Time flies...

It's hard to believe it's been a year since Shaylyn and I posted on this website. We were talking about it just the other day and came to the conclusion that it's time to get it up and running again.

Sorry for the long hiatus, folks. Look for updates weekly from here until the foreseeable future.

Some exciting changes, too. In addition to chicken wings, Shaylyn will be reviewing various restaurants and meals and food items. We felt it was time for an expansion and a change. Her tastebuds are changing and her food interests are expanding.

So, check for a first update soon and regular updates from that point forward.

Thanks so much for sticking around and for visiting this blog.

Sincerely,

Sam (the editor and the Chick's dad)

Harold's Chicken

Harold's Chicken
1208 E 53rd Street
Chicago, IL 60615
Hyde Park Neighborhood
(773) 752-9260

Just like every kid, I really like not having to be in school--which is just one of the reasons why I like Spring Break.

Another reason is that my dad takes me on a small vacation every Spring Break. This year we went to Chicago to see some friends and go to the Field Museum and to the University of Chicago Oriental Institute.

We also had some chicken wings.

My future aunt, Jen, wanted us to try a place called Harold's, which is near the University of Chicago. She said it was not only good, but it was where President Barack Obama used to dine when he was just a local politician. That's why I wanted to go.

We ordered when we got there and my dad had to talk through a thick piece of glass and pick up the food through a weird revolving door. I ordered three chicken wings and they were really big. They weren't cut up, serving the whole wing, and they were breaded, which I normally don't like and, unfortunately, I didn't like it this time either. It was really salty.

The meat of the chicken was juicy at first, but if you let the chicken sit for too long (and I had to, because it was really hot when we got it) it dried out pretty bad.

And, if I haven't complained enough, their hot sauce was just a bit too hot for me, though it was very thick and dipped very well.

In the end, I liked some things about Harold's (it was cool that you got a slice of white bread with for each separate order) and there were things I really didn't like (I don't think most people eat in at Harold's--it wasn't very clean and not very eat-in friendly). So, in the end, I'm going to give Harold's a 6 out of 10. It's not my favorite, but I've had worse.

My dad said the chicken breast was juicy and great tasting and Kim liked the chicken nuggets. They said it was better than KFC. They both said it was real cheap, which they liked a lot.

If you try it, I hope you like it!

Final Rating: 6-of-10

Chick 'N Wings back from short hiatus

Sorry about being gone. I wasn't feeling well, and then my dad has been really busy and hasn't been able to make me wings. I'm back though and will have a new review up next week. Dad bought some new sauce and I'm going to try that out, and then I may be reviewing Stucko's in Marquette.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Domino's announces new wings

First of all, I hate the phrase "boneless wing." It's a chicken tender!

Anyway, now that I have ranted, I wanted to let everyone know that Domino's has announced a new chicken menu that will be hitting a location near you. Instead of their old chicken kickers, which I never reviewed but really didn't care for, they will have a boneless wing with dipping sauces. In addition, they are going to have a new recipe for their regular chicken wings. I don't know if that's exciting, or not--I kind of liked the old wings.

Here's an article in Crain's Business Journal about it.

In Jim's Opinion

So my dad just pointed out that my blog was mentioned by Jim Koski, a DJ at my favorite radio station, Q107-WMQT in Marquette, in his blog called "In Jim's Opinion."

Here's the link and it's the Feb. 15 post.

Sonya Thomas sets new speed-eating record for wings

One of the things I would like to do a little more on the site is post, but there are only so many chicken wings my dad is willing to buy each week (he'll come around eventually). So, my dad came up with the idea of posting a chicken wing related news piece or article or links to other chicken wing blogs and sites.

So, this time we decided to post a cool news article we found about Sonya Thomas setting the new speed-eating record for wings. She calls herself the Black Widow. She even beat Joey Chestnut, who my dad says is the top eater in the world.

You can visit the page by clicking here, and there's a video, too.

