This is the first part of two reviews on establishments on the east side of the Mississippi, both of which have very good wings, though you might not think to order them at either of them!
The first is Peel Wood Fired Pizza, located in the surprisingly cute heart of historic downtown O’Fallon, IL. I used to think that there was only an O’Fallon, MO that I had never been to, but it turns out that there’s an O’Fallon, IL that I had never been to as well.
Due to work, that’s changed! I’m still not sure I’ve ever been to O’Fallon, MO but I’ve now been to O’Fallon, IL 3 times. And 2 of those times I went to Peel to get wings.
Peel’s two primary culinary functions appear to be as a pizza place and a brewery. I am sorry to say that I have yet to try either of these items, but they look and smell delicious.
On the wing side of things, Peel offers 10 varieties. You can check them out on their online menu, here. I would like to try most of these flavors, but the two I have tried are the Fire wings and the Buffalo wings.
Both orders of wings were very good, cooked in their wood fired oven. This leads to a decent char, though it isn’t quite as remarkable as the wings at Epic Pizza in Soulard (review).
Fire wings, somewhat misleadingly are not that spicy at all. The menu describes them as “crushed red pepper, parmesan, grey salt, basil, roasted garlic olive oil”. I’d call them a pesto with a kick. This is a flavor that was pretty unique to other wings that I’ve eaten and I would highly recommend it.
The buffalo wings were buffalo wings. Not too spicy, not too wimpy. Good form of the style. They aren’t quite as good as Epic’s wood-fired buffalo wings, but they are in the ballpark.
The variety of flavors on this menu are enticing and will be enough to keep me away from the pizza for probably a few more visits. Caribbean Mango and Thai both look really good.
Anyway, if you’re in O’Fallon, IL or even near it, Peel seems to be a great place to check out. I hear it gets pretty busy on Friday and Saturday nights, so… keep that in mind I guess.
Coming up in East Side Part 2: Tiendo El Ranchito in Fairmont City