Last week, I wrote about Club Garibaldi's dry, spicy wings on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the invention of the buffalo wing.
That led friend Colin Deval to ask if I'd ever tried his current favorites, the wet wings served up at the Milwaukee Brat House on Old World 3rd Street. Colin and his friends like to devour these before sporting events around the corner at the Bradley Center.
I hadn't tried 'em, so we met for lunch there this week.
We each ordered a pound of wings – which equals about 10 apiece – and, to share, a basket of fried cheese curds.
The curds were good, but not a major revelation. Though I did think the sprinkled parmesan – cheese on cheese – was a nice touch. And I appreciated that they weren't even a bit greasy.
But the wings ... I think they lived up to their description on the menu as "Totally Killer."
I'm an equal opportunity fan when it comes to wet and dry wings, though I think it's more of an achievement to make great dry wings, because if there's no wet sauce, you'd darn well better make sure your chicken is juicy.
But, I appreciate a great wet wing, too, because, well, a good sauce is still a good sauce.
At the Brat House you can choose from BBQ, hot BBQ, house buffalo, tiger sauce, garlic teriyaki or parmesan cayenne dry rub. We opted for the house buffalo.
The wings were wet, but not drenched, in a sauce that had a bit of tang, but wasn't too hot. The chicken was not only juicy but super, super meaty. At some places 10 scrawny wings won't do the trick, but here it's a pretty satisfying meal.
As I told Colin, in the past I'd never really think of heading to the Brat House for lunch, but that's changed now.
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 can be heard weekly on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories.