Mueller's Pizza

Mueller's Pizza
447 W. Washington Street
Marquette, MI 49855
muellerspizzamqt.com

A few nights ago, I ate some wings from Mueller's Pizza's new location in Marquette. They are from Escanaba originally and just opened up on Washington Street in downtown Marquette. My dad wanted to try their pizza, so we stopped in.

I ordered 12 wings and asked for sauce on the side. The sauces I asked for were buffalo, hot buffalo and garlic.

The wings were cooked 'naked,' which is how I like them. They were full of juicy meat, which is my favorite part. They were not too small and were cooked so the skin was nice and crispy.

Out of the sauces I got, I liked the regular buffalo the best. It didn't really taste like any buffalo sauces I've tried before, so I can't compare it to any. It had a good heat and full flavor, but it was not as good as Frank's Red Hot or some of my other favorites.

The hot buffalo was spicy, and a lot of people might think its too hot.

I did not like the garlic at all. It definitely tasted like garlic but was too salty for me.

I will rate the wings a 7 ½. They are pretty good, and I will have them again if my dad goes there for pizza. Of course, you should try them, too, and let me know what you think.

Final rating: 7.5-out-of-10

More Obama pictures

Here are some photos from when Obama visited. These are of me while I was there, or of the President that I tried to take with our camera. And there's even one of my dad's press pass, which says he works for my website, and another one of me with the President in the background. Oh, and a review of Mueller's Pizza's wings tomorrow!

Chick 'N Wings: On-site with President Barack Obama

Photo by Christopher Diem

While I am too young to vote, I have a favorite President of the United States during my lifetime: President Barack Obama. I think he is trying really hard and doing the best he can.

So when my dad told me on Wednesday after school that he wasn't able to get me a ticket to see the President when he came to Marquette, I was sad. But then he asked what I thought about sitting with the press and getting a press pass. I couldn't believe it. Not only was I going to see the President of the United States in person, but I was going to be closer to him than most people ever get.

The day was pretty cool. Dad picked me up from school and I went and changed into some nice clothes before we headed over to the event. We had to get there a couple of hours early, but I didn't mind. I found out why though: They have security everywhere and even press people have to be checked out. All of the camera bags and computer bags were sniffed by a German Shepherd checking for bombs. I wanted to pet the dog, but my dad said it would eat my hand. I decided not to.

Then, we had to go through security. All members of the press had to be registered, and then we had our names double-checked to a list they had, and then we had to go through security guards with metal detectors and then we got to be seated.

When the President got there, it was really cool. The music started and everyone stood to their feet and he came in smiling and waving. Everyone was very excited.

He spoke for about an hour about the Internet and how rural areas like where I live need it so that we can have businesses and expand our business. I agree, of course, because all of my blogging and all of my dad's work is done over the Internet. If it wasn't for that, who knows what we'd be doing!

He talked about a couple of businesses and he talked about Egypt, which is a place I want to visit, and he talked about Chicago, which is a place I love to go. When he left, he shook hands with some people and more music played.

I didn't get to shake his hand, but I got to see him. How many nine-year-old girls get to say that? And how many are members of the press at the time?

And that wasn't the only cool thing that happened. 8-18 Media, which my dad says is a youth-based news group in the area, asked me a couple of questions, like what I would ask the President if I could ask him anything. My answer? What his favorite chicken wing is and where he gets them from, of course.

And I met some radio guys, like Jim Koski from Q107-WMQT, which is my favorite radio station. I thought he sounds younger than he is. My dad knows his dad and his brother, and now I know Jim. Cool, hey?

And I sat next to the Fat Man from 100.3, The Point, which was cool, too.

I had a pretty great week, that's for sure. I still can't believe I saw the President! And my friend, Shane Baker, is in charge of the kitchen at Doncker's and got to cook for the President! Now that's cool! They don't have chicken wings there, but they did have an Obama Burger.

It's hard to believe that just because I love chicken wings and I write about them with my dad that I got to see the President. That's the power of chicken wings!

