Hoagies and Wings

1544 S. La Cienega Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90035

I guess I've been on a sandwich kick recently. On the way to catch a quick flick at the Beverly Center, my friends and I didn't want to risk someplace that might take too long. Hoagies and Wings was conveniently on the way to the theater so we pulled over to the newly minted, glorifed fast food style shack.

I've been to the other location before (which is out in the middle of nowhere, and also a little shady for late-at-night), so I knew what I was getting into. Hoagies and Wings are known for just that - California style hoagies (whatever that means- when I think of "California Style" all I can think of is avacados and BBQ chicken pizza) and wings. Citysearch touts them pretty highly, (winner in the categories of: fast food, cheap eats and sandwich in 2005). So bring on the food...
Here it is, nestled in its' white butcher paper wrapping. "Buck crispy"...oh yeah. That sounds ominous and, strangely, like the name of an up-and-coming rapper.
But what "buck crispy" stood for was a Buffalo Crispy Specialty Chicken Hoagie. The best of both hoagie and wing worlds, the hoagie was topped off with the same buffalo wing sauce they use on their oh so famous wings. The chicken was fried strips of processed chicken meat. That's probably the weak point of the sandwich - processed chicken meat freaks me out a little bit (mechanically separated meat, anyone?) Shredded iceburg lettuce, tomato slices and cheese (although I don't remember encountering cheese, but everything was covered in sauce) rounded out the rest of the sandwich. The hoagie bun held everything together well, but once you start biting into it, it's going to make a huge mess. No way to get around it, just get in there and get your face covered in sauce. Make sure you have a ton of napkins.
Here are the fries. Sometimes, they're way too overseasoned with what I think is the contents of a Ramen seasoning packet. This time around they were alright, good sized, golden and crispy.

Here's a shot of Owen's Western Crispy Chicken Hoagie. You can get a better sense of the whole sandwich in this shot. I like the "western" sauce better than the buffalo sauce (western sauce being BBQ sauce.)
Here's a close up on that Western Hoagie. Mm, fried mechanically separated chicken slices....
...which are the star in Kate's Flavored Chicken Fries. It was a MASSIVE take out container full of fried chicken strips, fries and parmesan cheese. It came with a little container of ranch sauce for dipping. Oh delicious fried things.

This place isn't bad, but for my dollar, go to Bay Cities Deli for the "to die for" sandwich. The price is cheaper here though, they're open late and they deliver (if you're within their delivery area. I'm not.)