The Basics:
Name: The Local
MKE Wings Crew Present: Frank, Amber, Ross, Molly, Jeremy
Review Date: November 11, 2023
Wing Special: None
The Review:
After eating so many wings over the years, your options start to get repetitive; everyone has a Buffalo, a Garlic Parm, a Sweet Chili, etc. So, when I find a place that has wing flavors I've never seen, I get excited! When looking for new spots to try, I came across the menu for The Local in Muskego and was delighted to see some very unique sauces I'd never seen before! However, unique doesn't always translate to good, so the Wing Crew and I headed down to Muskego to check them out!
With no wing special, The Crew and I opted to stop in on a Saturday night and the place was absolutely packed, not even a spot to park. Despite this, our wait wasn't too long for our table and we began to take a look at the menu. You can order 6 wings for $10 or 12 for $17, at about $1.50/wing, they're definitely not the cheap eats that wings used to be! The Local has 10 sauces/rubs to pick from which isn't a tremendous amount, but what they lack in number of sauces they more than make up for with creative and unique flavors. Their sauce offering at our visit was (mild to hot): Louisiana Dry Rub, Garlic Parm, Apple BBQ, Chimichurri, Sweet Chili, Sweet Chipotle, Mild Buffalo, Sriracha Honey Garlic, Mango Serrano, and Screaming Strawberry. *As always, prices/availability of menu items/prices and/or specials are subject to change at the sole discretion of the bar without the knowledge of Milwaukeewings.com and may not be updated accordingly.*
Wings themselves were nicely sized, not too big and weird, and not too small and scrawny. They came up fried to a nice and crispy exterior and spun in your choice of sauce. In a rare move for me, I ordered the two hottest sauces on the menu as they sounded too good to pass up. The rest of the Wing Crew ordered most of the other flavors which I was able to sample. Thoughts on the flavors below:
Louisiana Dry Rub: Not a lot of flavor going in this rub, maybe just a hint of some Cajun spice. And I know it's a dry rub, but this rub made the wings seem ultra dry, this flavor needed some salt, flavor, and moisture.
Garlic Parm: while that first flavor was a bit disappointing, Garlic Parm was a stellar sauce. Super creamy with a rich and funky Parmesan flavor. If we're getting nitpicky, a bit more garlic would have most likely made this one perfect, but it was still a top-notch sauce.
Apple BBQ: Back-to-back wing reviews featuring an apple-based sauce, which seems quite odd as it might be the only two sauces with apple in it that I know. Despite the name, I didn't really taste the apple, but it was a decent sweet BBQ sauce, just a tad too sweet for my taste.
Chimichurri: I was very excited to try this one, and it was indeed an interesting sauce. Herby and earthy from the parsley with just a touch of chili pepper heat, a unique and different flavor that probably could have benefited from more sauce on the wing to really deliver that flavor.
Sweet Chili: Sweet and sticky with a bit of Thai heat, a good sweet and spicy Asian inspired sauce.
Sweet Chipotle: Chipotle can be a bit overpowering, but this sauce struck a really good balance of a sweet sauce with the smoky Chipotle flavor, I enjoyed this one quite a bit.
Mild Buffalo: Solid Buffalo sauce, tangy, bit spicy, and a bit buttery, this one hit all the flavors and characteristics you want in a Buffalo sauce.
Sriracha Honey Garlic: This flavor hits you with ton of tangy and sweet honey flavor up front but lacked the Sriracha flavor and heat on the back end I hoped for.
Mango Serrano: I was hyped for this one, I love Serrano peppers and I love mangoes. However, this sauce was very disappointing. Perhaps it was the fact these wings seemed a bit under sauced, but the sauce I did have was quite thin and watery, I got a bit of sweetness from the Mango and really no flavor or heat from the Serrano.
Screamin' Strawberry: My disappointment in the last flavor was made up for a bit by this fun wing sauce. Probably the first strawberry wing sauce I've seen, this sauce definitely put the sweet strawberry flavor front and center and balanced it out with a decent amount of heat. Despite being the hottest sauce on the menu, I think few seasoned wing eaters would call this one hot. Nevertheless, this was a very fun, unique and tasty sauce.
The MKE Wings Crew's Favorites:
Frank: Screamin' Strawberry
Amber: Buffalo, with a nod to Garlic Parm Ross: Sweet Chipotle
Molly: Garlic Parm
Jeremy: Buffalo, with a nod to Garlic Parm
Conclusion:
I struggled with how to grade this one. They had 4 really good wing sauces, some decent ones, and a few duds. While the duds were certainly disappointing, I do find myself wanting to get those top flavors again. That said, I do feel The Local is a Milwaukee Wings Certified Wing Joint. Are these wings worth going out of your way for, no, but if you happen to be there and you get the right flavors, I think you'll really enjoy the wings!
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