Doug's Blog

Yesterday I proclaimed on Twitter that I was making it my personal mission to try all 29 flavors of chicken wings at The Butcher Block. Today I’m here to say this is going to be delicious mission.

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.