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There is an absolutely massive menu at Mr. Wings, 500 W. Oregon Ave. From hoagies, cheesesteaks, wraps, shrimp to strombolis and pizza, this is a menu that basement-dwelling bros and fraternities dream of. But it’s the wings that South Philadelphians have been consuming en masse for at least the five years since Jerry Karalis took over the 20-year-old business at the end of the shopping plaza that houses a handful of other food businesses.
Strangely Karalis, of the 2700 block of South 27th Street, wasn’t much of a wing man until he and his father, Dimitrios, bought the business and turned it around.
“We made it a lot better than it was,” the younger Karalis, who also manages the spot, said. “I never used to eat wings until I got the store. But now we eat ’em all the time until we get sick of them.”
The magic just may be in the sauces, which Karalis says are a “secret — all the sauces are. It’s stuff that we work on in the kitchen, mostly me. I mix stuff together and come up with ideas.”
Ranging in size from five to 100 pieces, sauce choices are mild, medium, hot, nuclear, suicide, honey BBQ, garlic parmesan, BBQ, Cajun and spicy BBQ. But hot and mild are the most go-to orders, and Karalis’ favorite is hot.
Their biggest business days are easily football Sundays. How many wings can they pump out on a game day?
“Oh my god, close to 10,000 wings — on Super Bowl Sunday we did 30,000 wings. It was insane,” Karalis said. “A lot of people come in and gram em’ for the tailgate. It’s impossible to deliver down there.”
But they’ll go pretty much anywhere south of South Street for deliveries, or further if the order’s big enough.
Poultry consumption is a pastime Philadelphians have embraced for generations, but it’s how one prepares, cooks and sauces it where the magic happens. Karalis’ Mr. Wings trickery’s in the homemade sauces, and on Sunday, this writer tried his suicide sauce. Good Lord, what insanity is in that sauce?
“It’s a secret,” the proprietor said. The man or woman who orders 50 wings bathed in suicide sauce is a human whose taste buds and intestines have been kissed with miraculous fortitude. I salute you.
Uncle Oogie’s came in at second place and a trio of others finished third.
Staff Writer Bill Chenevert at bchenevert@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
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