Anyone out there kinda obsessive about things? I'll be the first to admit that I love chicken wings….. I mean I've created a category for them. To add to the obsession, I've even created my own little "value scale" for chicken wings….. I automatically divide the price of the wings by the number of wings in an order. Of course taste is king…. but I gotta admit at Kyochon level price levels,$1 a wing, it better be pretty darn good. I guess that's why I've thought Royal Mandarin's Salt and Pepper wings at $7.95 for an order, which usually contained 14 wings (about 57 cents per), was a bargain. I hope they reopen soon. For some reason, I've kinda drawn a mental "line" of 79 cents a wing, as being reasonable. Of course, Tebasaki Wings are in a category all their own. Weird, I know…….
Anyway, I've had a couple orders of wings from different places (surprise!) in the last couple of months, and here's a short round-up.
Phuong Trang – Butter Chicken Wings:
In the comments area of my post on City Dragon's chicken wings (at 7 for 6.99 was in Kyochon territory, and believe, it wasn't even close to Kyochon), "Arlene" mentioned that the chicken wings at Phuong trang might be worth chicking ummm, checking out.
The item mentioned was the "Butter Chicken Wings", and take a while to cook, at least fifteen minutes. So if you order these, and your Com Tam or Bun comes out first, the "appetizer sin" occurring, at least you can be sure you get some hot and sizzling wings.
At $8.95 for a dozen wings, this runs to about 75 cents each, which is reasonable. The wings are juicy and sizzling hot, these are more crusty than crunchy, as the batter turns out to be kinda crumbly. It deteriorates quickly, and gets to be kinda greasy…. but, hey they are called "Butter Wings", right? I thought these were kinda high on the salty scale, and I like salty wings….
Decent price, but overall, just ok.
Phuong Trang
4170 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Tajima Sushi and Japanese Tapas Restaurant:
On one of my visits to Tajima "2", I ordered the fried chicken wings. I thought at $5.95 this was pretty inexpensive…. but with only five wings, these broke the Kyochon price ceiling:
These are what I call "dipped wings" and are made much like my Garlic Chicken, where chicken is first battered and fried, and then dipped into a mixture right after frying. These were nice and sticky, but very low on the flavor scale, edging toward sweet. The batter wasn't very crunchy, and the meat was on the dry and chewy side.
In my opinion, not worth the price.
Tajima Sushi & Japanese Tapas Restaurant
4411 Mercury St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Huynh Hoa Tuu – Hot Wings:
Update – Huynh Hoa Tuu has closed.
After all the dishes I've had at Huynh Hoa Tuu, you know I had to check out the "Hot Wings". At $5.95 for 7, this was on the high side with regards to price, but still below the "Kyochon line".
These wings were battered and fried, then cooked, a la Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings, but with the addition of a sweet and spicy Nuoc Mam Cham(fish sauce) style sauce. These were still crunchy, and the flavors came through very well…. salty, but in a good way, with some depth. Some of the garlic had been burnt, which caused some bitterness, but on a later visit with some FOYs it was done better. There was some decent spice, and the hints of sweetness helped.
Overall, like much of what Huynh Hoa Tuu serves; good beer food.
Huynh Hoa Tuu
4660 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
So there you, three more orders of Chicken Wings served up! Much thanks to FOYs (Friends of Yoso) like Arlene without whom I'd be chicken-wing deprived (or is it depraved???).