165 W. Superior StreetHaving to drive from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids every day does get a little old at times and there are many days I just don’t have time to eat before I leave. Most of the time, I will stop in Wayland and pick up something either at the McDonalds or from the Speedway just off the highway. It’s not the best of choices, but it works when I’m hungry.
Last week, I was driving through town and a sign caught my attention. I rubbernecked a little to much to see that a Wing Kingz opened up in downtown.
As I’ve mentioned many, many times, I don’t understand all the wing places in the Grand Rapids area. They all serve pretty much the same thing and the names keep changing. The restaurants I knew as Wing Heaven are now Wing Kingz and new restaurants are popping up as Wing Heaven’s….again, all serving the same thing right down to the Kool-Aid that was kind of kitschy at Wing Heaven when they first opened.
Anyway, Wing Kingz has expanded outside of the Grand Rapids metro to Wayland. The restaurant is in a small strip mall just to the west of downtown proper. The restaurant shares a building with a party store and an ice cream shop. It used to be the home of Freda’s Fish Fry & More which has moved just down the road a little ways to North Main Street.
The small shop has a little dining room to the left when you walk in and immediately to your right is the kitchen area. The two spaces are separated by the order counter. The menu is hanging on the wall off to the right when you’re facing the counter.
The special for the day was 12 traditional or boneless wings for $8. I put in an order for 12 traditional wings with garlic Parmesan flavoring as well as a 1/2 lb of wedges with seasoning salt. The total cost was just over $11 and I was told it would be about ten minutes or so for my food to be cooked.
I took a seat in the dining room and sure enough, just over ten minutes after ordering, I was being handed a Styrofoam container with my food. I still needed to get to work, so I just took them to go and decided to torture my co-workers with the delicious smell.
I popped open the container with the wedges on my drive to Grand Rapids. The large potato wedges were, for the most part, cooked all the way through. There was one or two that were still a little raw in the middle, but the majority of the wedges had a super crispy outside with a delicious soft center.
As I assumed, all of my co-workers hated me when I got to work. I popped open the container and the smell of garlic filled the whole building. I dug in to the large, juicy wings very greedily as a crowd started to form around me. Alas, I’m a jerk and I kept them all to myself. As I’ve come to expect from wing places like this, the wings were delicious. Big, juicy, delicious, and full of that garlic Parmesan flavor I can’t get enough of.
I love that this Wing Kingz opened up in Wayland. I spend an innordinate amount of time in the city just because I like getting off the highway and using the Speedway right there (yay Speedy Rewards). There are so many times I just want something other than McDonalds…and now I have that.
1/2 lb of Wedges w/Seasoning Salt
12 Traditional Wings w/Garlic Parmesan
