Hunt's Annex Lounge

1311 MacDade Boulevard
Woodlyn, PA 19094
(610) 833-2344
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If there is one thing we know the 'burbs consistently does WAY better than the city, it's wings. No contest. I got the word that Hunt's had some of DelCo's finest, and stopped in to verify. One thing to note – you can smoke in here, which usually would be an issue for me, but they did a really good job of keeping the place aired out and I barely noticed it.

Like many great Delaware County bars, this place is basically a giant wrap around bar. I love this design, because it assures maximum bar seat real estate and exponentially increases the people-watching capabilities.

Although these are certainly not cheap wings (priced at nearly $1 a pop), they offer so many sauce choices it was hard to criticize. Also, who wants in on a group buy for a thousand? Any takers?

The spicy honey were first up, as they were highly recommended by both the bartender and a regular I was sitting next to. I ordered them extra crispy, as usual.

These were well rendered wings, nicely crisped, and the sauce was spicy but not too hot. I couldn't taste too much of the honey, but that wasn't a big deal. They are also quite large, which I imagine is at least part of the reason for the price tag.

Next in line were the dry rub. I am a big fan of dry rub wings, as they tend to retain their crunch a lot longer than their sauce soaked brethren. Probably because they are not drenched in liquid? I don't know, I was not a science major. These wings were salty, hot, and slightly sweet due to some brown sugar in the rub. I believe there was also some mustard powder in the mix.

Again, they were well fried, and the skin stayed crispy. Good stuff.

As I am watching my waistline these days, I decided to offset the wings by ordering some curly fries with cheddar sauce and a bud light. Good fries, nothing fancy, from a bag. The cheese was perfectly artificial and delicious. As expected.

Hunt's would probably be a great spot for wing night, but at regular prices, they are a bit on the steep side. I would certainly come back if I were in the area, but I would not rush to return.

Bubba's Texas BBQ

19 W Girard Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19123
(267) 324-3530
Website

Editor's note: photography was not easy here, so apologies in advance for the lack of visual representation here. Just take my word for what you're about to read.

First, the good. The wings were great. Smoked, then fried, they were packed with flavor and served in a spicy and deep hot sauce. I would go back for these alone.

Now for the bad. The service, atmosphere, and BBQ. Which is kind of a big deal for a * ahem* BBQ joint.

Service: Our waitress was texting WHILE I was ordering. I thought it was some kind of new tablet system that sent the orders to the kitchen. Until I got done and she said, "sorry, what was that again?" and she pulled out a notepad for me to repeat my order. Come on.

Atmosphere: Weird. It was part Applebee's and part Famous Dave's. Had a feeling of weirdness all around.

BBQ: Most disappointing. We each had a sandwich, one pulled pork, one chicken, one brisket. All were served on a LeBus roll that had no business housing BBQ. The tops of the bread were so big they were discarded by each of us, while the thin bottom let you holding a soggy piece of roll covered in meat. Not to say that the meat was abundant. The pork was flavorless and dry (no sauce served on the table) and overpowered by the enormous piece of bread it is served on. The chicken was just okay, until I bit into a bone, that's all I'll say about that. The brisket was the best of the lot (as it should be for Texas BBQ) but again, it was not as juicy as it should have been. At least it had some sauce on it. The menu said each sandwich was served with half sour pickles. Well each one in our group came with a sad little slice that was roughly the size of one McDonald's french fry. Big disappointment, especially for the $11-14 price tags on the sandwiches. The chips were pretty good, especially because they helped bulk up what was not exactly a heaping portion.

I would go back for a $3 Kenzinger and some wings. That is about it, and barely. Just a disappointment all around. Especially with their competition around the corner.

Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant

120 Market St

Philadelphia, PA  19106

(215) 925-7691

Website

On a Monday night, I went to check out the Blue Cross River Rink, rehash some of my old Ice Hockey skills, take a tremendous fall showing off, and head to Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant to nurse my wounds. All in good fun. First off, we were impressed by the size of this place. It's really quite large, and tastefully decorated. Secondly, it was a warm welcome reprieve from the cold air, and a Kenzinger special was just what the doctor ordered. That is, if doctors prescribed alcohol, which I am pretty sure, they do not. Ahem, if you find one that does, be sure to email me his info. Anyway, we were hungry, but in a sharing kind of mood, what with having just survived near death experiences on ice and all, so the $5 bar snack menu was calling out to us.

The fries were obviously going to get hit, hard. I have a mildly frightening love affair with smoked gouda, and these things were served with a smoked gouda fonduta. It was great, smokey, with a tinge of truffle, I believe, and highly additive. I mean I dipped a butter knife in it to scrape the rest out after the fries were (quickly) demolished. The fries, oh those fries. They were some of the most enjoyable french fries I have eaten in a while. Salty, crunchy and slightly sweet, I need some more of these, about now. Next up were the short rib puff pastries. They were pretty delicious, a definite cold weather treat, with rich smokey, short rib, accented by a sweet sauce and some micro greens. The pastry was a bit soft, but it was most likely a result of the sticky syrup it was smothered in. Overall, they were quite satisfying.

