Hey Wing Army Members! Matt here, and I’m back in Columbia and more fired up than ever to find the elusive perfect Como wing. As a welcome back ceremony of sorts Nate and I decided to dine on some of Columbia’s newest wings from Pizza Hut’s new partner in crime Wing Street. Wing Street has been sweeping the nation, providing restaurant quality wings with the convenience of delivery. NPD has named Wing Street the fastest growing fast food chain of 2008 and the wingmen just had to see what all the fuss is about. We found some coupons, ordered some wings over the internet and when they arrived we sat down in front of the TV and leisurely dined while watching some Gordon Ramsay. Sounds like a perfect evening. Wings, Gordon and a good buddy, not much could ruin that accept sub par wings and thankfully Wing Street hit the spot. It’s safe to say that Wing Street sets the bar for pizza chain wings. They have delivery wings down to a science and it shows.
Pizza Hut/Wing Street
111 E. Business Loop
(573) 886-6685
I assumed that Wing Street would serve smaller than average wings due to the coupons they offer for large amounts of wings (40). This was not the case; the wings were not huge but quite filling. I was full after I had eaten 12 or so. You could tell that the meat was not as high of a caliber as meat you could find from a local wingery that buys their wings in fresh. They had more in common with Buffalo Wild Wings than with Domino’s or Imo’s when it came to meat quality. Definitely edible, but definitely not bought fresh from the market.
Meatiness: 6/10
Apparently, in 2007, Wing Street stole the show at the annual National Buffalo Wing Festival in New York, winning a number of awards for sauces including Best Traditional Hot Wing Sauce for its Buffalo Burnin’ Hot Wing. They have 8 different sauces, but being wing purists we stuck with the Hot Buffalo flavor. While I disagree that the sauce deserved to win a national award for flavor, I would give an award to the sauce for its heat. These puppies are damn hot! Nate and I both had to take breaks to cool down halfway through our meal. I don’t want to give the impression that the sauce tasted bad, or that the heat affected the flavor negatively like it so often does (Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin’ sauce for example), because these did taste good. The wings were well covered with plenty of sauce that stuck well to the wing. I am sure Wing Street, being part of a large company with vast resources, has poured a lot of money into engineering quality sauces. Not as charming of a concept as the local bar owner painstakingly crafting the perfect wing sauce, but hey in this game it’s all about the taste and Wing Street gets the job done.
Sauce: 7/10
In my experience, the pizza chains are the last place to look for a decent basket of wings. It is very often that you find that no care has gone into the cooking of the wings at all. Most times frozen, pre-sauced wings are just slapped on a screen and put through the pizza oven (I worked at Papa John’s for 2 years and that how we did it, I’ve found it hard to forgive myself). This technique is the perfect recipe for greasy wings with mushy skin. It doesn’t help that the wings are then wrapped in foil and shoved in a box to be delivered, further cooking the wings and enhancing their mushiness. Pizza Hut has finally figured it out with their Wing Street “alliance.” Throwing a fryer or two into the pizza kitchen makes a WORLD of difference. Even after sitting in the box on the way from Pizza Hut to my house the wings were as crispy as the wings you receive in many restaurants. Not quite as crispy as I would like but far, far above any of the slippery concoctions slung out by Pizza Hut’s competitors. The wings were not overcooked and dried out or undercooked and greasy. I am sure in this case as well that Wing Street authorities have scientifically procured a proper cooking procedure for their wings.
Note: Wing Street offers wings that are breaded or non breaded (traditional). Of course we got traditional.
Crispiness/Juiciness: 6.5/10
Nate got the wings as a carryout order, but from experience delivery times from Pizza Hut/Wing Street can range anywhere from 25 minutes to 2 hours. You can normally expect a 40 minute wait from the time you place your order.
Right now there are some great coupons available for Wing Street wings, but I assume that the coupons are primarily for promoting the newly opened Columbia locations. We ended up paying $19.78 for 40 wings with a coupon.
Overview:
Meatiness: 6/10
Sauce: 7/10
Crispiness/Juiciness: 6.5/10
Delivery Time: 5/10
Value: 5/10
Overall (not an average): 6.8/10
Wing Street definitely has my money when it comes to wings at home or work. As I have stated before the wings are rather formulaic, but coming from Pizza Hut I didn’t expect anything different. Where these wings really shine are how well they are cooked and how well they stay crispy. I’ll be very surprised if I can find and delivery wings that are half this good.
I am glad you guys are having fun…but remember, dont let the fame go to your head. Lock the devil up in a box and throw away the key! No Beer, No Mud, and No X Rated Shenanigans.
Hey guys, I love the site–humorous and helpful. I wanted to say that I got some pizza hut wings last Saturday–they weren’t from Wing Street because they don’t deliver to Scott. The wings were good and not too pricy, but overall I would give them a five or a 6. They’re not the greatest wings in COMO, but from a pizza place, you’ll have that. It is pretty sweet puss that I can get pasta and wings from pizza hut and be satisfied.
Keep up the good work, you princes of COMO, you kings of the Midwest.