last week I had never been in Hoss’s, and I never imagined they had wings. When the owners emailed the wingmen and invited us to try their unique smoked wings I was excited to finally have an excuse to visit.

As stated above the visit was great. They have samples of sauces, meats, dips and salsas located throughout their retail area, and everything I tasted was fantastic. They were quite busy, filling customers’ orders for the super bowl, but the staff still managed to be quite attentive.

Hoss’s serves wings sans-sauce, smoked with a spice rub. Their unique and healthy rendition of the wing definitely had us curious.

As expected, Hoss’s doesn’t skimp when it comes to the size or the quality of meat on their wings. They weren’t the biggest wings I’ve had but they had plenty of great flavored meat on them. Smoking the wings doesn’t limit flavoring to the skin like frying and saucing, so the wings tasted great all the way through.

Meatiness – 9/10

How do you rate the sauce on wings that don’t have sauce? The first thing that attracted me to wings as a child was the sauce, and I don’t think my love for wings would be near as strong if it wasn’t for the combination of butter and hot sauce that I’ve come to know and love. If Hoss’s was strictly a dine in restaurant, I would say that their omission of sauce would be a major problem, but since Hoss’s wings are mainly served as “take and bake” I think choosing to smoke the wings with a rub is a creative way to keep the wing from getting to mushy in the storage and re-heating process. The smoking gives the meat a great flavor and the rub adds a nice crust. Hoss’s also offers a number of very good wings sauces by the bottle for those who must have it, but at $7.00 plus a bottle it can be pretty pricey.

Sauce – 3/10

Because these wings are bought cold and need to be reheated before serving, the crispiness really depends on how long the wing lover chooses to keep them in the oven before eating them. I have to say that smoking them and reheating them does not give you as crispy skin as frying, but they weren’t bad. The smoking process renders a lot of the fat out of the wings and greasiness isn’t a problem at all.

Crispiness/Juiciness – 6/10

Service at Hoss’s is immaculate. They even have “Come as a stranger, leave as a Friend,” or something equally as heart warming painted real big above their register. Plenty of samples and a very considerate, helpful and knowledgeable staff are just a few examples of how Hoss’s goes the extra mile.

Service – 10/10

Normally, a pound of wings at Hoss’s costs $7.50, a little under the average price at restaurants. For the super bowl they went on sale, 50 wings for $35.00, and I would be surprised, if you wanted to buy wings in bulk, if you couldn’t cut a deal with them.

Value – 4/10

Overview:

Meatiness: 9/10

Sauce: 3/10

Crispiness/Juiciness: 6/10

Service: 10/10

Value: 4/10

Overall (not an average): 7.2/10

Hoss’s is worth a visit wings or not. If you love food you’ll really love Hoss’s.

While their wings are way off the main stream, I would definitely get them again to heat up for a party or a catered function.

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Wing Crisis Update: The Strategic Wing Reserves Called In To Use!

Posted in Wing Crisis 2009 with tags , , , , on January 30, 2009 by Matthew

In a follow up to Stephen’s Wednesday night segment of “Countdown to Wing-ageddon,” Richard Lobb of the national chicken council calls for wing producers to fill all of their orders despite supply shortcomings.

Here’s a link to the wing sauce spill in Fairfield, CT that Stephen mentioned. Too bad it was not wing sauce intended for Friday’s or Applebees.

Also in wing news today, I found out that Hoss’s Market has a Superbowl Special on their wings, 50 (very meaty from what I hear) wings for $35.00.

If you know of any other Super Bowl wing specials please let us know!

Has the wing shortage directly affected you?

Whether you are a consumer looking for a tasty snack, or a restaurant owner trying to serve the best wings possible, we want to know how the wing shortage is affecting our city. Comment!

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Shout Out to Monte “Big Sug” Wyrick.

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , on January 29, 2009 by Nate

Our good friend/food taster/security guard Monte was pretty bummed he didnt get mentioned in the article as he helped us develop the recipe we put in the paper so I wanted to give him a shout out.

Thanks Monte ,

Nate and Matt

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Wing Stimulus Plan Party.

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , on January 29, 2009 by Nate

We were thinking itd be fun to try to get people to eat more wings in the face of this wing crisis. Comment if you would be interested in Matt and I renting out a room at somewhere like the Pasta Factory, during happy hour, and ordering a whole bunch of wings. Good times, beers and cheap wings?

Let us know.

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Harpo’s…A Nice Take on Classic Wings

Posted in Harpos with tags on January 29, 2009 by Nate

Random Note – My name is actually spelled Nate Marschalk. Typo in the Tribune article…Oops!

Matt and I have been lucky enough to become very close with the family of a friend of ours, and with the Father being a sports obsessed alum, they come to nearly every football game and many basketball games. They drive almost 6 hours each way! Now that’s dedication. Often when our friend’s parents come into town, they are gracious enough to take us out to dinner and for many years have put on the best tailgates you could hope for. I want to give a shout out to the Coxes – You guys rock. The family happened to be in town for a basketball game recently, and invited everyone out to Harpo’s for a little food, drink, and far too difficult trivia. Impossible trivia aside, I was happy to head to Harpo’s, as I have been wanting to try out their wings for a while. Although I would have had a wonderful time even if the wings sucked as I was with some of my best buds, but I am happy to report they were surprisingly good. Often, Matt and I have noticed that at some of the bars around town, they typically focus on drinking a bit more than the often mediocre food, and this is what I wrongly expected of Harpo’s (at least for the wings).Overall, the wings were very classic, and done right. Simple and delicious. Hats off to Harpo’s.

harpos

They wings were very average sized. I would say they are the most average sized wings I have had…if that makes sense. Not too big…not too small. Just right.

Meatiness – 6/10

The sauce at Harpo’s was a very good example of classic wing sauce. It tasted just like I expect typical buffalo wing sauce to taste. It was likely a simple mixture of Louisiana hot sauce and butter blended together. It was not greasy, nor was it very thick but it clung to the wings well. Although we did not ask for extra, the wings had good sauce coverage. Nothing fancy, but I can honestly say it was the best rendition on the classic buffalo wing I have had in Columbia.

Sauce – 8/10

The wings were not breaded, they were served naked covered in sauce, with some mediocre blue cheese on the side. Although we just ordered a bunch of appetizers, they were served nice and hot, and the wings were crispy and juicy. Again, these were simply a great example of classic buffalo wings.

Crispiness/Juiciness – 8/10

The service at Harpo’s was fine. Our pitchers were replaced in good time and our food did not take long even though the room was packed for trivia. I would say the service was what you would expect at a bar in Como. Nothing spectacular but it was fine.

Service – 6/10

The wings are $6 for a lb (~12), pretty average.

Value – 6/10

This review was short and simple. Harpo’s simply offers great classic wings, and I would totally go there again. Give em a try and let me know if you agree.

Overview:

Meatiness: 6/10

Sauce: 8/10

Crispiness/Juiciness: 8/10

Service: 6/10

Value: 6/10

Overall (not an average): 7/10


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The Wing Crisis gets the Colbert Bump!

Posted in Wing Crisis 2009 with tags , on January 29, 2009 by Matthew

Ladies and Gentlemen it looks as if the Wing Crisis of 2009 is hitting with the full force of at least a category 2 hurricane.

Don’t let it get you down!

As far as I know you can still get wings on the cheap at Shiloh and Pasta Factory on Mondays.

Stay tuned to the Wingmen for any further development in the Wing Scarcity Crisis. We’ll let you know how rising prices are effecting the local wing availability and where Columbians can still go to get a cheap plate of delicious wings.

I know these are tough times but the Wing Army will prevail!

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