Next we moved to the deep fried mac and cheese. Usually, this is one of my favorite things to eat. However, this was the only real miss of all of our snacks. I hold this dish up to increased scrutiny, as one of my favorite places to eat fries it up to perfection every time. I also have made numerous variations of it myself, and if I do say so, I do a bang-up job. That's what made this offering thoroughly disappointing. Well, that and the fact that it was as though someone took al dente macaroni noodles and hollow mozzarella sticks and combined the two with no additional ingredients. I got the mac, but alas, where'd the cheese go? I don't know. Also the dipping sauce was basically some crushed tomatoes. Ah well, you win some, you lose some.

On to one of the most exciting orders of the evening, the wings. I must disclose, there were actually 5 in the $5 order, but I was so excited I grabbed the only drummy right off the line and it was gone in approximately 6 seconds. These things were legit. Not traditional, by any means, but darn tasty and extremely crispy. I would say they were a slightly updated version of the original with a Stilton and hot sauce dressing. The sauce was sooo good. I immediately wanted to order more, but alas, in the interest of keeping it interesting, we chose some other items.

The pickled vegetables, which I traditionally do not like, as I feel most places use to much anise or clove (or whatever they decide will be the off-putting, overwhelming spice of the day) in their brines, but these were actually quite good. I really liked the flavor, and it was again, an updated take on a traditional recipe. The table was split on whether to love or hate the fact that there were eggplant sticks, which were still very crispy, and eggplant tops, resembling mushroom caps which were almost mushy. I just pretended they were mushrooms and enjoyed them all.

The spinach and parm dip was a nice change of pace from the traditional as well, with the addition of white beans to the mix which really helped lighten it up a bit. The spinach was plentiful, and the top - crusty and cheesy. A winner.

We strayed from the bar menu with the addition of the special pork tacos, which were, served with fries, and quite honestly, the only way to keep the table from getting another order of fries straight up, they were that good. They graciously accommodated our request for additional fonduta for the fries, and generously heaped these sticks of glory onto the plate. The pork was incredible. Smokey, spicy and sweet, with some help from the tomatillo sauce that the waitress politely explained was made from tom-a-till-lo's, which she explained are green and kind of like tomatoes. It was endearing to have someone not assume that you know what something so ordinary to my crew was. An A for effort. We loved the tacos and would definitely order them again and again. I have to say, Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant (or PBR), might not win the title for originality of naming your establishment, but they would certainly be in the running for the most affordable and incredible bar snacks.

The Jug Handle Inn

1018 South Fork Landing Road
Pennsauken, NJ 08110
(856) 665-8696
Website

I have heard the Jug Handle prides itself on having the "best wings in the world." Given the rather sorry state of good, cheap wings in the city, [which is hard to believe given that outside the city limits they are a dime a dozen (or $.25 a piece)], I often seek respite from the lackluster local offerings and usually find my desired level of flavorful crispiness in the 'burbs. I even have such an affinity that I will venture to . . . New Jersey.


As this was a wing journey, it was a 'must' to give some of the interesting varietals on the menu a go-round. I am glad I did. The buffalo-garlic were pretty much what you would expect, smothered in buffalo and tons of garlic. I ordered all the wings extra crispy, but I am pretty sure they just cooked them the usual way. You never know how each place does them, but Jug Handle was definitely unique. They were lightly breaded and fried perfectly, with crispy edges, and succulent inner meat. When I said they smothered the wings, I meant it. Luckily the crisp outside stood up to the hearty sauces, and retained the satisfying crunch that is so vital to good wings.



One gripe is that you have to order celery and blue cheese separately, but for $.55 a piece, I can deal with it. Also, the sauce is so thick and tasty that there is little need for the blue cheese. I do love some blue cheese on the side, but it was mostly lost in the thick sauce. The honey-hot was one of the better sauce combos, as the slight sweetness complemented the slight burn of the hot. Not quite hot enough for me, but absolutely delicious. You may also notice that they leave the wing tips on the double bone pieces, which I usually can't really get behind, but in this case I was picking the crispy skin off of them. These benefited more from the blue cheese than any of the others.


The BBQ were great, with a thick, sweet, smokey, rich sauce that stuck to the wings and your fingers. They were even better when we ordered more a couple of hours later mixed with extra hot sauce. From 5-7 pm and 10-1 pm they have a wing "happy hour" Monday through Friday, with half price wings. We also ordered another round of honey-extra hot and they were equally as good. Be warned, however, that the jump from hot to extra-hot is a huge one. The hot don't have much bite, whereas the the extra-hot really put the flame to your taste buds. They also offer an extra-extra hot "bald eagle" style wing, but I prefer to be able to taste my food, over simply burning my mouth.


To round out the meal, we sampled the "No Joke" pizza. At $10, it was well worth the investment. It features a crust brushed with horseradish, and a flavorful center piled with grilled chicken breast, bacon, and provolone. There was no actual sting from the horseradish, but there was the distinct flavor of the spicy root. All in all, not a bad pizza, but next time I will get a side of their BBQ sauce, as it could use a bit of sauce, and I think the BBQ would go perfectly.