Jack’s Fire Dept. Ale House | www.JacksFireDepartment.com/ | 39-46 Skillman Ave. Sunnyside, NY 11104 (Queens)
Subway: 7 (40th St.)
Heat / Flavor: +++
Sauce / Rub: ++
Overall Cook: ++++
Messy Factor: ++
Pricing: ++
Overall Rating: +++/ (3.25 / 5.0)
After being featured on John Taffer’s television show Bar Rescue, a group of friends and I were a little curious to witness the fruit of his labor; Jack’s Ale House.
In my opinion, the show’s success would be the main reason anyone ventures out to this spot in Sunnyside, which is a very remote, bright and pleasant, family-oriented part of Queens. However, not an ideal spot for a bar (there’s a school and a playground a block away). But, if there are wings on the menu, why would this ever stop me from giving it a try?
As I mentioned the phrase in my previous post, these wings just made the cut of “Blog-Worthy,” which to me is a rating of 3 or higher.
To get the basics and pleasantries out of the way, the decor successfully sticks with the fire department theme, featuring a huge front end of a firetruck above the bar and various pictures and fire gear on the walls. Certainly not a trendy look the Queens and Brooklyn hip crowd looks for. Happy hour featured some great discounted deals...they also have Kona Big Wave on tap! Score! I will mention though, that for the 2-3 hours we were hanging out, only about 10 patrons visited, if that. Most seemed to be friends/family of the bar.
Okay, so the wings and fries finally arrive, let me tell you what I thought! The menu features “Charred Grilled Wings” available in the Fiery Hot flavors of BBQ or Teriyaki. I chose the latter. For those with a fear of heat, they weren’t hot...perhaps between a mild and medium.
You may know by now that I prefer a rather well-done cook on the meat as opposed to an overly-juicy wing. They certainly came through with this; hot, crispy and generously (but not overly) charred on the outside with plenty of meat on the bones. As far as natural chicken wing, smokey grilled flavor goes, there was plenty of it. This aspect of the wing was done pretty well.
However, I ordered Teriyaki wings, not a naked dry-rub wing. The little bit of Teriyaki glaze on these wings was a nice flavor, but I wanted more, way more. You will see in my picture above that any bit of sauce seeped to the bottom of the plate and was soaked up by the serving paper. Toss these wings in a bit more sauce or lather them up while still cooking on the grill, and these babies could be a 4 out of 5, easily!
You’ll find a plate of wings and cool cucumber ranch for a modest $9. I personally enjoy the menu and drinks as well. If you have a car or want to make a special trip to check out Jack’s wings, go for it. But I wouldn’t expect this to become a regular stop for me.