Sweet Lucy's

Sweet Lucy's
7500 State Rd
Philadelphia, PA 19136
(215) 331-3112
www.sweetlucys.com

Sweet Lucy’s on State Rd in Northeast Philadelphia is arguably the best BBQ joint in the city and anyone who has eaten there would have a hard time saying otherwise.  They have everything that you would expect from a BBQ place; pulled pork, kielbasa, beef brisket, ribs, rotisserie chicken, and more, all hickory-smoked and slow cooked to tender perfection with all sorts of sides and fixin’s to choose from.  And if you can bring yourself to stop drooling over the aforementioned menu items, they also have Hot wings. 

                This being the southern-style BBQ smokehouse, Sweet Lucy’s does wings a little bit differently than most people are used to.  Instead of being deep fried, Sweet Lucy’s wings are slow cooked just like all the other meats.  An order of wings comes with a note attached letting you know that even though the wings are a little pink on the inside due to being smoked, they’re cooked and completely safe to eat.  I would probably have eaten them without the note, but some people are a little more cautious than I when it comes to potential food poisoning, which is to say that it’s a thoughtful gesture on Sweet Lucy’s end.

                The wings are served whole, drumsticks and flats attached to one another just as God had intended.  All you need to do is rip them apart and eat.  The meat is retardedly juicy and tender from the slow cooking and it basically falls right off of the bone.  However, there isn’t much of a sauce to speak of.  My theory is that the wings are coated with a Hot rub and then slow cooked, allowing the juices and the rub to mix and make a sort of natural sauce.  The flavor is there, but it is lacking.  When you order Hot wings, you expect them to be a certain way, you know, like hot or something…  But these wings just kind of have a salt-and-pepper-sometimes-a-twinge-of-Hot-spice flavor that left us wanted more spice.

                As for the price, a dozen wings will run you $14.95 and a half-dozen is $8.50.  Keep in mind the fact that these are “whole” wings and you really get double what you’ve ordered.  So at this price point, the wings are worth checking out if you haven’t already tried the rest of the menu.  Otherwise just keep going to Sweet Lucy’s, working your way down the menu until you hit the Hot wings.  Or if you come in to Sweet Lucy’s on a Monday, they have a buffet of all their awesome menu items for around $20, and trust us, it’s worth every penny.

Wing -  6.75

Sauce – 5

Price – 6

Overall – 5.9




Review by Tom Kaericher