If one of your favorite pastimes is sitting on your couch and watching the Food Network for hours on end, and you won’t get any judgment from me if it is, then you may have heard of The Shaved Duck from its appearance on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Or you may have just heard of it because its delicious and wonderful.

This out-of-the-way spot in St. Louis’ wonderful Tower Grove neighborhood is doing some good business. We had a 20 minute wait to get seated on a Wednesday night, and that happens to be the perfect amount of time to grab a drink at the bar. The Shaved Duck makes great use of their 4 taps, serving up interesting local craft choices that you’d be hard pressed to find at a bar with 4x as many taps. The bottle list is extensive (and also includes Bud & Bud Light for the less adventurous drinker), and both my wife and I appreciated the cleverly written and informative descriptions that accompany each beer.

Another thing that both of us appreciated was the lovely atmosphere of the place. Even in a packed bar, we were able to have a conversation at a reasonable volume. And we were sitting right in front of the live music! An artist by the name of Mickey McGuire (can’t find a website for him) was playing his a lovely acoustic set at a wonderful volume.

But how are their wings? The Shaved Duck is primarily a BBQ place, so as you’d expect, their wings are smoked. The menu describes them as such: “Slow smoked and served with a mango, ginger, and habanero sauce”. It’s $5.50 for a 1/2 order or $9.99 for a pound. These wings occupy a precarious spot on the menu right next to their deservedly famous Smothered Fries, so it’s easy for the eyes to miss them.

You shouldn’t miss them though, because these these are some tasty tasty wings. They are rubbed in a sugary delicious rub, and crisp up nicely with a bit of caramelization. In an earlier review I opined about how good Baumman’s Wings would be if they were served fresh out of the smoker, and these are a pretty close approximation to that. Maybe even better.

The mango habanero BBQ sauce is served in generous quantities, but in a bowl on the side. I normally prefer my wings tossed in sauce before they’re served, but these wings stand so well on their own that I understand the decision here. The sauce, which is quite sweet at first, also has an impressive kick on the back-end that may dissuade some from trying a pre-sauced version of these wings. Fortunately, the bowl that the sauce is served in is wide-rimmed enough that a whole wing can be place flat in it. This should be a requirement for wings which are served with sauce on the side.

As far as wing-size goes, these are probably just barely on the large size of normal. Fortunately, when put in a smoker, the chicken meat becomes an asset to a wing. The 1 pound order came with 10 wings, and after I had devoured more than my fair share of smothered nachos (their special for the night, a nacho-fied version of their smothered fries), I could only get through 1/2 of them. One pound of these guys would be enough for a meal without any appetizers.

So, should your order them? Even in a delicious appetizer section of a delicious menu, these wings deserve your consideration. If you’re with a group of 4 people, get a 1/2 order and you can all try one. Or, get a full order and enjoy them for lunch the next day. That’s another good thing about smoked wings. In my book, they are still just as delicious cold the next day.