Jake Melnick's Corner Tap - Chicago

Located at 41 E. Superior in the Rive North neighborhood, downtown Chicago

The Wing Joint:
If your a wing eater from Chicago, there is no doubt you've at least heard of Jake Melnick's Corner Tap.  I'm certain most of you have been there for these award winning wings.  If not, add this place to your list.  Although its been awhile since my last visit, I knew I needed to get here soon for an award winning wing review.  Well, my reviews are far from award winning but its these wings that are the winners.  For those of you who don't know here is a list of what some others say:
"Best wings in Chicago" - Thrillist
"The four best places for buffalo wings in Chicago" - Timeout Chicago
"One of seven best places for wings in Chicago" - Chicagoist
"Top 25 best wings in the country" - The Daily Meal
Voted Best Hot Wings 2010 Chicago Wing Fest
"Top 5 for wings and wing joint 2015" - Chicago's Wingman

Yes, its only April but I already know that this place will be near the top of my 2015 Wing Joint Awards.  I love this place.  Its an old fashion, comfortable, laid back, not really a sports bar but a sports bar bar with all the games on tonight.  This is a joint that makes you forget you just spent the day in the madness of Michigan Ave. shopping.  Yep, its only 2 blocks away.  An old long wooden bar is the first thing you'll notice when you walk in.  We waited for table on a Saturday night for only about 10 minutes, no worries because the bar is right there and they have 36 beers on tap.  Looking for a table without a reservation anywhere else in the area...good luck.   The wings are the highlight of the menu, but its also loaded with a bit more that just bar food; all with great reviews.  It's wing night for me and that's what I came for, to be honest I'm not even sure I've even had anything else here. Who has a wing of the month?  Jake Malnick's Corner Tap does and April is Pepperoni Pizza wings.


The Wing Review:

Poncho & Buffalo Spicy

So If your a regular reader, I've changed the format for my blog a little  Let me know what you think.  Anyway, so the wings are awesome.  Like heat?  This is your place.  Sign the waiver and try the XXX challenge, which is now hotter that before.  The Trinidad Scorpion Pepper has surpassed the Ghost Pepper for the title of World's Hottest Pepper and has been added to the XXX Sauce.  Maybe next time, but tonight its the very popular wing combo order for me.  4 Traditional Spicy Buffalo and 4 "Poncho" wings which are grilled, with a mixture of garlic and cayenne pepper coating the wings.  If I wasn't on my way to a party right after it would have been a Super Hot, which is a roasted habanero.

Temperature Served (4 stars):
Who doesn't like their wings steaming hot, well you all know I do.  Of course, a place that serves up a ton of wings they know how to do it right, but do I see the steam rising?  No

Size & Texture (4 Stars):
The size of the wings are medium.  Poncho wings are grilled to almost to perfection with a bit of crunch and super tender meat.  The juicy meat practically falls off the wings.  The traditional spicy where lightly breaded and fried.  Slippery when wet, careful if wearing white.  Wings slipped out of my hand twice, luckily not onto my pants.  I do like a little bit of a crispy crunch and there isn't much on the traditional buffalo.  My only complaint would be not enough wings in an order to be stratified.  I was done eating and looking for table scraps.

Sauce Coverage (4 Stars):
Poncho wings aren't sauced.  The buffalo were coated nicely.  Missing: that little extra puddle of sauce at the bottom of the basket to dip my wings or fries in.

Flavor & Heat (5 Stars):
Nailed it!  Yes both flavors.  The poncho wings were a little smoky tasting but the mixture of garlic and cayenne peppers made for an awesome combo.  They didn't forget about the heat either, just what the doctor ordered, the poncho wings had a sneaky heat.  The traditional spicy buffalo was very tasty.  The everyday wing eater might not be able to tell, but you can taste the Franks Red Hot sauce.  By adding their own mixture of spices its covered up well pretty well and has a great taste.  Lately, it seems its hard to find a great tasting buffalo sauce but this sauce should be jarred and in my refridgerator.  Well done Jake Melnick, well done.

Wing Night: None


Side Notes:
+Wing of the Month!  They should start a club
+Great location, great atmosphere, walk in anytime and get a table within 10 minutes, even on Saturday night at 7 while a Bulls playoff game is on.
-Pricey, $11.99 for 8 wings
-An order of 8 wings isn't enough for me, especially on a wing night.  Left a little hungry which is rare.


Moment of Truth and Why:

Overall: 4.5 Star Wings 

Jake Melnick's Corner Tap has a lot of hype, a lot of beer selections, and well known award winning wings.  To me, this place lives up to that hype.  They didn't quite get the 5 star rating, I initially had, but one to many negatives to give it that perfect wing rating.  Ill be back soon to see if they can redeem themselves with the Super Hot.  This is still one of my favorite places to get wings in the city.  This place knows heat.  The wing flavors are unique, tasty, and spicy.  If the prices weren't so high, this would be a regular wing joint.  Out of towners this is a must try and locals need to not eat another wing until you at least try these.  I'm looking forward to my next trip for the Super Hot wing flavor.  Then maybe the XXX challenge.

Website: www.jakemelnicks.com

 

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Always looking for a new wing joint, got a favorite wing joint?  Tell me about and I'll check it out.  Hope this helps and enjoy.  Eat more wings!

