New Modesto chicken wing chain restaurant brings Asian-fusion flavors, plenty of heat
They say ain’t no thing but a chicken wing, but in real life the humble wing and all its accompanying sauces are a fiery business.
One of the newest contenders in the valley wing wars hoping to scorch the competition — and your taste buds — is the new Fire Wings. The Sacramento-based chicken wings chain opened its newest location this week on Tully Road in north Modesto.
Located in the former Chase Bank corner spot in the Raley’s supermarket shopping center at the corner of Tully and Standiford Avenue, the new restaurant debuted this week with COVID-19 safety measures of takeout or delivery orders only in place. Still, fans of the wing spot and its fusion flavors have already flocked to the site.
“We definitely have all of the classic wing flavors, from wet sauces and dry rubs, but we also bring the Asian flavors,” said Fire Wings corporate representative Tracy Nguyen, who was helping to train staff this week on site.
Founded in 2015 in Sacramento by Chan Saetern and his business partners, Fire Wings has since expanded to 20 sites mostly across Northern California, but also a handful in Southern California and Texas. What helps set their wings apart, Saetern said, is their fusion flavors. Many of the chain’s sauces and rubs are inspired by cuisine from across Asia including China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and more.
Asian flavors inspire Fire Wings sauces
Choose from the peanut butter wings, tossed in a peanut satay-style sauce, or the Peking, which offers a play on the sweet-and-sour Chinese Peking sauce. Dry rub fans can try the Malaysian curry or the salt-and-pepper. Fans of the sweet heat often found in a lot of Asian cooking should be pleased with the options. And those who can’t take spicy food also have plenty to choose from like lemon-pepper and teriyaki.
Wing lovers also have more traditional flavors to choose from, including BBQ, Buffalo, garlic Parmesan, and Louisiana rub. In all, the restaurant offers more than 20 flavors, which can be ordered on classic bone-in wings or breaded boneless wings. By-the-piece orders start at $10.89 for 10 wings and can be ordered in batches from 10 to 100 at a time. Combo meals, which include fries and a drink, start at $10.79 for six wings and up to $13.49 for a 10 wings. Family meals are also available.
Or, if you’re looking for a larger bite, the restaurant offers chicken tenders and fried chicken sandwiches. The latter comes in original, Buffalo or Nashville Fire flavors and runs $8.99 for sandwich only or $11.99 in a combo. Sides include wing-accompanying favorites like fries (regular, seasoned, garlic, chili cheese or “Fire”), mozzarella, zucchini or veggie sticks, mac-and-cheese, coleslaw and garlic noodles. And, if you absolutely must be that person while your friends chow down on fried wings, they also serve salads.
Nguyen said they came to Modesto as part of their expansion because of demand and requests from its fans on social media. The site is the restaurant chain’s largest to date, and first in Stanislaus County. My sneaking and completely unconfirmed suspicion is that they chose Modesto because of the company logo’s resemblance to the Rebel Alliance starbird crest in Modesto native-son George Lucas’s “Star Wars” franchise. But, maybe that’s just me and the restaurant’s “Fire” sauce with its lingering heat melted my brain.
Once the county is able to slow down the spread of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and indoor seating restrictions are lifted, the open restaurant space will be able to seat about 90. It will also have plenty of big-screen TVs to watch and a 30-foot bar that will sell beer and wine.
Until then, Saetern said they plan to start offering outdoor seating off the restaurant’s parking area that will seat about 40. The restaurant opens with about 25 employees and offers home delivery through DoorDash.
The Modesto restaurant will celebrate its grand opening from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday with half-off all wing combos throughout the day.
Fire Wings, at 3430 Tully Road, will be open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For more information call 209-846-9019 or visit www.firewings.com.
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
