In Search of a Wing Man

 A week ago I went for a magical four mile walk and every time I went into a bar they gave me free wings. Yes, I was one of the celebrity judges at this year's Pillars Wing Crawl. Last month I was asked to be one of the celebrity judges and asked for an interview for the Cleveland Scene. 4000 hits on my blog and 26 wings later has lead you to read this blog and me to have indigestion.

I met Lakewood Patch.com's Colin McEwen at Around the Corner. We planned to make a straight line down Detroit catching all the bars as we go. The only curves on a trip were to pick up the random things Colin left behind at most of the bars. Around the Corner had real good wings, especially their black pepper wings that stood out ahead of most of the wings of the day. They were also able to keep table service going at a reasonable rate too.

Next we made our way to the Harry Buffalo. The service was fast even though the bar was packed. I really liked their wings. They weren't the best or the most original, but I they stood out as wings I'd want to eat again. Their buffalo wings made my top 3.

After our first back track for Colin's voting sheet we went to the Riverwood Cafe. The wings and service were good. We also stole the booth from the principal of Lakewood Highschool. Luckily, we were able to finish our wings before they got theirs and quickly departed. We then quickly came back and picked up Colin's glasses.

Our next stop was Guys Pizza. The service was slow, we didn't get napkins and the batch of wings we got were almost too freezer burnt to eat. I hope, normally the wings and service are good but we were there at the wrong time.

The Booth has been one of my favorite bars that I've gone to during my blog so far. My expectations were high and I had no complaints about their wings. I especially enjoyed their Sriracha wings but I try and put cock (rooster) sauce on any food I can. Service wise the bartender was friendly and helpful and this was the only bar that trusted us to get our own wings (as a good thing.)

Next I went to the Local. I enjoyed both wings and gave them a solid score. I was disappointed that the kickin BBQ wasn't hotter but you can lose points with some people for being too spicy. I did like that my wing experience was enhanced with a fog machine!

Another one of my blogged bars was the Plank Road Tavern. Their moroccan dry rub wing was my favorite taste of the crawl and I will be back for more later. They also had the smallest wings of the crawl, which goes to show that good things can come in small packages.

This was my first time inside of Eddy & Iggy's. We spent an intermission here playing foosball. Word of advise the slim side has a gravity advantage. Also, I'm no good at foosball and lost both matches. We had real good service. The bartender took time to talk to me about their beer even though they were being hammered with crawlers. I really liked their buffalo wing, it held to a much more classic style instead of going for fancy and they hit a home run with it.

Merry Arts' wings tasted good, but their service didn't keep up. It took us a couple minutes to figure out how to get the wings (from the cook.) But since the cook was busy cooking, by the time I got the wings that were sitting out they were cold. I wasn't allowed to grab them on my own because I was informed that “You don't steal from a pimp.” The citric taste of their second wing complemented its cool temperature, honestly.

Jammy Buggers had the best actual wing meat of any of the bars we went to. I gave their buffalo wing my highest rating for that genre. They put a ton of work into their Top Secret Recipe #6 wings and it was really good but it was also a bit nutty and I don't like nutty. It was definitely an improvement over their Top Secret Recipe #5 wings that were a bit squirrelly and mildly triangle.

Last but not least was Deagans as the reigning champs (and as I am late on getting this blog done, the still reigning champs) my expectations were high. They were great. The wings were a high quality, though my batch was a little over cooked. The buffalo wings were the hottest wings of the day, I really liked them. But, even though we were sitting to the right of the taps behind the register we couldn't get anything to drink. After watching 5 different people walk in and immediately get service I decided I would raise my hand because that's what I was taught in school. Colin said he could get someone to wait on us instead. So, he tried his talking to people way and I tried mine. I won. Deagan's second specialty was real good as well.

We then trekked all the way back to our cars at Around the Corner. We wanted to hand our votes to the Pillar people because we didn't feel comfortable giving our votes directly to the bars. We stopped at the Root Cafe on the way back across town. Everybody knew Colin there and they probably have the nicest bathroom in town.

