Bottom Line: The Buffalo Bird Dawg from Buffalo Wild Wings is a nice enough change from the standard chicken sandwich, and it delivers some heat (especially if you order their hotter sauces).
Wings continue to be quite popular these days, and Buffalo Wild Wings is one of the chains that helped to popularize them from coast to coast. But it has been struggling of late because it shoots for the broader appeal of the casual sit-down restaurants and the economy has not been kind to those venues. So BWW is doing what it can to bring customers through the doors and the new Bird Dawgs are their latest ploy to tempt hungry diners.
What the heck is a Bird Dawg you ask?
Simple. It’s breaded chicken tenders stuffed in a hot dog bun with other toppings so that they are easy to eat. The “Bird” is the chicken, the “Dawg” is the hotdog bun so . . . don’t let the silly name hold you up, these are pretty good! I ordered the Buffalo Bird Dawg which included the chicken tenders, slaw, chopped green onions, medium Buffalo sauce, and ranch piled atop a brioche hotdog bun. Mine came with bleu cheese crumbles as well, which I thought was standard, but I notice they are not included in the description on the website.
This is definitely a tasty little item which is somewhere between a po boy and a chicken sandwich. The chicken tender is cut-up and fills out the bun. It is layered over the slaw, with the sauce and bleu cheese then added atop that. It’s a nice delivery method, but don’t think this is any less messy than eating wings on their own. Quite a lot is packed into that bun, and after one bite ingredients start flying and you get plenty of sauce on your face.
But hey, that’s the fun of it! And this is definitely an enjoyable little sammy that is just different enough from everything else out there and quite tasty. The chicken is well-breaded and cooked through so that it is quite crispy. The slaw adds a nice cooling effect as well as some crunch as it is not too soggy. The bleu cheese crumbles deliver a pungent kick and the Buffalo sauce brings the requisite tang and some heat as well. I still haven’t figured out what all the fuss is about brioche buns, but they do a good enough job at holding everything together.
The medium Buffalo sauce is the standard for this Bird Dawg, though I am sure you can substitute that for any of their other sauces. I ordered it as it is on the menu, and the sandwich does have a kick. Somewhere between Mild and Medium level heat. But I also asked for some of their Blazin’ sauce on the side (more on that sauce here) and that really kicked things up. I spread about a spoonful on each Dawg and that elevated the Heat level to over hot.
One of these may not seem like enough to fill you up, but if you order a side and/or an appetizer, you may find it to be sufficient (I got greedy and ordered two). I can’t find any nutrition info on these, but I am going to guess that one is 300 to 400 calls (the website gives a number of 1,380 calls for the combo with two Bird Dawgs and fries but no further breakdown). If you hit BWW at Happy Hour (3 to 6 Weekdays with $3 to $6 deals) and order one of these and also split one of their discounted appetizers with a friend and take advantage of their $3 to $5 drafts, you are getting a heck of a deal that will fill you up. But I won’t tell if you go ahead and order that second one.
They have two other varieties of Bird Dawgs on the menu: the Honey BBQ (which comes with Honey BBQ sauce as you may have guessed) and the loaded (which has cheese sauce, grilled onions, and honey mustard). The Buffalo is the one that I would go back for, and I will get that Blazin’ sauce on the side again. (Add some of that to your ketchup for dipping fries or tots as well!) But these Bird Dawgs are likely scheduled to head back to Limited-Time-Only-Ville at some point unless they prove popular enough to make it to the full-time menu. I would definitely like for them to stick around, but then I go to BWW mostly for the wings, so I am not sure if I would order these every time. While they are around, I definitely recommend giving them a try, though.