Hooters - Bacon Wrapped Wings

The Hooters in Aurora, IL was the only location in the Chicagoland area to serve the Bacon Wrapped Wings.

The Wing Joint:

Menu

Its Bacon Fest Week in Chicago and I thought, what better time to write my review on the Bacon Wrapped Wings Hooters offered during the Madness of March.  Congrats to Duke by the way for winning and beating my Utah Utes in the Sweet 16.  I mention this because during March Madness, I ate a ton of wings and watched even more basketball.  Hooters caught my attention actually on Twitter.  They announced for a limited time, at only select locations, they would be testing the market with bacon wrapped wings during the tournament.  Yes bacon is everywhere; seems you can get anything wrapped in bacon these days.  Its not everyday you find a place that serves bacon wrapped wings, at least not in Chicago.  Need less to say, this place jumped right to the top of my list of wings joints to review.  Love 'em or hate 'em, every wing eater out there has their own opinion about Hooters wings.  For me, Hooters was never been my go to wing spot, in fact I couldn't even tell you the last time I even went before this limited time offer was announced.
My Hooters history started when I was a young wing eater.  My first impression wasn't good.  I remember this because it was years later I gave them a second chance.  It was co-worker in 2008 that  convinced me to go back.  He raved about the Three Mile Island Sauce several times before I decided to try the wings again.  Now, Three Mile Island sauce is the only sauce for me on the rare occasion I go.

14 sauce options

Select locations indeed and believe me these bacon wrapped wings were not easy to find.  I called 3 locations closest to my house before one of the managers knew exactly which location in Chicago had them.  I must not be the only one calling.  Aurora, Illinois was the only location and it all had something to do with corporate locations verses the franchises or something, I don't know.  Anyway so off to Aurora I go.  Hooters its self, in my opinion of course, has gone down hill.  Not that its the classyiest of places to begin with but I found the Aurora location a little dirty and under staffed.  Service was slow and why in the world are they blasting club music on a Wednesday night at 6pm?  I could say more about the place itself but again, I'm here for one reason only...bacon wrapped wings.

The Wing Review:

12 Bacon Wrapped Wings w/Three Mile Island

Since this was a first for me, I was curious about the prep that goes into these wings?  So I asked.  I was told the cook wraps the naked wings the night before, only making 20 orders a day.  All drumsticks, 6 wings is considered an order, so I'm glad called ahead to make sure they had some left.  Not your typical heavily breaded and fried Hooters wings.  You do get to select any of their 14 sauces or 2 dry rubs.  Yeah Hooters does have 14 sauces now, which surprised me when I looked over the menu.  6 wings for $9.99 is pretty expensive but are they worth it?
I put in for two orders of 6.  Six wings didn't seem enough to fulfill this highly anticipated wing adventure.  The wing size is medium, not your typical jumbo sized hooters wings.  Temperature is warm, but not steaming hot, so I had better eat them quickly.  They have heat lamps for a reason.  The sauce is tastier and hotter than usual.  Maybe because their normal wings uses a lot of batter, which wings soak up what little sauce they use.
Now lets talk bacon.  The crispy bacon covered the entire wing and the meat was still tender and juicy.  Wow what bite.  Salty as hell, but the mixture of bacon, chicken, hot sauce, is literally in every bite sending my taste buds into a frenzy.  The bacon was wrapped nicely and actually stuck to the wings.  One bite didn't pull the entire piece of bacon off and didn't fall apart on the plate.  This is well crafted as far as wings go, I feel that these wings brought out the best in Hooters wings, of course for a limited time only.  Haha, I couldn't resist.  Maybe they should add the naked wing option.  I also get now why they only serve six wings in an order, these are filling!  After only 8 wings I was stuffed, but that only means I have some to take home.

Wing Night: None


Side Notes:
+14 sauces and 2 dry rubs, does that surprise anyone else?  I was.
-6 wings for 9.99.
-Hooters itself has really gone way down hill.

Moment of Truth and Why:

Close Up

Overall: 3.5 Star Wings 
Temperature: 3.5
Size & Texture: 3.5
Sauce Coverage: 2
Flavor: 5
Heat: 4

I know what your thinking...how can a chicken wing, bacon, and hot sauce combo not be a 5 star rating?  Well for one its Hooters.  Second, its very salty.  The bacon wrapped wings are good, not great.  The flavor and taste are intense for sure, but after 3 or 4, it starts slowly losing its appeal. Its not an order of wings you get every time but a tasty treat every once in awhile.  If I ordered these again, it would be to share that order of 6.  I don't think these last on the everyday menu.  I would be curious to find out how successful or unsuccessful the wings actually did at the Aurora location and across the country.  Hooters if you read this, please Tweet me and let me know.  We all know Hooters wings aren't known for being drenched in sauce, always heavily breaded and deep fried, but my suggestion to Hooters is to test the waters on naked wings.  For those I would return for.  That is all.

Website: https://www.hooters.com



Warmed up the next day

Follow me on twitter @chicagowingman

I'm always looking for a new wing joint, got a favorite?  Tell me about and I'll check it out.  Hope this helps and enjoy.  Eat more wings!

Normal Hooters wing order



Another Close Up