Quaker Steak & Lube: Ribs outshine the wings
Sometime in the early ’80s, my husband, Bud, and I embarked on a journey to the hamlet (or chick-let?) of Sharon, Pa., to check out a place called Quaker Steak & Lube. It was a casual restaurant sited in a defunct gas station that crowed to anyone who would listen that it was serving the “Best Wings in the USA.” Based on a trip to the mother church (aka Anchor Bar), Quaker Steak had revamped its menu from a cook-your-own-steaks emphasis to a wing emphasis. Wings were just garnering a big reputation at the time.
We thought it was a cute food depot, rather amateurly adorned with automobile memorabilia, out-of-state licenses, etc. We had a good time.
But did we eat the best wings in the country? No indeed, I wrote in a subsequent story. Quaker wings did not rate as high as Buffalo wings in the pecking order. (There may have been a conflict of interest in my assessment, but blood is thicker than water, and local wings are automatically better than those from far away.)
And, applying the illustrious Michelin Guide standard, was the Sharon, Pa., restaurant worth a special journey? My opinion may have been unduly influenced by the fact that the car broke down on the Thruway on the return trip, but again my answer was “no.”
Well that was then. Now, I find out that the Pennsylvania location was the father of multitudes. Amateur no longer, the franchise has expanded to almost biblical proportions. Twelve states, more than 30 flocks (er, locations) and more than 20 types of wings. These wings vary in hotness on the Scoville Heat Unit scale from 90 (barbecue wings) to 150,000 (“atomic” wings), but they’re much higher than that on the Chutzpah Scale, because Quaker Steak & Lube still claims to serve the best wings in the country and now has gone so far as to open a dispensary on our very doorstep in Lancaster. It’s also much more glitzy in decor, though it’s still casual and has garnered all manner of titles and awards that you may or may not find impressive — it took third place last summer in the Buffalo Chicken Wing Festival for most creative barbecue sauce. So there.
Innocents that we were, we showed up on a Tuesday. Tuesday, it turned out, is all-you-can-eat night with some 20 or so different types of wings offered for $11.99. And as soon as we got near the door, we discovered that a lot of people in Western New York had been well-apprised of that fact. The wait was about half an hour. While we had a beer at the bar, we enjoyed battered and deep-fried Pick Up Pickles ($5.59), a classic American example of taking a basically healthy food and adding calories and grease to it. But this is not the place to moralize, because those pickles (served with ranch dressing) were darn good. We also tried Lube Chips ($4.59), really thick potato chips served with a beer cheese dip. Hmmm. Not bad.
Obviously, we’re going to go for the all-you-can-eat idea and when finally seated we found about 20 different types of wings spread on a buffet, the tubs all carefully labeled and replenished smilingly and often.
Now, I have to be honest here. When you try that many different wings, it gets pretty hard to distinguish the differences among some of them. One man’s Arizona ranch is another guy’s salt and vinegar, in other words. The barbecue was good, and the mild was mild, I’ll say that much. And the pineapple thing should go back to Hawaii. My favorites were (I think) the Asian sesame (at 930 on the Scoville scale) and the Thai ’r’ Cracker (say it out loud for full effect at 1,850 on the Scoville scale). Aside from the pineapple, which sends mixed messages, none was bad.
Were some of those varieties a simple example of over-marketing? Of gilding the lily? Of excessive self aggrandizement? More importantly: Does Quaker Steak really serve the “Best Wings in the USA”? I still insist — but maybe not quite as loudly as before — they do not.
In addition to the poultry appendages, Quaker also offers a menu of sandwiches and salads, and we tried the restaurant’s original baby back ribs: half a rack with decent fries and a choice of cinnamon apples or baked beans (take the beans, trust me) for $12.99. Better than the wings, we thought. Could “Best Ribs in the USA” be the new on-deck slogan then? May the Good Lord help us, but it might.
We even opted for dessert. Three cheers for the triple-rich fudge brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some of the richest hot fudge on the continent. “Best Chocolate in the USA” — another slogan? Could be . . .
And just to show you that the franchise is not without sensitivity or kindness, the check comes with plenty of wet naps and a Twizzler. “Best Check Presentation in the USA?” then?
Maybe we all better duck.•
QUAKER STEAK & LUBE
Two and a half stars
WHERE: 6727 Transit Road, Lancaster (204-9293; www.quakersteakandlube.com). What hath the wing wrought! This chain started life modestly in 1974 in Sharon, Pa., and has become a glitzy colossus. It’s all about marketing, baby, but the place is noisy, busy and actually a lot of fun.
Credit cards: American Express, MasterCard and Visa.
FAVORITE DISH: The ribs (Fooled ya, right?)
NEEDS WORK: All food is of acceptable quality.
PRICE RANGE:A single order of wings is $8.29, but the big deal comes on Tuesdays from 5 to 10 p. m., when it’s all-the-wings-you-can eat for $11.99 (adults) or $6.99 (kids under 12).
SERVICE: Good
HOURS: 11 a. m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday; until 1 a. m. Friday and Saturday.
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes
PARKING: In the lot.
RATINGS:Stars reflect the overall dining experience at the time of The News’ visit — including service, ambience, innovation and cost — with greatest weight given to quality of the food.
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