Gloucester Township Food Tour: Wings

In case this hasn't already become apparent, I need to tell you—I'm not a very fancy guy when it comes to food. I don't need an expensive BYO or ritzy Stephen Starr restaurant. Give me something with a little grease off a bar menu or from a local pizza place and I'm good to go. 

Sadly, I'm not kidding.

So needless to say, it's been a great pleasure of mine to sample some of the area's best cheesesteaks and pizza—two of my favorite foods.

But not the favorite. No, despite the consistent appearance of pizza and steaks in my lardacious repertoire of food consumption, neither of these foods can match my love of the wing. 

A perfect combination of grease, butter, buffalo sauce, and whatever other ingredients are special to the house, deep fried into a small piece of chicken held together by a bone? Yeah, now we're talkin'. 

Problem is, when it comes to wings, I usually venture outside township limits—Dominic's Tavern in Bellmawr, PJ Whelihan's in Washington Township and Marino's Pizza in Runnemede, among a few others, all serve up a quality batch of wings. A few of the pizza places and bars I've tried in the past, well, just fell short when it came to wings. 

Still, there's gotta be somewhere in this 23.2-square-mile stretch of land known as Gloucester Township (thanks, Wikipedia) that knows how to do a wing, right? 

Right???

Well, there was only one way to answer that question, so I did what any self-respecting reviewer of all things fat would do—I went on a wing-eating binge. 

My first stop wasn't exactly a usual suspect. I hit Riley's Pub located at Ron Jaworski's Valleybrook Country Club in Blackwood. 

I like Riley's. It's got a homey feel. It's clean and decorated with football memorabilia from wall to wall. It serves as a perfect stop for any golfer looking to wash away another poor round with a couple of beers and a bite to eat.

"Cool, but I don't golf," you say.

That's fine, Riley's is open to the public, too.

So I sat down and ordered 10 hot wings, and a few minutes later a basket of drumsticks and what I call drummettes (a standard wing) was placed before me and I went to work.

The first win for these wings was that the sauce was fried into each wing. It's a total violation when the wing has to be dipped into the sauce. If a place can't figure out how to adequately distribute its sauce onto an order of wings, shame on them. And it happens more frequently than you'd think. You know I'm right. How often do you order a batch of wings that are dry, or even worse, drenched in Buffalo sauce, leaving your order soggy and unedible?

Sorry, I just get fired up.

Any way, Riley's scored well in the sauce distribution category. They weren't over-saturated, and they weren't dry.

Now for some bad news.

Despite ordering the wings "hot," I found this particular crop to be quite mild—more buttery than fiery. I enjoyed the sauce at Riley's, but, for me, it needs just a little more bite.

As far as composition goes, these wings had some bread on them, which I like, but I like a crisp-skinned drummette. These wings, while not soggy, were a bit flimsy.

So let's cut to the chase, do I recommend these wings or not?

Here's what I'll tell you: If you happen to be at Riley's don't hesitate to order a set. You won't be disappointed, as it meets reasonable expectations of standard wings. Still, I wouldn't label it "a must have," nor would I go out of my way for an order.

Next stop on the wing tour—Skeeter's Pub.