iWingz, Paul Xin's restaurant devoted to wings, chicken tenders, and build-your-own mac and cheese at t at 25th and McGilchrist Streets SE, is ready for take-off.
Xin, who also owns Salem-based construction company LP Property Development, grew up in Salem, part of the family that owned Kwang Chau Chinese restaurants in Salem and Monmouth.
For he and his family, iWingz is a welcome return to the restaurant business. Previously Xin and his wife, Brynne Xin, owned a Keizer bar called On the Rocks. They sold the business when they became parents. Ready to get back into the industry, they decided to combine their bar skills with a family-friendly concept of their own invention.
The iWingz menu is based on the favorite foods of their two young sons, Liam, 7, and Evan, 5.
Adjacent to iWingz, Xin is also opening The Lex Arcade, an all ages arcade space. It features a private dining room for birthday parties and other private events. Once the restaurant is up and running, the arcade will be accessible through private party bookings.
A former student athlete and Central grad, Xin has planned the private space with area youth sports programs in mind so groups can host birthday parties and teams award ceremonies.
They had originally planned on opening both businesses in February and renovations to the space have been underway for nearly a year. Slowed by coronavirus, he said, they're cautiously moving forward by opening on a limited basis to start.
The restaurant is set to open on Monday, July 27. It will initially limit service to take-out only, keeping the indoor seating area closed, but early visitors are welcome to order at the counter and eat at outdoor tables on the patio.
30 sauces for wings and tenders
Wings are the heart of the menu. The iWingz version gets a buttermilk bath and a dredge in seasoned flour before frying. The standard will be to serve wings with sauce on the side, or tossed together by request.
The menu of more than 30 sauces is ranked by number of flames. Fortunately for the heat-averse, there are plenty of options on the more mild side, including basic buffalo, honey garlic and gochujang. The hottest options are not for the faint of heart; relentlessly spicy with ghost and scorpion peppers.
Besides wings and hand-breaded chicken tenders, the menu is long on other fried goodies: mushrooms, sweet potato fries, and more. Order the fried cauliflower and a side of sauce and you can DIY cauliflower wings, too, if that's your thing.
The iWingz answer to the Popeye's and Chick-Fil-A sandwich wars is a fried breast with mayo on a Hawaiian roll. It's very simple, but he's confident it will win hearts away from the fast food juggernauts.
"We're not KFC or a drive through," said Xin,"we're cooking it fresh. Nothing is going in the fryer frozen."
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On the mac and cheese side of the menu, the base version is fat elbows of pasta with a three-cheese sauce of mozzarella for stretch and creaminess and Parmesan and white cheddar for flavor. The plain version comes dusted with crushed Cheez-It crackers, but you can juice up your own version with Hot Cheetos or other chrispy bits.
For those looking to make more balanced meal choices than wings and cheesy pasta, there are a handful of salads as well, available with or without a topping of fried chicken tenders.
To drink? Six rotating taps of local beers.
Xin is hopeful the iWingz take on favorites will offer a sweet spot for South Salem families and, at some point, watch a game on one of the restaurant's many TVs.
The concept, he said, "has a focus on quality. It's a little more than a dollar per wing, but you're getting quality."
Emily Teel is the Food & Drink Editor at the Statesman Journal. Contact her at eteel@statesmanjournal.com, Facebook, or Twitter. See what she's cooking and where she's eating this week on Instagram: @emily_teel
If you go
iWingz
Where: 2445 25th st SE
More information: iWingz.net
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