Address: 2051 E Ireland Rd, South Bend, IN 46614
Name of Sauce: Wango (Habanero Mango), Wall, Blazin' Asian
Order Size: 6 wings
Price: $4.14
Flat to Mini-Drumstick Ratio: 4:2
Meat Quality: 3.5/5
Breading/Fry: 4.5/5
Size: 3/5
Uniqueness: 5/5
Flavor: 4.5/5
Wings Etc. will always have a special place in my heart when it comes to wings. When I was in middle school, my father and I visited Wings Etc. every Monday night for over a year, so its wings are the wings I judge every other wing against. I know it's not in the Quad Cities, so these wings don't necessarily fit into the ranking of all the other wings I've reviewed up to this point, but I think they provide some needed context. Especially after I went back and did my official tasting just before the holidays. At that tasting, I realized that these wings fill gaps that I've been seeing at many establishments in the QC. Those gaps are in three categories: price, sauce variety, and heat.
There's a Monday night deal at Wings Etc. where traditional bone-in wings are 69¢ and boneless wings are 59¢, so I was able to order just two of each of the three flavored sauces I wanted to for this post. That price point is also the cheapest of any wings that have been blogged about on KevinEatsWings.com at the time of this posting. And not by just a little, either. The next cheapest wings I've seen were $1 from Mac's and Boozie's in downtown Davenport.
The wings themselves are classic, good wings, but they were smaller than I remember. I think the scores for meat quality, fry, and size all accurately depict that observation. What I like the most about these wings is their uniqueness and flavor. Wings Etc. has a huge list of sauces: 22 in total with flavors ranging from "Gar-Licky-Parm" to "Wall", a sauce named after the wall your pictures gets placed upon if you can down 16 wings worth without anything else to eat or drink. I've never taken up that challenge, but I have had "Wall" sauce about half a dozen times. Every time I've been impressed with the fine line the sauce walks between being ridiculously spicy and still flavorful. It's a thick sauce with—I believe—a habanero base and a hit of citrus. It'll put some sweat on your brow during your meal, and the heat tingles your lips for 20 or 30 minutes after you're done. It's a fun experience, but not something I think I could handle for 16 wings without any sort of beer to wash it down with. The other sauces I tried for this review were "Wango", which is basically "Wall" sauce with some mango sweetness added in (very good!), and "Blazin' Asian", a fairly hot sauce that reminds me a lot of General Tso's. A full list of the sauces available at Wings Etc. can be found here. If you live in the Quad Cities and want to gives some of these sauces a go (and you definitely do), it looks like the nearest location is in Yorkville, IL.
I definitely miss having a Wings Etc. location in the town I live in, but I think Van's is the closest overall experience I've had in the QC. Thankfully there's a lot of those locations around, and I've only tried one of their sauces. Maybe I'll make it out for another sometime soon. Until then, thanks for being a follower of KevinEatsWings in 2019, have a happy holidays, and I'll see you in the new year!