by Bottom Line: The Ghost Rush and Pecker Wrecker boneless bites from Wing Daddy’s Sauce House have very different flavor profiles, but both are quite tasty and they bring the heat!
There are plenty of places out there proffering Buffalo wings on a regular basis, from bars to pizza joints to fast food establishments. But there are not quite enough chains that specialize in the spicy poultry bites. Sure, you have Buffalo Wild Wings, Wingstop, and Anchor Bar as well as chains like Chili’s and Applebee’s that claim that their wings are among the best (don’t believe the latter). But I am certainly open to a few more wing-specific restaurants, and El Paso-based Wing Daddy’s Sauce House is one of several regional chains that may be looking to get their name more widely recognized across the country.
That wing-slinger has locations in Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico, and four of its restaurants are located right here in San Antonio. I have known about the chain for a while and I have been meaning to go by and try out their wings, and over the last two weeks I made two separate lunch stops (taking advantage of their daily specials) to sample their wings. Wing Daddy’s has twenty-three different sauces to choose from, and since I run a website titled Spicy Food Reviews, I went for the hottest ones: Ghost Rush and Pecker Wrecker. (My readers expect no less!)
I went with the boneless bites since it was lunchtime and I didn’t want to have to hose off from the messier bone-in wings. These are decent in size, delivering maybe two bites from each piece. They have a fair amount of breading, but there is still a good meat-to-crust ratio. My second order actually had smaller pieces, but they still had a sufficient amount of meat in each bite. The menu does not give any information on what ingredients make up the sauces, so I just had to take an educated guess while working my way through my two orders of wings.
The Ghost Rush bites were drenched pretty heavily in sauce, so that reduced the crunch. But they still delivered some good texture. The initial taste is a rich sweetness with a very peppery blast (combination of chili pepper and black pepper). The flavor is actually similar to jerk seasoning, though it seems to have some Korean BBQ hints as well. Imagine the best of both flavor profiles packed in one wing, and tell me that doesn’t get your mouth watering! There is also a little bit of tang in there and maybe some roast pepper taste as well. This sauce is very addicting and I can see this going well with a lot of things beyond just wings.
Heat-wise, the Ghost Rush wings start out teasing you into believing they may only be a little bit above Medium level. But that quickly amps up as you take more bites and these move beyond Hot to Fiery by the time you are done. I wouldn’t put these above the Buffalo Wild Wing Blazin’ sauce in heat (more on those here), but they still pack quite a punch.
On my second trip, I went with the Pecker Wrecker sauce which offered a very different taste profile. It has a tomatoey acidity and tastes sort of like you dipped the wing into a bowl full of thick salsa or spicy tomato sauce. It does have some hot sauce tang as well but none of the sweetness you often get from salsa. There might also be a hint of Indian spices in there, but that is off in the background. The heat does not hit with the first bite, but it builds up quickly. After the second bite, my mouth was definitely starting to smolder and the burn amped up from there. These are beyond the Hot heat level and leaning into the Fiery realm.
They offer blue cheese or Ranch with the wings and I went with the former as I am not a huge fan of the latter. The dipping sauce went better with the Pecker Wrecker wings, but I’m not sure it added a whole lot to either. Instead, I preferred dipping their tasty fries into the rather herbaceous bleu cheese to deliver a cooling effect from the spice of the wings.
Wing Daddy’s does not have the nutritional info for their wings on their website, but I can fill in at least one bit of information that might help: this is not diet food! Wings are deep-fried and dipped in sauce that likely has butter or other high-calorie ingredients. You don’t want to be eating these every day, but an occasional splurge is okay (according to my expert medical opinion).
You can check the Wing Daddy’s website to see if there is a location near you, and if not you might want to shoot them and email to explain why your town might be an ideal location for expansion. If you do have one near you, consider yourself lucky, and be sure to take advantage of their specials. Weekdays they have a lunch special that includes eight boneless wings or six bone-in wings or six Buffalo shrimp plus fries for $9.49. That is what I did, though I definitely want to stop by and check out their Happy Hour specials as well. They have a full menu that goes beyond wings and includes burgers, ribs, salads, sandwiches and more. But I think you are best off getting together a group of people and ordering a sampler of wings (maybe shrimp too) with as many of their twenty-three sauces as possible. If anybody is up for that, let me know!
