Despite one being gastro-American and the other Asian-fusion, the two places have some things in common: They’re two blocks apart, part of what I’ve dubbed the Beer Triangle (Mac’s Industrial Sports Bar is the third point of the triangle), have the same 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. happy hour and they both have wings on the menu. Until today, I’d never tried the wings at the Bulldog or Ginger Hop, but what else is one to do on a President’s Day afternoon but eat wings?

Ginger Hop’s wings are listed on the happy hour menu as Hop Wings for just $5. Along with $3 dollar tap beers (I had a Bell’s Two Hearted), I’ll cut the suspense, Ginger Hop wins this battle by a long shot. The wings are just slightly spice and a little bit sticky-sweet; they came covered with scallions and served with blue cheese and celery, and were some of the best wings I’ve had in weeks.

The Bulldog’s wings aren’t on the happy hour menu and go for $8. I got another Two Hearted for $4. Now there aren’t many things on the Bulldog’s menu that I don’t like, but these buffalo wings were way below acceptable. They came in the Bulldog’s signature checkered paper basket; the chicken tasted less than fresh and wasn’t so much coated in a nice thick sauce as swimming in a pool of buffalo juice.

(An aside: try the Bulldog’s short rib sandwich, which is a special this week, but I’m told has a good chance of making it on to the regular menu; absolutely delicious.)

If you’re hungry for wings in Northeast Minneapolis late in the afternoon, do your wallet and a stomach a favor and head over to Ginger Hop.

Wing review: Bulldog Northeast and Ginger Hop: Happy Hour Battle

No, it’s not a rhetorical question, could someone tell me? And for that matter clue in the folks at The Butcher Block. The Northeast Italian eatery meets gastropub has been open almost five months now, and sitting at the bar listening to chef Filippo Caffari last week it was clear the place hasn’t quite reached the same sweet spot that the tender-as-a-peach short ribs have. Chef Caffari, who presumably doesn’t manage the front of house, mused to the bartender about the inexperienced waitresses — maybe not the wisest thing to say with a patron sitting next to him.

In any case, if the chef wants to send the waitresses to boot camp, it won’t be the only noticeable change The Butcher Block has seen.

First up, the wings. The original palette of 29 flavors has been pared back to 14. Apparently all the ingredients needed to make 29 sauces from scratch was just taking up too much darned room in the small kitchen. This is a shame since the whole reason I stopped in last week was to continue on my quest to try all the wing flavors (from which I had taken something of a hiatus).

You can also forget about stopping into The Butcher Block to satisfy your late, late night appetite. It was originally open till 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday but will now be closing up at 2 — still plenty late, but it will be Taco Bell for you if you’re still hungry after that.

If you’re stopping in for a seat at the bar, you’ll now be a little more comfortable. The bar, which had been about four or five inches too tall has been chopped down to the right height.

And gone is bartender Ben, who had made sitting at the too-tall bar worth it with his stories and obvious passion for food and drink. I know Ben had been looking to do some serving in addition to bar duties, which may be a symptom of an unfortunate layout at The Butcher Block, that leaves the bartender acting as a host all night and probably lacking in tips.

This marks the end of my Butcher Block wing reviews; I didn’t review every flavor I tried and with them paring back the number of flavors it doesn’t seem worth the effort anymore.

Hopefully The Butcher Block can get its kinks worked out; I really want to see my neighborhood succeed as a food destination.

Changes at The Butcher Block

Marching right along today, I tried the sweet barbecue and spicy barbecue, which together only count as one of the 29 flavors, but don’t be fooled, they’re two different sauces.

And forget yesterday’s wimpy wing size, today’s wings were once again about as big as Sammy Sosa’s head.

Both the sweet and the spicy wings had a rich honey flavor. The sweet barbecue actually tasted like a sweeter version of the house wings and had a stickier sauce to match.

The spicy barbecue trades heat for some of the sweet and adds a smokey flavor and fresh pepper.

