APPLEBEE'S: Eating good in the neighborhood?

Applebees offers 3 different types of sauces for their wings. They have classic, hot and barbecue. On this particular night, I had classic. The classic had a little bit of spice to them. They also had too much sauce for my taste. They were completely soaked. The wings were juicy and the serving size was good. The wings are a decent appetitizer but not a main attraction.

Applebees wing rating: 5

~AB Chef Naimah

TROPICANA: NOT THE CASINO, NOT THE JUICE

I went to the Tropicana Diner yesterday in Elizabeth, NJ. Now wings are not what I was looking for on this particular day, however, they seemed to find me anyway. Tropicana Diner serves Buffalo Wings. Their wings are not covered in sauce but instead the sauce is cooked into the batter. The wings have a nice crisp to them. I like that the sauce is cooked into the batter because this gives them a good flavor throughout. They were not overly spicy which was nice. I would have to say that I would order wings there again.

Tropicana Diner wings rating: 7

~AB Chef Naimah

WING-OFF 2009 PICTURES

There is nothing like being there, but a few photos will help you see what the day was like.

Here's AB Chef Ant helping tend the grill. Thanks to our gracious hosts Khadine and Arthur, everyone was able to have burgers, hot dogs, and shrimp skewers... very nice start to the day.


AB Chef Ant and host Khadine were happy that the sun beat out the rain.


AB Chef Naimah helps Hart sign the e-mail list.

This year's wings being served: "Garlic Breath", "X-Wings", "Baby Dragon Wings", "Carnival Cruise", "Zenobia Wings", "Beer Battered Health", and "If These Wings Could Fly".


This year's Judges, Walter, Randall, and Jaime, Deliberate on Appearance, Texture, Originality, and Flavor...

Esere casts her People's Choice ballot.

While everyone voted, the kids competed in our Chicken-Toss.

AB Chef Ant helps Leila with her form.

Okailee, this year's Chicken-Toss champion, takes her second throw.

Even Judge Randall took a crack at it!!!

After the scores were tallied the Winners were announced and honored:
AB Chef Ant, Leknauth Angad, Teo Rivera, and Joe Basa.

1st Place winner: Leknauth "Professor X" Angad

2nd Place winner: Teo "The Dragon" Rivera

3rd Place winner: "The Fireman" Antony Hage

'Garlic Breath" wings by "The People's Champ" Joe Basa won the 2009 people's choice vote.

Judge Randall brought out a gift to help us celebrate the occasion.

We toasted to a great time.

From all of us at American Backyard Chef, THANK YOU!!!
(Justin (Volunteer), AB Chef AL, AB Chef Naimah, and AB Chef Ant)

-ABC

THANK YOU ALL!!!!

PICTURES COMING SOON

When it comes to cooking, people sit around and talk tough. No matter how delicious the food is in front of them, they always have a better recipe, or maybe their uncle, or their grandmother, etc. Let's not speculate, let's put these local hero's to the test. If you know of a recipe that can knock out the competition, use it, and prove it against all those who want the title of this year's Wing-Off Champion. If you want to know how your recipe stands up, its not too late to see were you stand. If you are bold enough to enter your wings, or you are interested in finding the best tasting wings in the the underground circuit, or if you just want to come to a cookout and enjoy yourself, you are welcome to attend Wing - Off 2009 this Sunday, August 23rd @ 2pm. Email us for details or to enter your recipe: americanbackyardchef@gmail.com
Hope to see you there!!!

- ABC

A REAL CONTENDER

After racing to Newark in the rain, parking too far by mistake, running down the street and twisting my ankle to make it inside before the last gate came down, I was met wit the holy grail that was worth the adventure. This holy grail is called Planet Wings. They were more than willing to explain all the sauces we had questions about and to showcase the ones they considered "the best." There were about 24 sauces (enough to make Cluck-U cringe) to try so we tried as many sauces as we economically could. The AB Chefs and I tried the following sauces; Gourmet Garlic, Hot BBQ, Honey BBQ, Leapin' Lizard, Jamaican Jerk, Hot, and the greatly feared "Suicidal." To make a short story shorter, the the only sauce we all agreed on was the Gourmet Garlic. The name is fitting, and the flavor is a dependable follow up. These wings were finished first! The true test of the night was the Suicidal wings. These wings had to meet the approval of "The Fireman" himself, AB Chef Ant. He was not fased by the heat (so he said after coughing) he hailed their flavor! Even though we all agreed on the Gourmet Garlic flavor as being a standout, I till believe that the "Hot BBQ" wings were the best. There's 24 sauces to try, so figure it out for yourself!

