WING-OFF 9
JOHNNY UTAH'S vs. POINT BREAK (formerly NATION)
Johnny Utah’s
www.johnnyutahs.com
25 W 51st St (Between 5th and 6th Aves)
New York, NY 10019-6902
Point Break
www.nationnyc.com
12 W 45th St (Between 5th and 6th Aves)
New York, NY 10036-4202
With the obvious Patrick Swayze theme of this event, WING-OFF is VERY proud to announce that is has become a charity event to benefit cancer research! All participants are required to donate money to join in Wing-Off. All donations from this event will be going to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
On this event in particular, the gentlemen of Wing-Off raised $110 in donations;
------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for your contribution to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). The confirmation number for your gift of $110 is 167XXX.
If you have any questions regarding your gift, please call our Donor Services office toll-free at 866-815-9501, Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (eastern time) or send an e-mail to: donorservices@mskcc.org.
For tax preparation purposes: No goods or services have been provided in exchange for your gift.
------------------------------------------------------------
and with out further adieu...WINGS!!!
JOHNNY UTAH'S
Located in Rockefeller Center where "The Today Show," "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," and "30 Rock," "Saturday Night Live," and more are all filmed, Johnny Utah's provides locals and tourists with an option for South Western themed food, drink and fun. It's one of 2 places in Manhattan with a mechanical bull, if you are into being bucked by a Bronc. With wings advertised as "Wings Done Right," there was a lot of anticipation to suck down a couple dozen of them. Our very friendly waitress got us set up with some beers and before you knew it, 36 wings descended upon the table.
We tore into them and within only a few minutes, all 3 dozen were gone. The wings were meaty but had little to no heat or flavor to offer. To be completely honest, we have had worse but we have definitely had better too. As a side note, the Hush Puppies were so good that we placed a 2nd order. The Creole Mini Meatballs tasted like balls of taco meat. I wouldn't suggest them.
POINT BREAK
The 12 of us walked the 6 blocks over to Point Break, formerly known as Nation excited to know we would be trying the food out before their grand opening. We weren't half-way thru our first drinks when plate after plate of wings started arriving on the table. A+ for effort was earned! Point Break brought us out 3 kinds of wings; Hot, Hickory BBQ and the winner of the bunch, deep fried wings with a chilled chipotle marinara style gravy. The wings were cooked to a perfect crisp and had to be dipped before eating. The sauce had a sublte start before turning spciy and then leaving a lingering burn.
Kyle and I went to say hello and thank you to the chef and that's when a Wing-Off first took place. The chef asked if we wanted to create our own sauce for him to serve! With a few suggested basics; Frank's Red Hot, Crushed Red Pepper, Black Pepper, Diced Jalapenos and Cilantrio, we asked the chef to take any artistic liberty he needed as he had not disspointed yet. We dubbed them the "Don't Stop Believin'" wings and dug in. He served them dip style like the chipotle and although good, nothing was going to beat the chipotle dipping wings.
WING-OFF 9 OFFICIAL WINNER - POINT BREAK!
This date in particular was chosen to celebrate a Happy Burgerthday to Wing-Offer Rob!
Posts
Even though Johnny Utah's had the more traditional wing, I would have to say Point Break was better. I actually liked the first batch from there that had the chipotle sauce already on the wing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as someone who always comments on the blue cheese (though not part of the voting criteria). Point Break's was terrible, you could tell it was straight from the shelves at Costco. Need to get a new kind as it takes away from the wing experience.
Point Break was definitely the winner. Those chipotle wings were amazing, and the hickory BBQ ones were quite good as well. Some folks said they would have preferred if more of the wings were pre-sauced instead of having to dip them, and I totally agree.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, those chipotle wings were great. Not quite as great the next morning on the way out.
The only cool thing about Johnny Utahs was the bull. In fact, the mechanical bull served as a good symbol of their wings, which i found to be bullshit.
ReplyDeletePoint Break wings were good, but like Thunder Jacksons, none were really traditional enough to be judged like the initial criteria (medium and hot only).
Also, I'm never going to another wing-off again as a non-drinker. First of all, wings without beer is like pizza without cheese or sex without love (just kidding about that last one - sex without love is fantastic). Secondly, $40 for a few wings and a ginger ale sucked. Me and a few other non-drinking attendees wanted to see if the chef could make a special wing sauce with vaseline in it so it hurt less when we got fucked.
I call a draw for this fail, er, wing off (the real winner would be JU's though based on the wing off criteria). The wings at Johnny Utah's were nothing special at all. I once bought a box of TGI Friday's wings and stuck them in the oven for 15 minutes and they were just as good.
ReplyDeleteThe wings at Point Break were better than JU's, but that really isn't saying a whole lot. They were deep fried and over cooked. No true buffalo sauce was to be had which is a huge disappointment. The chipotle dipping sauce was was good (not great), but it was like a mix or marinara and chili which I couldn't wrap my head around.
All in all, this wing off was a major letdown for me. Hope the shots were tasty!
Gentlemen, this Wing Off may be a DQ. We've gone to a few places where the chef wanted to dazzle us something different (I'm looking at you excellent salt and pepper wings), but we always got an order of the traditional hot. Chipotle is a great flavor -- hell, if I was faced with whole spice rack, it would definitely be in the top 5, but it ain't Buffalo. So, good on ya Point Break for the excellent hospitality and tasty non-regulation wings.
ReplyDelete