This week took us to Set'em Up Jacks out on the East side of town on K-10. This is a pretty hard core sports bar; home of the "22 foot high definition big freaking screen" plus another 7 ten footers all complemented by a mulititude of smaller TVs all for your viewing pleasure. Any game; any time. And they have a great selection of food and beverage to select from as you take in your favorite game or team on TV.
But you know why we are here. So this is what Jack's got: tangy BBQ, spicy BBQ, buffalo, cajun, sweet fire, and habanero (ranked in order of climbing up the ol' Scoville scale in terms of heat). And we pretty much tore 'em all up. You can get an order of 5, 10 or 20 ($4.49, $7.99, $14.79 respectively - at regular price). But it just so happens that Wednesday night is their half price wing night - BONUS. So then, we are off to a good start.
About the sauces, they make their own at Jack's. Here's just a few thoughts. Sweet fire was described to us as BBQ sauce with some habanero and our server said they were the most popular. We picked up a mustard, vinegary flavor to it and it was a yellow-ish brown color, so maybe that is Carolina BBQ sauce paired with a little habanero; not sure. It was a pretty good flavor. Despite the habanero it really was not over powering but rather a good medium heat for us. Buffalo did not have a lot of heat but had a really good flavor. The cajun was tasty, but not what you might think of when you think "cajun" (i.e., red pepper, cayenne, black pepper, oregano, paprika, salt, and so forth). Cajun had a very distinct taste to it, unfortunately I cannot describe what it is though. Some "spice" really stood out but none of us could really identify it. I even came home and went sniffing and sampling my spices to see if I could figure out which one it was but no such luck, at least not definitively anyway. The closest I can surmize without knowing their actual recipe is possibly it is ground thyme, and a lot of it. Again, the flavors were pretty good even if they didn't necessarily match how we imagined them to taste when we ordered.
As for the birds, I didn't know anyone served wings off of cornish game hens! Them wings were petite (okay, scrawny) with not much meat on the bone. Maybe they were all natural with no antibiotics and steroids - doubt it. The other weird thing is how in our rules we state if they serve both drumettes and wingettes they have to be served proportionate in number and size to one another. If ordering 5 at a time it is not completely unusal to get 4 of one and 1 of the other, or even all 5 of one once in a great while. But how about 46/50 being drumettes? That's some crazy wing disparity. How does that happen? I suspect (but do not know) they get a bargain price on the drumettes and are quality "seconds" and a few wingettes just get through at the chicken plant when being packaged. Just a hunch.
But on with the judging!
Appearance: 5.75
Texture & Tenderness: 5.25
Flavor: 6.25
Total overall score: 5.9
Besides their appearance which I just described in detail (only 10% of score), the fact that they were not very meaty led to many of them being overcooked leaving the meat a little tough and dry. T-n-T accounts for 30% of the overall score.
Again, it is a great place to gather and watch your favorite teams play. If you want to check out their menu and specials, here you go: http://www.setemupjacks.com/
Next week: Saints Pub and Patio. Maybe someone should warn them we are coming. When we wing it, you better bring it!
But you know why we are here. So this is what Jack's got: tangy BBQ, spicy BBQ, buffalo, cajun, sweet fire, and habanero (ranked in order of climbing up the ol' Scoville scale in terms of heat). And we pretty much tore 'em all up. You can get an order of 5, 10 or 20 ($4.49, $7.99, $14.79 respectively - at regular price). But it just so happens that Wednesday night is their half price wing night - BONUS. So then, we are off to a good start.
About the sauces, they make their own at Jack's. Here's just a few thoughts. Sweet fire was described to us as BBQ sauce with some habanero and our server said they were the most popular. We picked up a mustard, vinegary flavor to it and it was a yellow-ish brown color, so maybe that is Carolina BBQ sauce paired with a little habanero; not sure. It was a pretty good flavor. Despite the habanero it really was not over powering but rather a good medium heat for us. Buffalo did not have a lot of heat but had a really good flavor. The cajun was tasty, but not what you might think of when you think "cajun" (i.e., red pepper, cayenne, black pepper, oregano, paprika, salt, and so forth). Cajun had a very distinct taste to it, unfortunately I cannot describe what it is though. Some "spice" really stood out but none of us could really identify it. I even came home and went sniffing and sampling my spices to see if I could figure out which one it was but no such luck, at least not definitively anyway. The closest I can surmize without knowing their actual recipe is possibly it is ground thyme, and a lot of it. Again, the flavors were pretty good even if they didn't necessarily match how we imagined them to taste when we ordered.
As for the birds, I didn't know anyone served wings off of cornish game hens! Them wings were petite (okay, scrawny) with not much meat on the bone. Maybe they were all natural with no antibiotics and steroids - doubt it. The other weird thing is how in our rules we state if they serve both drumettes and wingettes they have to be served proportionate in number and size to one another. If ordering 5 at a time it is not completely unusal to get 4 of one and 1 of the other, or even all 5 of one once in a great while. But how about 46/50 being drumettes? That's some crazy wing disparity. How does that happen? I suspect (but do not know) they get a bargain price on the drumettes and are quality "seconds" and a few wingettes just get through at the chicken plant when being packaged. Just a hunch.
But on with the judging!
Appearance: 5.75
Texture & Tenderness: 5.25
Flavor: 6.25
Total overall score: 5.9
Besides their appearance which I just described in detail (only 10% of score), the fact that they were not very meaty led to many of them being overcooked leaving the meat a little tough and dry. T-n-T accounts for 30% of the overall score.
Again, it is a great place to gather and watch your favorite teams play. If you want to check out their menu and specials, here you go: http://www.setemupjacks.com/
Next week: Saints Pub and Patio. Maybe someone should warn them we are coming. When we wing it, you better bring it!
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