Wings, Beer and Conversation

I drove to Chicago last Thursday night for a day of meetings on Friday at my office and to go to a couple of parties on Saturday with Cathy (she took the train in Saturday morning -- not a pleasant experience for her that she may describe in a future post).  While in town, I contacted my friend Jeff, who I've known for over 20 years.  Jeff and I have worked at three different companies together and have shared some tough times with each other.  In the distant past, we use to meet for drinks and appetizers at a local microbrewery, but that ended up closing a few years back.  We found a new place for libations that seemed to be equidistant to his office and mine -- Hooters.  We have continued to meet there a couple times a year, despite a near-death experience I had there once.  While Jeff was 'freshening up', a ceiling fan above our table came crashing down, clipping our table, and missing my head by inches -- seriously.

Hooters.  What can I say? They are known for their wings, but they are also known for their breasts, legs, and thighs -- but those are not on the menu.  I don't know exactly how to classify this restaurant.  Not quite a bar and grill, not really a sports bar, and not very family-oriented.  And yet, Hooters is trying to be all three.  The demographics on this particular night were mostly male 30-somethings, some young couples, a few 40-something groups of women, and two or three families with young children (I found this a little bizarre).

In general I have not been impressed with the servers there -- it seems policy to grow your hair long, dye and straighten it, and wear a ton of unnecessary make-up.  That is in addition to wearing the required 'uniform'.  When being waited on, my experience has been that the women feign friendliness, but in actuality are standoffish and a bit resentful.  This time, however, our server was very pleasant and accommodating.

As for the food and drink, I've only had their beer and wings so I'll focus on those.  You can order the wings in 5, 10, 20, and 50 piece batches -- bone in or boneless.  And you can order the wings hot, 3-mile island, or 9-1-1 each in increasing hotness.  I've tried all three.  Hot is not hot at all, in my opinion; only slightly spicy.  There doesn't seem to be much difference between the hotter and hottest versions.  They are good, but not great, containing too much breading and not enough variation in flavor of the Tabasco-based hot sauce.  What really irks me is that sides of celery, ranch, and blue cheese dressing are happily served to you at an additional charge.  The draft beers appear to be restricted to boring choices such as Miller Lite.  I prefer full bodied beers with complex flavors, so I was sadly disappointed.

With such a mediocre review, why do I go there?  Well, let's just say I am more interested in catching up with a dear friend.