SAN ANTONIO — Dwayne Price still recalls the words from his terminally ill father: “I see more out of you in life. You are not using your full potential.”
The words were a gamechanger. He was working as a skycab employee at the airport, an East Coast native who had moved to San Antonio at the urging of his brother and sister-in-law. They told him San Antonio was small business-friendly.
He took the crispy friend wings he served to his friends and turned them into a business: the new-and-improved Wayne's Wings.
“We started in June 22, 2010,” He said. “We started on my birthday.”
Price had a small food truck he used to sell food at bars and clubs. His following really took flight at the now defunct ER Bar on Wurzbach Road. In March 2016, he moved into his current location at 2427 Austin Hwy.
“What we do is just good home cooking. I just cook like I’m cooking for my friends,” he said. “You know, this is my house. I’m just inviting them over to get a bite to eat.”
According to Price, Wayne’s Wings country-fries it chicken wings.
“Thin, crispy crust. Nice and juicy inside, and then we season it with one of our flavors,“ he said.
The wing joint boasts 40 flavors for its wings. Price’s wings come with wet sauce or dry rub, and the flavor combinations are unique. But they are customer-requested and approved.
In fact, the wings are so different that Wayne’s Wings were voted best wings in Texas.
“I believe we have the best wings in the world. But for now we’re going to go with San Antonio and Texas,” Price said.
Neighborhood Eats was provided with a 20-wing sampler plus two other popular menu items.
The taste test started with his Philly Cheese fries topped with steak, a river of cheese and jalapenos. ¡Qué Rico!
His Philly Cheesesteak sandwich with white American Cheese is just as rich.
The Jen Jen wing with BBQ sauce, cinnamon and jalapenos is fantastic. The Kay Kay wing comes with hot sauce, jalapenos, Cayenne pepper and pepper flakes. It’s good, too.
Neighborhood Eats was pleasantly surprised with the funnel cake wing (cinnamon and powdered sugar). It’s not only a novelty. The wing is tasty.
For those who don’t want any frills on their chicken wing, the standard country-fried wing is the ticket.
On the other end of the spectrum is the nearly snow-white Godfather wing: Alfredo sauce, Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning. ¡Qué Rico!
The powdery Rodney’s Ranch wing is good. Neighborhood Eats leaned toward the Boss wing with BBQ sauce and Lemon pepper.
The Buffalo wing, Caribbean fusion the Duke wing and the Texas Honey Bee wing are also great grabs.
Don’t sleep on the lemon pepper, spicy honey lemon pepper and Buffalo Ranch wings, either.
The Curry wing is a little showstopper.
Want some heat on your meat? Try the Sriracha, cilantro and lime Jacob wing. Increase the heat with the Creeper wing: BBQ sauce, pepper flakes, ghost and jalapeno pepper based sauce. This is a hot one!
The Roxy, with its sweet mustard and ranch, is plate-worthy. The spicy Parmesan wing is good. Wayne’s Wings has two new wings for Chile lovers: Buffalo Chile Lime and Honey Chile Lime wings.
Overall: You can’t go wrong with Wayne’s Wings. There’s a wing for nearly everyone or try the Philly cheesesteak products. Expect a wait in the small space. That, friends, is the price of getting freshly prepared food.
Give Marvin your review of Wayne’s Wings. Send him an email (Mhurst@kens5.com), tweet (@Mhurstkens5) or post it on his Facebook page. #KENS5EATS