I also want to thank Brandon Lepow from the White House for putting me on the press list and for coming over and meeting me. You really helped make a great memory for me and my dad.

Ain't no thing but a chicken wing

Just in case you haven't heard this song that my dad came across, I thought I would share. It's pretty funny sounding for sure. I'm not sure of the meaning behind it all, but my dad said that if I ever become a MMA fighter that it should be my intro music.

Not likely, dad.

Here's the link to the Chicken Wings song.It is sang by a guy named Spencer Pratt, who is on TV or something.

Rodney's Pizzeria

(not actual product)

Rodney's Pizzeria
120 N Pine Street
Gwinn, MI 49841
(906) 346-6707

Hey! I'm back (and this time it's for real... at least one post a week and hopefully that means one review a week).

I know you missed me. I missed you, too. But let's get right to business. Today, I'm reviewing Rodney's Pizzeria in Gwinn.

First, I’m going to tell you about the wings I used to eat when I lived down state (editor's note: That's what folks in the Upper Peninsula call Lower Michigan). I used to live down state until I was four years old. When I was about two years old or so, I fell in love with Wing Dings from a bowling alley in Belleville called Lodge Lanes where my great grandparents used to take me once a week. They were great. Tasty and crispy and wonderful even though they had breading on them (I prefer “naked wings”). That was my first experience with wings, and it's a love that just keeps growing.

Now the other day my dad and I went to get some pizza and I noticed that Rodney's had chicken wings on their menu. As you can guess, I ordered them instead of pizza for dinner. They tasted the same as Lodge Lanes and really brought back some memories. My favorite part about the wings was how they were so juicey and they were flavorful. But one down side was the folks at Rodney's forgot to put my ranch in the bag when we picked them up (and forgot my step mom's salad, too). Thankfully, that doesn't change my rating at all.

My rating would be... Wait a minute. Where's the drum roll?

*cues drum roll*

Ok, that's better. My rating for Rodey's Pizzeria's chicken wings is an 8 out of 10. So far, that's as good of a rating as you can get unless your Buffalo Wild Wings or one of my few favorite sauces. This time around, since the wings were breaded, I didn't have any hot sauce coating them, though I did use Frank's Red Hot for some dipping.

Overall, I liked Rodney's and plan on having some more in the future. You should, too.

Final rating: 8-out-of-10

Editor's Note: Sorry for no photos, folks. The shots I took with my iPhone were horrible. I'm not sure what happened. We'll make sure to give everything better lighting for future reviews. Thanks for understanding!

Wing Time Medium Sauce

Wing Time Medium Wing Sauce
PO Box 775003
Steamboat Springs, CO 80477
info@wingtime.com

I know it's been too long since I last sat down and wrote a review. My dad told me so. I believe him.

I want to say sorry to everyone. I'm a kid. Summer was fun. I got sidetracked. My dad said I lost focus. I say I was focused... just not on the blog.

But I am back now.

Some things have changed. Fall is here officially today. I am now nine years old. We moved to a new house. I am in the fourth grade and school is where I spend most of my life now.

Some things have not. I still love chicken wings. I still love sauces. I still want to review them.

So here is the first sauce I tried since school started back up. It's called Wing Time Medium. The name indicates it's going to be good, but I've heard that you can't judge a book by its cover so I guess you can't judge a sauce by its name.

The sauce itself is flavorful and tasty. It has good spices and I like the color, which actually looks lighter on the chicken than it did in the bottle.

I have to admit that my normal sauces to eat are Frank's Red Hot, Buffalo Wild Wings Medium and Wy's Wings Medium. Now I have another. Wing Time's taste is as good as its name. It's got a little bit of spice, but nothing a nine-year-old girl can't handle, and it tastes as good as just about any medium sauce I have ever tried.

I picked this sauce up at Econo Foods in Marquette, but you can find a place close to you by going to their website. They have mild, medium, hot, garlic and super hot sauces to pick from and even a variety pack.

I am looking forward to trying more of their sauces and hope that they have the same quality as the medium sauce does.

