I have to admit I was predisposed not to like Wings N' Things at 324 West Broadway, the former location of Fetish Shoes; a mysterious little business that sprung up like mushrooms in dog doody after a rain shower, then faded away without a whimper leaving little to mark its passing but a single blog post written in, good lord, PARODY FONT.
It has often been said the only food available on West Broadway tends toward "wings and things." So a business actually NAMED "Wings N' Things" seemed to be a kind of deliberate slap in the face directed toward neighborhood revitalization efforts.
But I went there recently and the food was pretty good, at least when measured against...
...the standard of fried food that isn't good for you but sure TASTES good.
Also, the whole menu was incredibly affordable. Knowing a single meal of "chicken and waffles" would allow me to check another box on my Facebook Food List Challenge, that's what I picked. Now I just have to figure out where to get black pudding, dandelion wine, fugu fish...
Not on West Broadway, that's for sure. But dare to dream, I say.
Waiting only a short while for my order, I snapped a few photos of the interior.
Before I left, I noticed the guy doubling as cook and cashier was selling homemade baklava for only $1.99. During our incredible father and son post-Afghanistan road trip, my son developed a fondness for this food...which is a small miracle, since his "Food Challenge Checklist" may well score in single digits not requiring the use of all fingers upon one hand. I grabbed some baklava for my kid, who I was off to see after finishing my chicken and waffles. My kid said it was good, and he's picky. So there you go.
Though my little review has a biting edge, I want to leave you with this "looking on the positive" summary. Good food. Good price. And almost anything in that space is better than a mysterious little business that at least one of my friends said looked like it was probably a drug money laundering operation.
God speed revitalization progress on West Broadway.
Thanks for posting something positive about the neighborhood. Places like this that serve great tasting food deserve the praise.
ReplyDeleteWings wings wings.Nails nails nails. Do people open any other kind of business in North Minneapolis? If so, please post the information. Another mystery is why there are no gun shops and not more liquor stores in that beautiful area.
ReplyDeleteWell, there is no mystery as to the absence of gun shops in NoMi. Most potential customers are felons, so a bricks-and-mortar legal business is not going to be able to compete with illegal street dealers. It is certainly not a matter of lack of demand....
ReplyDeleteI can't answer the liquor store question. If you look at the traffic at Mickey's (Plymouth and Emerson) on any given evening, you would think this is a lucrative business begging for more competition. A liquor store for each nail and each wing place seems to me to be about the right ratio. But, the lack thereof probably has something to do with arcane city regulatory restrictions.
Good luck trying to open a gun store in Minneapolis. Its not that there are not any customers in North Minneapolis. In fact I would think there are many law abiding residents of North that would patronize a gun shop. But the city of Minneapolis would never allow a gun shop in North Minneapolis.
ReplyDeleteBricks and mortars don't kill people, people kill people. I propose opening a "free stuff" store with hidden camera's to see who gets caught sholifting.
ReplyDelete