We received a set of coupons in the mail in the Savvy Shopper that made us aware of a new concept known as Hippo Wings in Louisville, KY.  They are located at 509 E. Warnock Street at the corner of Crittenden and Warnock, right across the street from the University of Louisville campus.  We decided to investigate…

Upon arrival, we found a very clean, small restaurant with a limited (5 seats) dining area.  Hippo Wings specializes in delivery and carry-out.  You’ll need a minimum order of $8.00 for delivery, but with a dozen wings selling for $8.39 that shouldn’t be a problem.

We looked over the menu, which includes wings, tenders, fried and grilled chicken sandwiches, hamburgers, fried pickles, fried mushrooms, French fries, pies (pecan & apple) and sodas.  The drink selection was pretty limited, with a few Pepsi products available.  We placed our order for a dozen wings and fries and settled for a Diet Pepsi, since we won’t drink Aquafina.

On the subject of Aquafina, if you ever want to see something scary – take a clean glass and pour the Aquafina into the glass.  Leave it at room temperature for 3 days and watch what happens – you won’t put it into your system again after watching that!

We ordered the wings extra crisp and hot, with a side cup of the Exxxtreme Hot.  They also have a wide selection of flavors, including Original, Sweet Thai, Honey Mustard, Sweet & Spicy Plum, Bourbon (a must-try on our next visit), Chile Garlic, Zesty Orange, Teriyaki, Jamaican Jerk, Down Home BBQ and Honey BBQ.

502-634-4477

We met the owner, Roy, a fine, friendly fellow who explained that Hippo Wings is the first of it’s kind and the only one at this time.  We shared that the concept has a very professional look and appears to be a franchise operated business.  The menu’s were very nicely done and easy to read.  They have a web site at www.HippoWings.com.  Be sure to bookmark us first before you visit so you can return easily.

They are open for lunch at 11 a.m. on Friday and Saturday (noon on Sunday), and open at 5 p.m. on the other days.  They are open until 1 a.m. most nights, and 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

The wings arrived packaged to go in a foam clamshell.  We chose to eat in the dining room.  The wings were too large for our standards (but it should be noted that 95% of the restaurants that we try have wings that are way too big), but the “extra crisp” touch was perfect.  The Exxxtreme Hot sauce was nearly perfect, and reminded us a lot of Café Hot Wing 8 in Atlanta – the best sauce in the universe. 

The fries were good, but bring your own ketchup, because they use a cheap, no-name watery red sauce packet that they call ketchup.  We recommended that they switch to Heinz, because they don’t make Red Gold Ketchup in packets yet.  We can only wait and see if they will follow our counsel.

They were stingy with the celery, giving us a pack resembling Wings To Go where they wrap 2 stalks in white tissue and charge extra if you want more.  49 cents for two pieces of celery.  The blue cheese was good with nice sized chunks of cheese.

They take all major credit cards to include VISA, Mastercard, Discover and American Express.

All in all, Hippo Wings was one of the better discoveries of 2006.  They landed on the Great Wing Pyramid right beside Wing Stop near the top of the pyramid.  We will return to order wings for carryout.

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