Final Rating: 8-out-of-10

Birthday madness!

So it was my birthday last week (yes, now you are reading a nine-year-old girl's blog about chicken wings) and I had told my dad that I wanted it at Buffalo Wild Wings. He said they don't have birthday parties there, but said he would check on it.

Well, they normally don't have them. But they let me anyway. And it was GREAT! My birthday was on a Tuesday, so it was the 45-cent wings and I invited four of my friends and my dad invited a bunch of family. We had a great time.

My Uncle Leonard even ate 12 Blazin' wings, though they don't have the contest at our local BWs. He just did it for fun, I guess.

Me? I was showered with gifts. My dad got me the Young Indiana Jones television series and some chocolate-covered bacon. My Uncle Shane got me some sauces to review. My Aunt Jennifer got me a bunch of stuff, including hot sauce, and my Grandma Sue and Grandpa Mark got me the hiking boots I asked for. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so I want to say thank you to everyone who gave me a present and I am sorry I couldn't list them all.

I had a chicken on my birthday cake, which was great tasting, and everything was great.

Buffalo Wild Wings even gave me a shirt for my birthday. I was so happy!

Thank you to everyone who came to my party!

Summer vacation: It's OVER!

I'd like to start by saying sorry to everyone. I've been on summer vacation and while I meant to keep updating the blog, I just haven't got around to it. :(

But now school has officially started. Today, actually. So, now I'm back to the old grindstone, as dad says, and will be updating everyone on a weekly basis again.

In fact as a first-day-back-to-school meal, my dad is making me chicken wings tonight. I'll be reviewing a new sauce this week.

And next week? Well, Sept. 14 is my birthday. I'm having my party at Buffalo Wild Wings. It's pretty much the first one they've ever hosted. Luckily, it's a Tuesday and that's 50-cent wing night. Well, lucky for my dad's wallet, I guess.

Check back this week for a review, and some more updates. I'm going to keep them coming. And thanks for sticking with me!

VIP Party at Buffalo Wild Wings!

OK, so Buffalo Wild Wings in Marquette is open now. I've been there twice. You need to go.

Before the official opening two weeks ago, as all of you know, I was invited to go to the VIP party. It was quite the blast, actually, and I wore my own Chick 'N Wings shirt and had business cards to hand out.

As far as parties go, it wasn't what I expected. It was basically just sitting down and eating, but you didn't have to pay. The service took forever, but there were, my dad says, a couple hundred people there. It was packed.

A few really cool things happened though. The manager came over and introduced himself and I gave him one of my cards. He was very nice. And the other thing was that I won a ball off a crane machine game. Yeah, that's the life of an eight-year-old girl, exciting as it is.

I had the garlic Parmesan and the medium and my dad had the blazin' hot and the sweet barbecue. We discovered blazin' hot it too hot for dad. He wasn't happy after eating three of them. Not happy at all.

Mine were great, as always. Kim, my dad's fiancee, had shrimp. She said they were great and said she will order them again.

I am so glad there is a Buffalo Wild Wings here now. But, I have a job to do, and that's try other chicken wings, too. Guess I'll just have to keep rotating. :)

Timber Charlie, Newberry, MI

TIMBER CHARLIE
www.timbercharlies.com
110 Newberry Avenue
Newberry, MI 49868
(906) 293-3363

This is Shaylyn's dad. This post is actually late going up for two reasons: 1) The Chick was away to see some family in Detroit and went to a Tigers' game and watched them win (I don't get that luxury, often, when I go); and 2) I have been so incredibly busy that I just haven't had time. Honestly. So, with no further delay:

I have to admit that I had high hopes for Timber Charlies when we went there not too long ago. My dad called his friend from Newberry to see where the best chicken wings were. That guy, not being a wing fan, didn't know, but thought Charlies would have some.

So we went. It looked cool. The inside was pretty awesome. The chicken wings? Not so much. First, they weren't very crunchy. They were kind of soft and tasteless. And pretty small. Maybe there just wasn't enough meat for me to really be able to judge them.

