by Bottom Line: The Loaded Jerk Fries and the Habanero Jerk Wings from Dos Sirenos deliver some good heat, and there are plenty of beers on tap to cool that down.
There are quite a number of breweries in San Antonio and the surrounding area (which I cover at my other site CraftBeersandMore.com), and among those one of my favorites is Dos Sirenos which is located south of downtown. They have a nice selection of beers on tap and a good food menu that has several spicy items to choose from. I previously reviewed their Jalapeno Popper BLT (you can read that here, and I am still waiting for them to add that to the permanent menu), and I recently stopped by to sip on a few brews and check out some more of their spicy offerings.
I started out with the Loaded Jerk Fries which includes fries that are dusted with their Habanero jerk seasoning and topped with beer cheese, crispy pork belly, and chipotle honey mustard. The fries are well-cooked and not greasy and that seasoning gives them a nice kick. The beer cheese delivers some good creaminess and just a touch of sharpness as well. The chipotle honey mustard brings in some more creaminess (but not too much) while also adding some sweetness and a hint of smoke. The pork belly delivers a good, bacony taste with maybe a bit more smoke. It also adds some good texture with its crispiness. Most of the heat comes from the Habanero jerk seasoning, with a little more from that chipotle honey mustard. But with the cheese balancing out the heat, I would put these around the Medium level on my scale. Some bites are hotter, though, if there is less cheese and more of the other ingredients.
Next up, I ordered their jumbo wings and asked which were the hottest; that turned out to be the ones rubbed with the Habanero jerk seasoning so I decided to make this a Caribbean two-fer. The wings are sizeable and plenty meaty with no breading added, so it is just the chicken. The meat is nice and tender with a good crispiness from the skin, and these are not greasy at all. The seasoning is not heavy on the jerk taste, delivering more of a peppery kick. But there are some hints of the Island flavor in there (particularly Allspice) as well as a bit of Habanero taste.
The first wing has a little bit of a bite, but I would say it only got up to about the Medium heat level on my scale. The second wing amped that up and left my lips tingling with heat. And by the time I finished my order of five wings, my mouth was definitely on fire. I would put the whole order at least at the Hot level, maybe higher, and flavor-wise they definitely delivered. These will not send you screaming for a fire extinguisher, but having a cold beer on hand to temper the heat is certainly a good idea!
And as it just so happens, Dos Sirenos have quite of few of those available. Their Trident Tripel is my favorite among their brews, but the Zeus Juice New England IPA (another really good one) would pair particularly well with these wings. You can read the rundown of my beer tasting over at CraftBeersandMore.com shortly, and I highly recommend that you make a trip over to Dos Sirenos next time you are in the downtown area. They have a nice variety of brews to choose from, and I have enjoyed everything that I have ordered from the food menu so far.
Dos Sirenos Brewing
231 East Cevallos Street
San Antonio, Texas
Website: dossirenosbrewing.com
