Eulogy Belgian Tavern

January 20^th, 2011

Eulogy Belgian Tavern
136 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 413-1918
http://eulogybar.server101.com/

What can be said about Eulogy that hasn’t already been said?  This Old City mainstay, located at 136 Chestnut Street, has been serving up copious amounts of awesome brews for almost a decade now.  With over 300 bottles and twenty-one draughts to choose from, you’d be remiss to pass up the opportunity to drink in an establishment that RateBeer.com ranked as the fifth best beer restaurant in the United States of America.  With such an amazing selection of beer to occupy yourself with, one might forget that a food menu even exists.  Sean summed it up when he sat down, opened his menu enthusiastically (as we were all starving), and said, “Oh yeah, two pages of food and eight pages of beer…”  But that’s not to say that their food menu is anything to sneeze at (or on).  Their “Best of Philadelphia” Napoleon burger and the ridiculously delicious Belgian Frietjes, with one (or all) of their flavorful dipping sauces, are just a couple of Eulogy’s can’t miss food items.  Though, being that this is Wing Quest, we have something very specific we need to order.

       

 Accompanying we three Wing Questers on our journey to Eulogy was our good friend/guest judge Sean (who will henceforth be referred to as Vodka Ross since we already have a perfectly good Sean in our ranks).  Eulogy’s wings come coated with your choice of Mild, Hot, or “Bat Out of Hell” sauce.  Nick, generally regarded as our BBQ man, ordered the Mild, Sean and Vodka Ross, the Hot, and Tom, brave soul that he is, ordered the Bat Out of Hell wings.  Curious about the BOH wings though, everyone requested a side of the sauce to try.  Our wings came out in a timely manner and we began our feast.

 The wings came out with the typical celery and bleu cheese.  Wait, is that bleu cheese?  Next to the celery was a cup of white sauce that had a really mild, but herby flavor.  We asked our waitress what it was because surely this smooth, creamy liquid could not be bleu cheese…  It was totally bleu cheese, but it was bleu cheese they made in-house and it added a really nice touch to the meal.  Now, on to the actual wings… Nick thought that the Mild sauce was seriously lacking inflavor, though he really enjoyed the crispiness of wings.  Nick was also not a big fan of the bleu cheese.  Sean and Vodka Ross were up next with their Hot wings.  Eulogy’s Hot sauce is comprised solely of Sriracha, from what our waitress told us, and both Sean and Vodka really dug the flavor.  Sean said the Sriracha was a nice change from the regular buffalo sauce.  Finally we had Tom’s BOH wings.  Just from looking at them you could tell they were dangerous.  Coated in a thick, hearty sauce (also mainly comprised of Sriracha) that was sprinkled with chilis and resembling a pasta sauce (or “gravy” for you Italians), these bright red beasts were not messing around.  The sauce itself had a great, almost sweet, tomato start, but an insanely hot and spicy finish.  It was a task just to finish the entire plate of wings and by the end of the ordeal, Tom found it painful just to breathe and the spice stayed with him for a good fifteen minutes after he was done eating.  Despite its heat, the BOH sauce was well-liked by everyone, though it was noted that no one else would ever eat an entire order of wings coated in it because of the feverish heat it had brought upon Tom.

"Bat Out of Hell" Wings

Overall, we liked our wings.  For some they were too crispy, others just crispy enough.  Some really liked the homemade bleu cheese, some did not.  There was definitely a good amount of divisiveness among us Wing Questers and Vodka Ross, but we all agreed that the price tag of $7 for only eight wings was way too much for what we got.  We don't think that rounding that quantity of eight wings to ten could hurt, but what do we know? 

Again, you’d be remiss to pass on Eulogy for any reason. They have a knowledgeable, friendly staff and a beer selection that towers over the competition.  But, given all the other tasty food options on the menu, we’ll probably skip the wings on future visits.

Wing – 6.25

Sauce – 7.75

Price – 5.5

Overall – 6.5

Review by Tom Kaericher