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Wings Restaurant
If you call yourself “Wings” then you have to fly. If you are an Asian restaurant named “Wings” you should soar with the celestial dragons. I recently went to “Wings Restaurant” for an office Christmas Party. It was a buffet lunch with oriental entrees, coffee, tea and water provided by Wings. That format gave me a chance to try a wide variety of entrees in a short time. First, there is the décor. When you walk in it looked as much like a bar as a restaurant and there were several dining areas, but most were in various nooks and crannies of the building. It had the usual oriental décor but not to excess. It was clean, but old and dark without being dangerously dark. It is dated and the date is somewhere in the 1950’s. It is a bit like going through a wormhole in restaurant time. We were gathering in the basement, the festive basement. In all truth it wasn’t bad. We did not have to share the space and it was relatively open and at the same time intimate. We could move from table to table and get to the buffet line without a lot of jostling and elbow checking. The service was attentive without being an interruption. The parking here is dicey as they have a very small lot and they will tow you in a heartbeat if you park in the wrong place. To add to the adventure, some of the places that will tow are not clearly distinguished from the allowed Wings parking. Wings restaurant is not open and inviting to the disabled. There are steps to get in and the steps to the basement were steep, narrow and did not have rails on both sides. The food was dated and lackluster. It was perfectly good 1950-1960 Oriental food. But it is not the 1950, 1960’s anymore and we have become more sophisticated in our appreciation of Oriental foods and preparation standards. Broccoli should not be sad, soggy and limp. Likewise eggrolls have to have some characteristic beyond looking like little filo dough wrapped cabbage tubes with flecks of other stuff in there. I don’t care how much of that orange gelatinous sweet sauce you slather on a bad eggroll it isn’t going to make it better and it didn’t. The “Crab Rangoon” was stone cold and tasteless. Several of the dishes I could not identify by sight alone. There was General Tso’s chicken, pot stickers, fried rice, Low Mein, Sweet and Sour Chicken, white rice, pan-fried noodles, Beef and Broccoli in brown sauce. There were no soups. That accounts for about half to the fare and with one exception I couldn’t really place a name on the other dishes. None of the fare was inedible, except the Eggrolls and Crab Rangoon. But it was forgettable and that is the dismal reality of eating here. It will fill you and it won’t kill you. The exception was a tray of roasted pork that was warm, savory and well prepared. It would stand up to much of the roasted pork available in any restaurant today. I also have to mention that Wings Restaurant is one of the primer single malt Scotch Whiskey Bars in Central Ohio. I no longer drink, but just a quick look and there is some exotic, high-end liquor there. If you want 47 year old single malt Springbank scotch from Blackadder, Scotland, they have it. How about a wee sip of 30-year-old Laphroiag from Islay? Why yes, they have it. Columbus Alive has placed them as one of the top five whiskey bars in Columbus. I must admit that even this reformed drinker has some respect for the bar’s selection. In a past time I would have bellied up and started sampling. The difficulty would be stopping. We also had dessert, an assortment of desserts actually, and that was the crowning part of the meal and was the only part that was exemplary. One of our co-workers, Mitzi Logan, provided the dessert and the desserts were inspired. There were individual Cheese Cakes, from scratch cupcakes, homemade cinnamon candy and toffee brittle bark. There was not a single offering that was not outstanding. My mother owned and operated an Italian bakery. I am aware of the difficulty of achieving the consistent quality Mitzi achieved. She does not have a bakery yet, but I am giving five stars to Mitzi’s Baked Goods, Inc. before it is even opened. Her loving work and her skill brings a few basic ingredients together and transforms them into an avatar of what is nurturing and sweet in life. We had a good time, got to share a meal and get to know each other. In the end that is what will be remembered and cherished. The food was a vehicle and it served its purpose by gathering us together.
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