Hard Rock Cafe – Chicago

While on a long weekend excursion with friends to Chicago recently, we tried the Wings Around the World, described as "A dozen chicken wings tossed in three different world-class sauces: a spicy Moroccan sauce, an Asian-sesame sauce and our classic wing sauce."

The wings themselves were perfectly cooked – crispy and well done, with plenty of juiciness left.  The three sauces were all well received by myself and my two dining companions, though I felt the Asian-sesame sauce was lacking, compared to other Asian-style wing sauces I have had.  Not a lot of "pop" to it.

The classic wing sauce was quite good – a standard delicious buffalo wing sauce.  I asked for a side of the "heavy metal" wing sauce, a hotter version, and one that turned out to have better flavor.  If you want your wings hotter, spicier, and more flavorful, I highly suggest getting the heavy metal sauce.  It has some nice smoked pepper flavors to, as well as other savory aromatics.

The Moroccan sauce was the highlight of the three though.  Totally different from your expected wing sauces, it carried curry overtones that gave it a depth of flavor not found in most fiery sauces. And since the heat and spice didn’t come from the usual pepper sources, it had a delayed, lingering burn that hit you further back in your mouth and on your tongue than the usual tongue-tip and lip searing that happens with traditional hot sauces.  It made for a pleasant experience and a sauce that I love to try barbecuing with!

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 stars overall (5 out of 5 for Moroccan, 2.5 for the Asian, 3 for the traditional sauced wings, and 4 for the heavy metal sauce)

I also had the Cajun chicken sandwich which was quite good, though was helped along with the left over heavy metal sauce.  Nicely grilled with Cajun spices and served with a Cajun-mustard-mayonnaise sauce.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 stars