I'd like to thank the 11 bars that made wings for us and the Lakewood Pillars that put all their hard work into making a great Lakewood event. Also, thanks to Shawn Juris who invited me as a celebrity judge! It was a great day and I ate a lot of good wings. 

Week 6: Plank Road Tavern

There are some bars that always seem to have a new owner and names. Now, I need to decided, should I add the bar to my list with each incarnation or am I just going by address?  If I'm sitting on the same stool drinking the same Coors, does the fact that the name's been scraped off the mirror so many times that its been painted on the wall behind now, mean that it's a different bar? Bar #6 The Plank Road Tavern aka the Riviera aka Panini's says otherwise.

The Plank Road Tavern was the closest bar to my house and that made it an easy decision. Well, that and I couldn't figure out if the original bar I was going to would be open. Upon entering the bar had a wide open woody feel. Their beer list is drawn with chalk on the walls. Their use of plank wood flooring helped match the bar's name. There was even a fake wood fire place mounted to the wall. The most obvious piece of ambiance to the bar was the Irish band that seemed to make the music up as they went (but in a good way.) The staff was friendly, but did split the table service between the cook and the bartender.

The food was great. You get to design your burger with multiple types of meat and many toppings. I went with the chorizo burger that was a really great burger without being overwhelming. The fries were pretty good. They were a kind of hybrid between potato chips and french fries. The beer selection was wide and mainly craft allowing everyone to get a beer they really like.

Luckily, I did walk to the Tavern. I have a genetic tell, that shows when I am drunk. I come from an Italian family. We live up to a hand full of stereotypes. One is my Noni (grandmother) still makes spaghetti for the whole family every Thursday. The next two are apparent during our holidays. One is our love of food which quickly looks like a plague of locusts eating all food in sight. The second is that we are loud. Not all at once, we are like a thunder storm ruling in off the lake. A little uproar here and there and then suddenly (especially if alcohol is present) we are thunder. Part of this is how each speaker is selected; every time a new person talks they are slightly louder. One hour later, we are all happily yelling at the top of our lungs about childhood anarchy, causing any new husbands or girlfriends of cousins visiting our Christmas for the first time to end up in a food coma/shell shock induced fetal position. I am the same way at the bar regardless of competition. A couple hours into the night and I'm talking in at the decibel level of a 747 for no apparent reason and suddenly my wife takes my keys away. Which is fine because I don't believe in DUI and you can't talk your way out of a ticket when you are screaming at the cop at the top of your lungs how you are just tired.

Near the end of my evening I decided to head to the patio to take a picture for the blog and found the other half of the bar. There is a huge patio out back, big enough to play a long distance game of corn hole while having plenty of room for everyone else. In the back was a kickball team that included one the owners/parents of one of my dog school students. It turns out they aren't simply big fans of my classes but also of my blog, as they quickly introduced me to anyone from their team they could drag over to me. They own a 6 month old goldadoodle named Luke that is trying very hard to earn his Canine Good Citizen despite the handicap of also being part Muppet.

The Plank Road Tavern is a comfortable bar with good service, food or beer. It's a great place to meet your friends or other people's without feeling claustrophobic or stuffy. There was nothing to complain about even if I wanted to. Make sure you stop by while the weather's still nice and check out that huge patio in the back.

The final lesson of the evening that my friend John learned was, after me coaxing his drunk self to find out, you can't join an acoustic Irish folk band with an electric base guitar. This week I'll both be attending the VIP grand opening party for Quaker Steak and Lube tonight and I'll be a celebrity judge for the Pillars of Lakewood Wing Crawl this Saturday. Hope to see you all at one or the other!

Awesome: Food, atmosphere, Music, Craft Beer

16719 Detroit Ave

216-221- 5900

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*All photos are from Plank Road Tavern's Facebook page as my camera phone fail me.