Wing Night at Chegg

(Credit: Doug Hood)

By LAURA GOOLEY
Correspondent

Wednesday nights, the outside of The Chicken or the Egg resembles a concert venue, just before doors open. There are dozens of mostly young people standing outside, waiting. But the crowds that gather there aren’t waiting to see their favorite band perform; these people are waiting to be seated for one of the most popular weekly “events” on the Island — Wing Night.

As I approached Beach Haven’s “Chegg,” as it’s known, weeks ago, I could almost not believe the number of people already coming for the popular chicken wings, with a chill still in the air and a week and a half before Memorial Day. A quick count got me to nearly 50, and when we went inside to put our name in, I scanned to see 15 or so more inside, packing the small waiting area.
Ivelina and Andrew Vanderbeck had never been to the Chegg for Wing Night before, and were “especially surprised about the 50 people waiting outside in mid-May,” Andrew said. Still, they stayed despite the delay, for the “wings and chicken taco salad,” he said.

Dan Black of Manahawkin said that despite the “guaranteed hour wait on wing night,” he and his friends still try to make it every summer for Wednesday’s event. He added that although the crowd was that big this early in the season, it only gets “worse,” hitting its peak mid-season.

For Black and his friends, as well as most of the others, it’s well worth the wait.

So what is it that attracts all these people each week? Fifteen different sauces, from Teriyaki to “name says it all” Ludicrous, and each plate of five wings for $3.50, either original (breaded and fried) or naked (not breaded).

Luckily, once you’ve gotten a seat, service is fast, as the wings are ready to be sauced at your order. I tried Jamaican Jerk on my veggie wings (not included in the deal, but less expensive than the normal wing price, at $5.99 for six). The sauce offered a nice Caribbean spice mixed with the buffalo flavor. My companion first tried Beesting, which he found quite tasty, followed by the hotter, crowd-pleasing Medium, and finally, Zapper, which he found to be too spicy for his palate. (The Chegg dubs it “a challenge even for the avid fan.”) 

For the regular customers, co-owner Mark Cohen said, the “spicy, bbq-y, garlicky, yummy” Santos Sauce is best-selling, followed by the “honey sweet, spicy treat” Beesting and Honey BBQ, number two in terms of sales, “and of course Original Hot,” Cohen said, the original sauce used for the Chegg’s first wings and Black’s favorite. The latter two are available for purchase at the store and on-line as well.

In terms of sales, however, medium is most popular because, Cohen believes, first-time visitors have never tried their wings before and choose a middle-ground sauce to start.

First-time visitor Matt Gray, however, expected to try “two steps down from the hottest,” he said, Zapper. Gray was taken to the Chegg that night by college friend Corey Schmidt of West Creek, who usually tries the Garlic Spice wings.

“It’s a good place,” Schmidt said of why he decided to take his friend. “It’s an experience.”

And if wings aren’t your thing, the full menu is available, and any menu item can be “buffalized,” Cohen said, including the popular chicken fingers and chicken cheese steaks, giving it “that unique Chicken or the Egg flavor.” It was just to be silly, he’s certain, but they actually had someone buffalize dinner mints once.

Mark and his brother Craig first went into the wing business because of an unfulfilled hankering they had years ago. Back in the summer of 1991, the two of them and some friends got hungry for wings. They went out in search of somewhere for them, but were unsuccessful.

Literally the next day, Mark said, they drove around looking for somewhere to open a wing shop of their own.

Ironically, the restaurant’s first location didn’t even serve wings, because it was set up as a breakfast place, without fryers. Still, they wanted to allow for the possibility of wings in the future, while indicating that they were a breakfast joint, and the name had to take both into consideration. As Mark sat in class, still in college at the time, jotting down possible names, it came to him. “Chicken or the Egg” fit.

Soon after moving to their current location, having grown out of their first, Wing Night was born, initially as a way to draw in business during the middle of the week.

Since, Cohen said, “it’s kinda taken on a life of its own.”

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