-AB Chef AL

Planet Wings wing rating: 9

BANG FOR THE BUCK

State Street Grill in Bloomfield does not boast about its hot wings. The truth is, they are boast-worthy. the wings are breaded, but not nearly as heavily as your average CLUCK-U wing, and the chicken is cooked to perfection. As for the sauce, it is one of the best traditional sauces around, possibly straight out of the bottle, but who knows. They serve it one the side so you can adjust how much heat you want, but I myself would have smothered them. The only drawback these wings have is the cost. Averaged out they are about $1.03 per wing. This is outlandish. For that price, those wings better wipe my mouth and pour me a drink, but unfortunately, they just sit there. You wont be disappointed by the wings at State Street, but you WILL pay dearly...

State Street Grill wings rating: 7

-AB Chef AL

HOT FOR HOOTERS

Hooters is nationally known for their chicken wings among other things. My purpose is to test and see what is so special about those wings. I was definitely on a mission to find out what was so delightful about those wings. On a boring Wednesday night I decided to check out the Hooters on route 22 in Union New Jersey, to see what the big deal was. Hooters offer an assortment of sauce that gives their wings a unique spicy kick. Their variety of sauces include Mild, Medium, Hot, 3 Mile Island, and the mother of them all the 911 sauce. Well, for me being the spicy lover that I am I went all the way with the 911 sauce, I was a bit curious to know if I had to sign some kind of waiver, I was informed by my waitress that this was not Cluck U Chicken and it was not necessary. I would unquestionably state that for the average person the 911 sauce delivered a powerful punch. The buffalo wing were well coated and very tender, the taste of the spicy 911 sauce did not overwhelm the taste or take away from the flavor of the chicken. They both embrace each other for good mix between the chicken and the hot sauce. I also tried the 3 mile island, which delivered a wonderful mix of spiciness to the chicken. Now for the rest of the sauces, they are not as potent at as the 911 and 3 mile island sauce they seem to very tame on the punch they deliver. If the spicy delivery is not your department then you will definitely enjoy the rest of those sauces. If you love spicy food and especially hot wings I recommend that you to try their 911 sauce, and the 3 mile island on chicken wings.
Hooters spicy chicken rating: 7
-AB Chef Ant

LET'S GO OUTBACK TONIGHT...

Most chain restaurants leave much to be desired when looking for a good wing. However, if flavor is what you're looking for, Outback has something for you. Outback has the right amount of seasoning on their wings. They come in mild, medium and hot. Hot is not super spicy but gives a good amount of spice for the person that wants flavor but not an overload of heat. Texture wise, their wings are good. They are crispy without being overly crunchy and very tender. They are also hot and ready to eat when the plate hits the table. Overall, if you're looking for something to eat on a Sunday night and don't want to cook, I say, "Let's go Outback tonight".

Outback Steakhouse wing rating:6

-AB Chef Naimah

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SAUCE

If you have not heard of CLUCK U CHICKEN, you are lucky because you will be able to taste their sauces for the first time. Cluck U carries a variety of sauces that are sure to suite any palate. I just tried their "Traditional" sauce, "Honey Hickory" sauce, "Atomic" and "Nuclear" sauces. All of these are great, even though the honey Hickory is a bit sweet for "hot wings", but never fear. If you you like hot ones most of the other sauces have a kick. There is even a "911" sauce. What I have also found is that they bottle their sauces and other resturances feature "Cluck U sauces !!!" on their menus. If Cluck U Chicken is not the king of sauce, I would love to know who is.
Cluck U Chicken wing rating: 8

-AB Chef AL

PERFECTION IS HERE.

They say that practice make perfect well with this upcoming "Wing Off" I am entering the perfect set of wings. I decided to start practicing making my unique batch of Buffalo wings from scratch. After doing my intense research I realize that this feat is not going to be easy, nonetheless am up to the challenge. I came up with the ideal plan to create my wonderful wings. The plan is quite simple to have the all the flavors of the Buffalo wings to tackle every single taste buds from the moment you bit into my wings to the second you start licking you finger tips. What I believe I have accomplishes is the holy grail of Buffalo wings. This is perfection at its best. The chicken wings are first marinated over night than are put in the oven to be baked, and they are immediately coated with my spicy BBQ sauce which is where all the magic happened. I say this to say I just elevated the bar of what Buffalo wings should taste like, now the question is who is willing to step up and give me some competition.

-AB Chef Ant.