I have to recommend the spicy barbecue over the sweet if only because the latter doesn’t bring much new to the bar. Both barbecue flavors were finished up on a grill to get some grill marks (and a slight burned flavor).

One more note about my mission: it’s no surprise I’m not the only person trying all 29 flavors; yesterday bartender Ben pointed behind me to the owner of Hell’s Kitchen, who is well on his way to finishing all the flavors.

Wing review: The Butcher Block sweet and spicy barbecue

Today’s wings were still plenty juicy though, not the dry fare that many of us settle for. And a few more facts about The Butcher Block’s wings from bartender Ben:

• all 29 sauces are made in house,
• there are some off-menu flavors if you want the chef to get creative,
• chef and master butcher Filippo Caffari cuts up enough chickens to serve up 300 wings a day,
• Chef Caffari apparently hates chicken wings, but they help pay the bills.

By the way, a plate of 12 wings at The Butcher Block will cost you $10, but you can split the order between two flavors.

First up were the house wings, which were my favorite of the two, with a rich, sweet honey flavor. That’s pretty much it for these, not too much complexity.

Next were the spicy mustard, which I thought I’d prefer to the house wings because I generally prefer spicy wings over sweet. Turns out a common theme in The Butcher Block’s wings (at least the three flavors I’ve tried so far) is sweetness. The spicy mustard were no different with a little bit of heat (hardly what I would call spicy) making way to sugar.

The sauce was plenty sticky (stickier than the house sauce) which made the sweetness less of a surprise, and the whole mustard seeds in the sauce were a nice touch.

The wings went with a Redhook Long Hammer IPA from Washington.

After the wings, bartender Ben suggested the cannoli, which is apparently one of Chef Caffari’s great works. I certainly don’t have a lot of cannoli experience, but I’m sure this one was awesome. And the maple and orange tones of the Osborne Tawny Port went perfectly with it.

Wing review: The Butcher Block house and spicy mustard

The Butcher Block opened about a month ago, and on paper it’s perfect. Consider this:

• authentic Italian cuisine (no unlimited salad and bread sticks here),
• 29 flavors of chicken wings,
• wide selection of $5 glasses of wine,
• within walking distance of my apartment (in the old Fugaise space),
• open till 4 a.m. on weekends.

My first stop at The Butcher Block today was quick but it didn’t disappoint. (If you want a fuller review, The Heavy Table has you covered.) I was hoping I could knock at least two flavors off the list of 29, but instead I opted for none of the above. The wing special was The Incredible Hulk, a spicy and sweet blend of curry and salsa verde, and I’m not one to turn down a special, even after our waitress warned that the wings would be extremely green.

And yes, they were green. They were also delicious. The immediate heat of the salsa verde might be more than some would like (wusses), but it gave way quickly to the sweet curry.

The chicken itself also deserves mention: it was plumper and juicer than you’d normally expect from a chicken wing. (Update: As Brother Hamlin points out in the comment below, it’s a sad world we live in where people settle for less than plump, juicy chicken.)

So what to quaff with some radioactive-green chicken wings? The Butcher Block has a beer list that I didn’t notice till I was leaving, but that’s OK because the wine — my god the wine. If more places had such an admirable list of $5 wines, I’m convinced there would be fewer wars.

I wish I could claim some sort of sommelier-inspired decision in choosing the Night Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, but the truth is I ordered wine before I knew what I was eating, and I just like the citrusy crispness of Sauvignon Blanc. For what it’s worth, I thought it cut through the spice of The Incredible Hulk nicely.

So what’s next? I think I’ll be back tomorrow to actually start hacking away at those 29 flavors. Unless they stick another special in front of me.

Patented 10-point scale:

• Messiness: 4
• Face heat*: 5
• Tastiness**: 8

Here’s The Butcher Block’s full menu.

* This is exactly what it sounds like: how hot your face feels after a few minutes of scarfing wings and not washing the sauce off your face.

** This is an extremely scientific measurement that you could never possibly understand.

Wing review: The Butcher Block Incredible Hulk