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