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Foodie Friday: Tommy Want Wingy brings the heat

Drawing from a little inspiration from the movies, the O'Quinn brothers bring the heat with Tommy Want Wingy.

If you're looking to up your chicken wing game, there's a spot downtown you'll most definitely want to try.

Tommy Want Wingy is located next to Lustre Pearl off Rainey Street. The wings are tasty and the story behind this business is even better.

"We put a lot of love into our work and you can tell when it comes out," said owner Neil O'Quinn.

Neil and his brother, Shawn, had a love of chicken wings and a bright idea.

"We were just making them at home all the time, we used to live together, making them for our friends and family every weekend and said, 'Well, lets try it out, see if we can make this a business,'" said co-owner Shawn.

But their business needed a catchy name to tack onto the side of their bright-yellow food truck.

Growing up in El Paso, the O'Quinn brothers remember watching a lot of VHS tapes and they really liked the movie "Tommy Boy."

"When we were thinking of names for it, it just hit, it stuck. That was it," said Neil.

Tommy Want Wingy is a clever moniker. It gets a lot of compliments, including an Instagram nod of approval from actor David Spade himself -- who starred alongside Chris Farley in the movie.

While in culinary school, Neil became fascinated with the chicken lollipop style. The special French cut technique takes precision knifework.

"We cut on the small end of the bone, pull all the meat forward to the opposite end so the bones are exposed and all the meat is pulled out to one end," said Neil.

This method makes the wings easier to chomp.

"There is really no going back once you have them in lollipop form," he added.

There are plenty of classic flavors to choose from at Tommy Want Wingy, like lemon pepper and buffalo. But these two siblings get creative. And once you go up the sauce scale, be warned.

"We don't mess around when it comes to heat," Shawn said.

There is even an option called "Holy Schnikes!" which he admits to eating when he needs to wake up.

"When they try to order the extreme, we warn them three times, 'Hey, are you sure you wanna do this,'" Shawn said.

There's no second guessing, this chicken is pretty much wing perfection. Tommy Want Wingy just celebrated it's five-year anniversary, and the O'Quinn brothers are looking to expand.

"We had an opportunity and we took it, and never looked back," Neil said.

On a busy Saturday night the business can work through 400 pounds of chicken. That's on top of fries and chicken tenders.

When it comes to wings, Tommy Want Wingy is the real thing.

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