Dining and drinking review: Fish Peddler's All-You-Can-Eat-Wings

For those who may be new to reading this blog, a bit of context: Esplanade residents Ted Broussard and Kurt Kwon have been providing readers with restaurant and bar reviews for the last year. The goal is to provide reviews of the over 200 establishments that are "within walking distance" of The Esplanade. To see all of Ted and Kurt's reviews, click on the "drinking and dining" label. 

Today, Kurt revisited "The Fish Peddler," (although some of us still have a hard time not calling it Johnny's) immediately next door to the Esplanade. Who knew you could get all-you-can-eat-wings during NFL games?

Review and photos by Kurt Kwon 

I love chicken wings. But it seems so difficult to find a place that does them well. It seems like a simple thing, but restaurants seem to mess them up more frequently than not.  On a recent visit to our local neighborhood restaurant, The Fish Peddler, I noticed the happy hour menu showing all you can eat wings on NFL football nights for $9.99. Surely this was a misprint!  I asked our friendly waiter Kevin if this was for real. He confirmed indeed you could eat all you wanted for $9.99!

I was up for the challenge, and walked over during Monday Night Football. They have three different choices:  A traditional buffalo sauce, bbq sauce, and an Asian inspired "sticky" sauce. I, of course, tried all three. I am committed to my readers, and owe you all a thorough review  ;).  But honestly, I was thinking how good can wings be at a seafood restaurant? I was quite pleasantly surprised.

Two orders were the traditional buffalo and sticky sauce wings. An order of wings is huge and comes in their oblong soup bowls. I thought they were double orders, but confirmed it was just a normal order. The buffalo sauce was a nice combination of spice and vinegar with a nice heat to compliment the wings The sticky sauce was a soy, garlic, sesame mixture that was salty and sweet. It was good but a bit on the salty side. I would have preferred a little bit of ginger to balance the flavor. I was stuffed already, sharing the two orders with my wife, but ordered the third flavor. I was glad I did because the bbq sauce was one of the better ones I've had in quite some time. It had a nice subtle smokiness, but didn't have that super sweet taste that most bbq sauces have.

The cook on the wings were to my specifications. I like my wings on the crispier side so it can hold up to the sauces. The Peddler did not disappoint. The Fish Peddler has been adding different items to their menu beyond seafood, and it is definitely an added value to the restaurant. I'm here to officially recommend getting the wings next time you go. If you are really hungry you can't beat the $9.99 per person all-you-can-eat NFL special.