Restaurant wings it - Chapel Hill News Review

By TAMMY GRUBB

Start with fresh chicken. Toss in tastebud-tingling sauces, char-grilled burgers, fresh salads and wraps, and -- Bada bing! Bada bang! -- you've got Ba Da Wings.

The recipe looks successful for co-owners Joshua Greene and Mike McCoy, who opened the restaurant a little more than a year ago on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Greene, who also owns, with Jim Dugnan, the Ba Da Wings franchise company, said the partners are working on a second store in Raleigh's Mission Valley shopping center. The goal is to open five or six stores in the Triangle, he said. The trio met on the job, with Greene working for five years at Dugnan's Dominos store in Maryland and McCoy, who is from Chicago, later managing one of Greene's Quizno's stores in that city.

Dugnan, from upstate New York, created most of the Ba Da Wings sauces and is the "menu guy," Greene said. The restaurant offers wings with your choice of 22 sauces, ranging from a smooth garlic Parmesan ranch to the fiery Bada Bam (be warned!). The Ba Da sauces -- Bing, Bang, Boom and Bam -- are Buffalo style, with increasing degrees of heat. A few have hints of vinegar or butter. We also tried the Carolina BBQ (sweet mild honey), sweet Thai chili (a hint of sweet with a bite); Chipotle ranch (creamy, simmering heat); blackened Cajun (a spicy chargrill); wild Asian Teriyaki (hot and spicy); and lemon pepper (citrus kicking with black pepper).

They buy fresh chicken for the best texture and taste, Greene said, making "a conscious decision to get the biggest wings we can get." The jumbo wings ($5.95 for eight pieces) and 2-ounce breaded boneless wings ($5.95 for four pieces) are deep-fried in a blend of soybean oil and partially hydrogenated soybean oil. So, although the oil stays fresh longer, if you're watching what you eat, it also is higher in saturated and trans-fatty acids. That said, you won't find much grease in these wings. Just juicy, messy goodness.

The boneless wings tend to absorb the sauce, while the jumbo wings appear draped in it. If you like a lot of sauce, don't worry. You'll get plenty.

The half-pound burgers ($5.95) are also a big seller, Greene said. Cooked over an open-flame grill, they're a mouthful, but thinner and wider than expected. A "secret sauce" gives the burgers flavor, Greene said. As with all items, you can order off the menu or ask for something different.

Our Southwest cheeseburger had a nicely charred crust and was wider than the bun; inside, the meat was juicy, served with mildly spicy Chipotle ranch, lettuce and tomato. We also tried a honey mustard wrap ($5.45); other flavors are available. The tortilla was fresh and thin, filled with breaded boneless chicken, lettuce and tomato. The sauce was ample; it's not a dry wrap.

The cheesy french fry wrap ($3.45) -- fries, cheddar Monterey jack cheese, ranch sauce and bacon wrapped in a tortilla -- also caught my attention. It wasn't a "healthy" lunch choice, but the cheese and bacon lightly accented the fries, making for tasty comfort food.

Healthier choices include the Portobello Mushroom burger, served with garlic parmesan ranch and cheddar Monterey jack cheese; yellow Saffron rice bowls ($5.45) topped with lettuce, tomato and marinated grilled chicken; and salads ($5.45) -- also with marinated grilled chicken. Grilled Portobello mushrooms can be substituted in any dish.

About 50 percent of the business is carryout, Greene said, and it's a mostly local crowd. UNC students make up about 30 percent of their customers, he said.

"We've built up a decent lunch business," he added.

Delivery is available nights and weekends, as well as weekdays through Tarheel Takeout Express (942-7678 or www.tarheeltakeout.com). The restaurant caters, as well, with big orders -- 25 to 100 wings -- filled on short notice. For really large orders, Greene said it's best to give them 48 hours, so they can have enough chicken on hand. The aim is for quick, efficient service, he added. As a sign posted in the kitchen says: Every order should be served in 10 minutes or less. "We make sure our customer service is quality," Greene said.

BONELESS WING TIPS

Ba Da Wings co-owner Joshua Greene has these tips for boneless wings at home:

• Use fresh chicken breasts, not frozen. Freezing and thawing break down the texture, Greene said. It also can dry out the meat.
• Cut the chicken into 2 oz. portions and marinate in sauce/seasonings for 24 hours.
• Dredge the chicken in flour, dip into 1 cup milk blended with 1 egg and dredge again in flour. Fry the wings in a deep fryer or in a frying pan filled with 1/4-inch of oil, turning once to brown both sides. For less fat, bake the chicken on a foil-lined sheet pan at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, turning once.
• Serve with blue cheese or ranch dressing and fresh vegetables, like carrot sticks, celery and broccoli florets. Coleslaw is another popular option, Greene said.
• Reheat wings in a 350-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Or, as Greene said, they're good cold, too.

Tammy Grubb is a correspondent for The Chapel Hill News. She can be reached at 932-2034 or via e-mail at quikcopy@triad.rr.com.

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