By SETH O’REILLY AND MAX FRITSCH

For the first outing of Men and Women for and with Cheap Eats, a podcast where two broke college students find the best meal deals in Omaha, Max Fritsch and Seth O’Reilly explored the best bang for your buck wings.

This feature of chicken wings deserves an asterisk next to the “Cheap” in “Cheap Eats” as wings prices are still higher than usual due to the high demand for chicken in the modern-day market. Wings prices have gone up since the start of the COVID pandemic, but they are on their way back down, according to Trading Economics. The inflation of the iconic bar food is certainly not ideal for college students and with the Super Bowl coming up. 

O’Reilly and Fritsch went to Tap 72 Bar & Grille, an establishment on South 72nd street in Omaha, to try the famous Wing Wednesday special. The first thing the duo noticed was that Tap 72 did a good job advertising what local and domestic beers it has on tap, a great start for me. A good selection of beer to choose from is essential to enjoy with a meal. 

The Wednesday wing deal is 70 cents per wing, traditional or boneless, which is a solid deal. O’Reilly asked the manager, Joe Dillion, what makes Tap 72’s wings so special. Why not a chain like Buffalo Wild Wings or Wingstop? 

“They have two types of great wings, the first type is traditional; they are slow-cooked in the oven at low heat to have maximum juice and tenderness,” Dillion said. “The other type of wings are the specialty wings smoked overnight with hickory wood for ultimate juiciness and to provide a smoking flavor.” 

That really won O’Reilly over, and what Dillion told them next really sealed the deal on what they were ordering. This was that all eight of their sauces are homemade and so is their ranch sauce. which really showed.

O’Reilly ordered 40 wings to share with the table, trying four different types of sauce with the wings as well as a basket of fries. He also ordered half boneless and half traditional to test both types of wings that whey has to offer. O’Reilly ordered traditional buffalo, BBQ, Garlic Parmesan and Bourbon Sriracha sauces. It took about 10-15 minutes for the food to arrive, which was not bad because Tap 72 had a full house, which is also a good sign. 

First, the wings must be rated based upon the meat quality alone. The wings were great; crispy on the outside, juicy and tender white meat on the inside. It was about as good as a wing can get. O’Reilly and Fritsch were both big fans.

The Bourbon Sriracha sauce was uniquely creative and delicious. The BBQ sauce was of high quality, one of the best BBQ sauces O’Reilly had ever had as it went great with the wings. The mild buffalo was Fritsch’s favorite. He  normally prefers a hotter sauce over a plain buffalo sauce, but Tap 72’s homemade classic was top-notch.

Lastly, we have the garlic parmesan wings. The duo assessed it as a pretty good sauce but definitely the weakest of the bunch. 

Both the boneless and bone-in wings were terrific, but what made the boneless especially great was the meat and breading. There was a lot of meat on the wings,. Sometimes boneless wings are all breading, but that was not that case. The bone-in wings were crispy and tender. A mess will be made while eating them but it’s most definitely worth it. 

Fritsch asked some other customers their opinions on the wings as well. 

“The boneless are amazing, they’re so easy to eat,” Hailey Edgington of Benson said. “I always feel a little awkward eating wings getting covered in sauce in public.”

Fritsch also asked beer connoisseur and professional brewer Daniel Riley about his opinion on the restaurant. 

“The beer selection was great and very well priced, I always love to have a few beers with my meal and I always want local beers,” Riley said. “They had knowledgeable staff who could suggest great beer and local beer based on what I described.”

With all that said, it can be agreed upon by Fritsch, O’Reilly and other Tap72 customers that their Wing Wednesday special is certainly a good bang for your buck deal, whether you prefer boneless or bone-in wings. Fritsch and O’Reilly graded Tap72’s wings a 8.25/10 on the Cubis Personalis scale that assess all factors involved in a good food deal.