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Event Thu Sep 16 2010
WingIT at Rockit
Traditional buffalo wings are a lot of things; they're spicy, they're greasy, they're sloppy, and more often than not they're cheap, so nobody really minds that they're spicy, greasy, and sloppy, especially since they're being soaked in blue cheese dressing. Despite (or perhaps because of) being a no-frills food, people love wings, so one might wonder what would happen if wings were actually prepared with a little more sophistication.
Enter Rockit Bar & Grill's Second Annual WingIT, a week-long celebration of wings where a different specialty gourmet wing is prepared each night. Rockit's WingIT menu includes sauce and dipping side variations inspired by Executive Chef James Gottwald's favorite taste profiles and pairings, as well as his signature Jumbo Chicken Wings.
I had the opportunity to sample a few of Rockit's wings offerings for this week, and they certainly took wings above and beyond the standard plane of buffalo wings. Monday night's wings were the Rockin' Moroccan Wings, tossed in a Chermoula Sauce with Yogurt Dipping Sauce. Fans of Mediterranean food would likely enjoy this flavor combination, and the mild flavor of the Moroccan wings would be welcome to those who usually avoid wings because of the heat factor. Next up were Tuesday night's specialty, the Thai Fried Wings with Sweet Chili Sauce. Delicious. The wing itself seemed to be a fairly standard fried chicken wing, but the sweet and spicy dipping sauce was the perfect complement.
Finally came the Ghost Pepper Wings with Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing. If you were looking at a Venn diagram, the Ghost Pepper Wings would fall in the common area where pain and flavor intersect. Despite having a very low tolerance for spicy foods I finished my Ghost Pepper Wings, partly because I wanted to be able to brag that I did it, and also because the wings really did have a layered flavor that made you want to keep eating them, even through the burning. These wings are not for the faint of the heart, but some bread and a soothing glass of milk did help ease the spiciness.
WingIT is going on through September 17th at both of Rockit's locations (in River North at 22 West Hubbard and in Wrigleyville at 3700 North Clark). WingIT wings are $10 per dozen and a different specialty wing is offered daily. You can view the full menu on their website.