Some Like it Blazin' Hot

If you like it hot, Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar will not disappoint. How often do you request the hottest and spiciest item on the menu, or are asked "How hot do you want it?" and you ask for the hottest, but the spice factor ends up being far from what you'd hoped?

If this scenario sounds similar to your experiences, the Blazin' Wings at Buffalo Wild Wings are for you. The "Can You Take the Heat" scale ranges from smilin' to screamin', and--trust me--these wings will leave you screaming on the inside and sweaty on the outside. When they say, "Keep away from eyes, pets, children: The hottest sauce we got," they aren't kidding.

My dining companion and I finally met our match with these wings. We arrived at this particular Buffalo Wild Wings location in Tulsa Hills Shopping Center (there's another location in Broken Arrow, 1151 N. 20th St.), and we had heard the wings are hot here, but we had our doubts. It was very busy this particular Saturday evening, but at 8pm there were a few tables open.

Some would find the atmosphere as important as the food in this place, a casual type of place where family and friends can gather together. There are two dining rooms, a large one for the non-smoking crowd and a smaller, glassed-in area for the smokers. The larger dining room's noise level rises pretty high, which can be expected at any sports bar.

Our dining venture kicked off with a few brews, a 16-ounce Blue Moon for me ($2.75) and a 16-ounce Bass for my guest ($5.10). We started food off with the Crispy Southwest Dippers ($4.99) from the Starters & Snacks menu. These are described as "golden-crisp tortilla dippers filled with fajita-spiced chicken, Pepper Jack cheese, tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, corn and black beans." The ingredients blended into a creamy sauce-like filling served hot. (temperature-wise). They were tasty, but nothing too special. These came with a Southwestern Ranch Dressing, which tasted of cayenne pepper and a vinegar base with a hint of smokiness.

Other menu offerings include: Sides, Sauce-spun Wings, Beefy Burgers, Ribs & Combos, Wild Flatbreads, Wraps & Buffalitos, Grazin' Greens, You-Deserve-It Desserts and Satisfying Sandwiches. A kids' menu has a few items for those 12 and under: a Cheeseburger Slammer, boneless wings, chicken tenders, traditional wings, naked tenders, macaroni & cheese and mini corn dogs. All are $4.29.

For our dinners, we immediately went to the Sauce-spun Wings: Traditional wings (New York-style wings) and boneless wings (lightly breaded all-white chicken cooked golden-crisp) "spun" in the Buffalo Wild Wings sauce of your choice. My friend ordered 12 traditional wings with the blazin' sauce ($8.99), and I ordered the ribs and chicken tenders ($11.29).

Fourteen types of sauces are available with the wings: sweet BBQ, teriyaki, mild, parmesan garlic, medium, honey BBQ, spicy garlic, Asian zing, Caribbean jerk, hot BBQ, got, mango habanero, wild, and blazin'. I wasn't screamin' after tasting my friend's blazin' dipped wings, but my eyes were watering, my scalp began to sweat and my lips felt as though they were about to blister.

They were the hottest we had ever tasted. The heat lingered and seemed to intensify after the wings were swallowed. It was too much for me, but my friend loved them. He said it was like an addiction. They were immensely hot, but he could not stop from eating them. He ordered Buffalo Chips ($4.29), which are fried sliced potatoes, to go with his wings. They were soft, freshly fried potatoes, but lacked the "crisp" described on the menu.

My half-pound ribs were glazed and grilled, but too sweet for my liking. The tender meat fell right off the bone, meaning they probably were boiled or steamed prior to being grilled.

The tenders (by themselves) were good, but the selected sauce, spicy garlic, was not. In fact, I could only muster eating two tenders. The sauce was too salty with a strong vinegar foundation.

My meal came with coleslaw and shoestring fries. The slaw tasted fresh with a nice bite to it, not to mention the creaminess. The fries arrived hot and crunchy.

We did take an order of traditional wings home for later, half with a Mango Habanero sauce (feel the burn, savor the sweet: two sensations, one sauce, the Web site said) and the other half with Mild (classic wing sauce: high flavor, low heat, according to the site). These sauces were fantastic! The mild was just that: mild, not too sweet nor to hot--just right. The Mango sauce turned out to be more on the mango sweet side than on the hot Habanero pepper side. There was a modest amount of pepper.

Beer selections are great at Buffalo Wild Wings. Besides the many on tap, there are American Premiums, such as Bud Light, Bud and Rolling Rock; imports, such as Amstel Light, Beck's Foster's and Stella Artois; Craft and Specialty, such as Blue Moon, Widmer Hefeweizen and Miller Chill.

We found the server very attentive and helpful. Buffalo Wild Wings is one of the top 10 fastest growing restaurant chains in the country. They say their concept is "more than just a New York style wing joint." They are a sports bar with a full menu plus an atmosphere to "play trivia on our Buzztime Trivia system and watch favorite games on the many big screen TVs." They claim to be a "fun, edgy, high energy and easy-going restaurant." And they are.

Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar

7560 S. Olympia Ave

445-9953

1151 N. 20th, Broken Arrow

286-3555

Hours:

Sun.-Sat. 11am-1:30am

Rating:

Atmosphere ***

Food **1/2

Service ****