I asked for the sauce on the side because I was afraid I would really not like it because of the way they described it on the menu. I tried it after two wings and found out it was just Louisiana Hot Sauce. So, I ate the rest smothered in that.

I was pretty disappointed, especially since everything else that had been ordered looked so good on the table. And the appetizers were really good!

As many of you probably know, I hate rating wings very low. I love them. But Timber Charlies in Newberry just doesn't do a very good job with them. I won't order them again from there, but my dad said the pasty was good. Maybe I'll eat that instead.

Final Rating: 4-out-of-10

VIP Party Today!

I am going to the Buffalo Wild Wings VIP party today. I am so excited. I came home from school today (only a week to go!) and found out my dad got me a Chick 'N Wings shirt and business cards. If we can figure out how to put the new logo that Graphics By Designers did up on here, we will be doing that, too!

I am going to have some Parmesan garlic and Blazin' sauce today. I hope they have some deep fried pickles, too.

I am going to take some pictures or have dad do it and will put some up on the blog tomorrow.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

(Dad's Note: Oh, and the photo is the Chick from this morning... she wasn't so thrilled before school about getting some chicken wings tonight. Yeah, I know, one day she'll repay me in spades.)

Review: Wy's Wings Medium Sauce

Wy's Wings Medium Sauce

Let's just start by saying this--if there were ever a sauce that was going to challenge Buffalo Wild Wings medium for my favorite, this one is it. Wy's Wings Sauce, which was sent to me by the owner of the company, Mark Weiler. Not only was he nice enough to send that sauce, but he sent several others I will be reviewing in the next couple weeks.

My dad and Mark talked on email several times and my dad told me that Mark said he would be surprised if his medium didn't knock Buffalo Wild Wings out of my favorite spot. It didn't, but it definitely tied for it. Wy's Wings medium sauce tastes great! It has spices that you can actually taste instead of just a watered-down hot sauce that many people try to pass off as medium.

We weren't very lucky in the size of wings we were able to buy. It must have been a bad time for wings here in Marquette. But dad cooked them up as specified by Mark for the ultimate wing and they tasted awesome. I can't wait to try them with bigger wings, which we can usually find.

If you like medium sauce that tastes good and still has a bit of heat, then you're going to love Wy's Wings. You can order them right from the company website here, or you can bother your local grocer until they order it. You won't be disappointed.

And on a side note, my dad wanted to add in that he ate Wy's Teriyaki sauce and that it was the BEST teriyaki he has ever had. I don't like teriyaki at all, so it wouldn't be fair to rate it, but my dad really likes it and he's had a lot of different kinds. So far he's made wings, pork chops and a stir fry with it. He promises that if you like teriyaki, you can't go wrong with Wy's. I guess that scores a perfect 10 from dad.

But I am off track (dad says it's digress, but oh well) and I need to rate the medium sauce. Try it. You'll love it, or you simply don't like good wings. This ties for my all-time favorite sauce, ever.

FINAL RATING: 10-out-of-10

Little ol' me? A VIP?

To all those out there who have been waiting with baited breath, we have some news for you: The Chick is officially going to get to be a VIP at the Buffalo Wild Wings opening here in Marquette, Mich.

For those who don't know me, I'm her dad and I just got back from a meeting with the general manager. He officially invited Shaylyn to the event in early June.

One small step for the Chick, but one giant leap toward the chicken wings...

Making the perfect chicken wings...

There are always questions when it comes to the perfect chicken wing. Do you bread it? Smoke it? Grill it? Fry it?

There may, likely, be no true answer to that question. But, there are some good suggestions. Take Mark Weiler, the founder of Wy's Wings. Here in his YouTube videos, you can see how he makes both bone-in and boneless wings (there are six videos, but they're short and easy to follow). It's a very nice step-by-step procedure that will certainly have you making the best wings in town.

What's best is Wy's makes their own sauces, some of which we'll be sampling and reviewing here on Chick 'N Wings. You can find their full line of products at their website.