It’s hard to believe, but this week marks the halfway week for this twelve week tour of chicken wings. Time flies when you’re wiping sauce off your face and eating indigestion pills like candy. We haven’t done a wing road trip out of Peoria yet and I think this week would be a good week to venture out and try some wings out of town. And as usual, this road trip begins with a knock on the door of MBIP World Headquarters...
See, there’s the knock, let’s see who’s behind the door...
Why, look, it’s The Beatles. It’s nice to see you fellows, but you can’t be driving on this winged road trip, half of you are dead and the other half would probably drive on the wrong side of the road. Let’s try this again...
Okay, that’s more like it! It’s MBIP pal, Contributing Writer and Wheelman, Scott Turley. He’s got his shades on, so I’m guessing he was listening to “What’s The New Mary Jane?” before he came over, if you catch my drift. If that drift goes over your head, well that’s your problem, you probably just had a pain at the party, don’t take it out on me!
Okay, we are off on this maiden chicken wing road trip. Our destination is Boss Hog’s in Banner, Illinois. I’ve never been to Banner and here it is on the map if you want to follow along.
Blue Highways...Graham Parker flashback alert!
Okay, it’s not that far of a journey to Banner, it's about a one can of beer trip...not that Scott and I were drinking in the car, just a world-wise guess. Here’s a drive-by shot of Boss Hog’s.
This place looks nice, I love the log cabin style of the building.
Scott leads the way in the front door, I’m following behind because I have to take the picture of Scott walking in the front door. It’s just the way it is and I’m used to it by now.
The wooden, rustic, log cabin motif continues in the front foyer as a sign calls out for us to “Wait To Be Seated.”
Well, we don’t need to wait to be seated, we’re going to eat at the bar and there’s plenty of seats available, first come, first served!
And check out this MBIP magic, as soon as we sit down, Tara, the pretty bartender arrives clutching two ice-cold bottles of Budweiser. This is truly symmetry in motion and I, for one, love it!
And it turns out that Tara is not only the bartender, she owns the joint with her husband, Brian! Here they are posing for the MBIP camera behind the bar. What a great looking couple!
Tara told me they specialize in boneless wings. As a rule of thumb I always eat the bone-in wings, but since I’ve started this tour I’ve had a number of people tell me they prefer the boneless variety, so I thought this week we’d give them a try for a change. Our order has been placed, so while they’re being cooked up, let’s take a look around in here.
This is our view from where we’re perched at the bar.
A quartet of taps stands at attention over here. Every time I do the taps shot, I wonder what the hell ever happened to Spike?
There’s a dining area directly behind the bar...
And the main dining room is over on this side of the building with tables and booths for your seating and dining pleasure.
They have a buffet special on Sundays that features fried chicken, catfish curls, rib tips, pulled pork, pasta and other tasty selections. It’s all you can eat for $13.99, so bring a big appetite and enjoy a big Sunday feast here!
I love the antler chandelier that hangs beneath the wooden ceiling over here.
Ha! Lawerence Elk! A one and a two...
This racoon is giving me a Travis Bickle-like, “You talkin’ to me?” look. Settle down, Rocky, I’m just taking your photo—hey, look, it’s Jodie Foster over there! Made ya look, made ya look!
As I arrive back at the bar our appetizer order of onion petals has arrived, perfect timing!
These our onion slices battered and deep-fried and served up with their own homemade smoky-spicy flavored sauce. They’re really tasty and I love the sauce!
It’s chicken wing time! Shantel serves them up at the bar, let’s take a look at these boneless beauties!
There’s usually eight wings to an order, but they were kind enough to let us have four wings per order, so we could sample more flavors. Clockwise from top left the flavors are: Sweet Chili, Mississippi Heat BBQ, Sweet & Tangy and Carolina BBQ.
One good thing about boneless wings is you don’t have to get your fingers all sticky because you can just stick a fork in them and you’re done, son!
Alright, I’ve got one flavor of each all peppered up and we’ve begun the all-important cooling process which of course allow us to...
Have another beer! Cheers!
I tried the Sweet Chili first and it was very tasty. A sweet sauce with the undercurrent of a chili base to add a little spice to the sweetness. Nice!
We enjoyed all the other flavors too, but agreed that our favorite was the Carolina BBQ. It had a nice tangy and zippy quality to it. While I’m still partial to bone-in wings, this was a nice break in the tour and variety is indeed the spice of life!
No bones, this week, just napkins!
And we had a beer for dessert! I’m pointing out my Jaws the Cabbie shirt and showing off my glow ring Clare got me Saturday while Scott’s being a wise guy! Thanks to Scott for driving and to everyone at Boss Hog’s for some great wings and hospitality! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Chicken Wing Rating
Three Wings Guitar Picks. They were tasty wings and it was fun to take a break from bone-in wings, but I think the rest of the tour will be all bone-a-fried wings!
Boss Hog’s
111 E. Valley View Drive
Banner, Illinois
309-647-7427
facecrack page
Related posts: Twelve Weeks of Chicken Wings @ Norwood Pub & Grub, A World Of Wings, The River Side Cafe in The Embassy Suites Hotel, Kenny’s Westside Pub and Agatucci’s.
The funny thing about this song is that Paul McCartney’s first stage name was, Paul Ramon!
Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!
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Bonus Scott Turley Photo!
Okay, Sunday night I left my camera in Scott’s car. I didn’t realize it till around one in the morning when I couldn’t find my camera and freaked out and repeatedly searched my apartment for it. I wasn’t sure it was in his car and had a major anxiety attack because it was too late to call him. But the next day I found out it was indeed left in his car and he and Moonbaby dropped it off on Monday at MBIP World Headquarters and there was this photo added to the mix. Ha ha ha!