John and Molly’s
On occasion I find myself sitting at a social event, or in this case a birthday party, and getting involved in a “whose wings do I NEED to try” conversation. I love these conversations for multiple reasons: To help people find great wing places that I have found, to hear different wing stories that different people share, and most importantly to find new places that I haven’t tried. During one of these conversations, Allison, a friend of mine who is known for finding and loving great wings (she even makes her own, though with fear of me rating them, I have not had the pleasure of trying them), said that she was going to take me out to a place that she remembered having really great wings. That place was called John and Molly’s, and a short time later, we all took a trip to this bar to see if the memories she had of that one drunken-wing-eating-night a while back were actually accurate.
We popped in the front door and circled around to find a spot at the bar that could accommodate all four of us (which is sometimes hard to do with everyone needing two seats in between them for a comfort cushion). Just as I’m standing there trying to figure out what to do, one gentleman and his lady offered to move down which allowed most of us to sit. This would have been just taken as a nice gesture, but then when the people on the other side of him got up, they went the extra mile and moved over again!! What else could I do except buy them a round and thank them for being the way I wish all people were… nice! I also watched others buy drinks for a military man sitting across from me while thanking him for his service. This all put such a great warm feeling in my soul, however, the main reason I was here was to put a great warm feeling in my belly. So, I ordered up their “Jumbo Buffalo Wings” with a side of fries, and enjoyed the company of some good friends.
Let’s jump right to it. With my choices being Mild, Medium, and Hot, I went with dousing them in the middle option with the Hot on the side. When these babies arrived they were freakin’ HUGE. I took the first bite and was amazed at everything that was going right with these wings: They were super tender, came out super hot, and the chicken was super juicy. They were lightly breaded which gave crispness to them without sliming up the meat, which is always a good thing. One thing that usually happens with jumbo wings is that they have too much meat which leads to the flavor of the sauce getting lost after a few chews. That is not the case for John and Molly’s, as these wings had a perfect balance of sauce to meat that made each bite just as good as the last.
The sauce had a familiar aroma to it, and when I started eating, it tasted slightly like Frank’s Hot sauce. So, I asked the bartender if the chefs used that as a base in their sauce and received confirmation that they did. This is not a bad thing as Frank’s is one of my favorite sauces and they didn’t just serve it out of the bottle, no no sir… they added their own style to it by adding some pepper bits and other ingredients that transformed the sauce into even more of a delight. My only complaint would be that sauce was not that hot for a “Medium” sauce, so I cracked open my “Hot” to find out that it was pretty much the same. Confused, I tasted Jason’s to find that his (which he ordered tossed in Hot) did in fact have more heat. Either I got the wrong side, or ordering them tossed in Hot does something to the heat level.
One funny side note was that during my conversation about Frank’s with the bartender, she began to tell me how she was a bit of a “wing connoisseur” and appreciates a great sauce like Frank’s and great wings in general. With a smirk on my face, I asked her what her favorite place was to get some great wings. Her response of “Buffalo Wild Wings” made me smile because she was traveling to the shore to get some great wings when all she had to do was look right under her nose to find even better ones.
John and Molly’s
1291 Woodlane Rd., Eastampton, NJ 08060
(609) 702-1701
