Wings & Things, Marquette, Mich.

Wings & Things Sports Lounge

3060 US Highway 41 W
Marquette, MI 49855
(906) 225-9230
http://www.wingsandbowling.com/wingsandthings.html

Wings & Things is a relatively new lounge in Marquette, where I live. I went there a couple of weeks ago with my dad and his fiancee, Kim, to try out their wings.

Wings & Things is located in a bowling alley and it is very sporty. Like most sports bars, it had a lot of sports being shown on television and sports decorations. On the ceiling there was blankets with football teams featured on them.

The decorations were not what I was there to try, however, and my dad went to work ordering us a plate of wings to split. Instead of having the sauce put on the wings, which were cooked "naked" with no flouring, we had several kinds put on the side.

We tried the Parmesan Garlic sauce, the Garlic Butter, the Traditional Hot and the Sudden Death Hot.

The chicken wings themselves were cooked nearly to perfection. They were juicy with a crisp skin on the outside. They definitely passed the stand-alone taste test.

The sauces were also very good. The two garlic sauces were tasty, though not spicy at all. The Traditional Hot was my favorite out of the ones I tried. It was spicy, but not as spicy as I normally like. The Sudden Death was a little too hot, though it was fun trying it with my dad.

The Traditional Hot was the one I ate the most of and thought it was almost perfect in terms of wing sauces. It wasn't runny and it had a nice bite to it.

Overall, I am going to give Wings & Things a rating of 8 out of 10. I would recommend any wing fan to stop and try it if they are in the Marquette area and it is one of my favorite places to get wings from right now.

FINAL SCORE: 8-out-of-10

At Home Hot Wing Sauce Challenge #1

Sweet Baby Ray's Hot Wing Sauce
versus
Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce
My Kitchen
Marquette, MI

Every now and then I will be trying new hot wing sauces at home. My dad is the cook, making the chicken wings by rolling them in plain white flour and frying them in vegetable oil. The sauces that we use are then poured over the wings and they are coated completely.

This time I tried Frank's Hot Wing Sauce and Sweet Baby Ray's Hot Wing Sauce, both were purchased at our local Wal-Mart.

According to the Frank's Red Hot bottle, the company's hot sauce was used in the original recipe for Buffalo Wings in New York in 1964. My dad noted that their sauce coats well and pointed out it was lighter in color as compared to the Sweet Baby Ray's.

I was not a fan of the Sweet Baby Ray's sauce. I liked the spiciness of it, but there just wasn't something right about the taste.

The Frank's sauce, however, was awesome. It was good to eat and I nearly finished that side of the plate, leaving my dad with the other wings.

If I were to rate these sauces, I would give Sweet Baby Ray's 3 out of 10, while Frank's Red Hot gets a 7 out of 10.

CHALLENGE WINNER: Frank's Red Hot Wing Sauce

Panda Garden - Marquette, Mich.

Panda Garden Chinese Restaurant

1014 W Washington St
Marquette, MI 49855
(906) 228-5559
http://pandagardenmqt.com/

A couple of weeks ago, the wings at the Panda Garden were sampled when we met up with my Grandma Sue for lunch. It was after I ran a race, so I was hungry.

The wings at Panda Garden can be ordered off their menu or can be taken off of their buffet. I went with the buffet because I wanted egg drop soup, too.

Unfortunately, the chicken wings weren't the best. They were a little dry because they were probably left out too long without new ones being put in.

If I had to rate it between 1 and 10, with 10 being the best, I would have to give the Panda Garden's chicken wings a five. I think the wings might have been better if they were fresh from the kitchen.

FINAL SCORE: 5-out-of-10