I love chocolate and I love wings, but I don't think I'd ever have considered marrying those flavors. Luckily, The Irish Pub, 124 N. Water St., in the Third Ward has.
I stopped in for a taste, but figured these wings could be amazing or, like chocolate covered bacon at the fair, two great tastes that, together, are simply meh.
Visiting with my intrepid colleague and fellow wings fan Carolynn Buser, we ordered a round of Jameson hot sauce wings and a round of chocolate thunder, of course. Wings at The Irish Pub are a buck apiece on the appetizer menu – you can order a dozen or a half-dozen – and come grilled or fried, with ranch or blue cheese.
The wings were on the plus-side in terms of size and arrived piping hot.
This is how the chocolate thunder looked...
I know, right? The grill marks were alluring, and though the scent was chocolatey, the flavor was, thankfully, pretty subtle. They were good, juicy, grilled wings, lightly sauced, with a hint of cocoa flavor and a dash of tang.
But, honestly, even better were the Jameson wings, which were lighter on the sauce and packed a bit more punch and a bit more flavor. Both were really good, but I think Jameson stole the thunder here.
Also a revelation – though, if you ask me, a tad on the pricey side is the pretzel breadsticks appetizer ($8 for two deliciously buttered and soft breadsticks) – which is even better when dipped into the tangy honey whole grain mustard.
We also got a half-order of hand-cut pub fries, which were a bargain at $4. A huge basket of thick-cut fries arrived – with garlic aioli for dipping – and couldn't finish them. I can't imagine how big the portion is in a regular order. The only misstep of the meal for me was here, as the fries were cooked a little unevenly. But I'm not letting that tarnish the experience of some really good wings.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
