Wing Review: Tracker's Pub & Grub

The Basics:

Name: Tracker's Pub & Rub

Where: 1401 Rawson Ave, South Milwaukee, WI

MKE Wings Crew Present: Frank, Amber, Jeremy, Ross, Molly

Review Date: April 15, 2023

Wing Special (as of review date): None

The Review:

Today's wing adventure takes us down to South Milwaukee, a place that often feels worlds away from the city despite being only a few miles south of downtown. Corner bars are plentiful in South Milwaukee, and Tracker's Pub & Grub is the prototypical corner bar, almost feels like you're in someone's house rather than a bar. Going into this review, Tracker's was a complete unknown. In the many years I've been doing this, nobody has ever been like, "you gotta check out the wings at Tracker's." Heck, I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone even mention trackers. But the crew and I stopped in to see if this was perhaps a hidden gem of a wing joint that maybe just needs a little buzz.

Before I even get to the wings, I have to talk about the beer. Normally I keep the focus on the wings, but I felt this needed some emphasis. Going to a corner bar in South Milwaukee, I was thinking my beer choices would be pretty limited. Not necessarily a bad thing, I love a High Life with my wings. But wow, Tracker's beer selection was unexpectedly amazing! Brews from Drekker, The Brewing Projekt, and a few other breweries you don't see at bars too often, it was a really nice surprise! Also, our bartender knew that beer menu up and down, bravo!

As of the date of this review, Tracker's has no weekly wing special. However, an order of 6 wings will set you back $6, and 12 wings are $12. With current wing prices, this isn't bad at all, heck, there are a lot of places out there right now where the weekly "special" is $1 or more per wing, so Tracker's normal menu pricing is more than fair. *As always, prices/availability of menu items/prices and/or specials are subject to change at the sole discretion of the bar without the knowledge of Milwaukeewings.com and may not be updated accordingly.*

Moreover, at only $1 per wing, these wings were very large and meaty! All five of us ordered 12 wings, and we are all more than full at the end of the night. Wings were fried to a perfect crispy outside and remained juicy and flavorful. Served with celery and your choice of ranch or bleu cheese. While an old post on their Facebook page led me to think they only had a few flavors, Tracker's actually had quite the variety of dry rubs and sauces for your wings:

Dry Rubs - Garlic Parmesan, Garlic Pepper, Frank's Red Hot, BBQ, Lemon Pepper, Cajun, Dill Pickle, Cajun Lemon Pepper

Sauces - Garlic Parmesan, Kickin' Bourbon, General Tso, Caribbean Jerk, Honey Hot, Sweet Teriyaki, Sriracha, BBQ, Buffalo (Mild, Hot, Extra Hot, and Napalm)

With five members of the Milwaukee Wings crew present, we were able to taste 10 flavors during our visit:

Dill Pickle: I always love finding a dill pickle wing, and everyone does it a bit differently. Tracker's wings were coated in dill seasoning, and it's the only flavor or wings that gets served with a pickle (bonus)! At first, I was actually a bit disappointed in this one as it was a bit on the bland side, I could taste dill, but no vinegar or sour tang to round out that pickle flavor. But, then I dunked one in some ranch dressing which really rounded out and completed this flavor for me, a nice creamy dill sauce. Definitely pair this one with some ranch if you give it a try.

Caribbean Jerk: This was a really solid Caribbean Jerk sauce. More savory than many Jerk sauces I've had, it was balanced with sweetness and those warm spicy notes you're looking for in jerk sauce. A bit of heat, but nothing crazy, very tasty sauce.

Cajun Lemon Pepper: I can't say that I have ever seen a Cajun lemon pepper wing before, always fun to find a new flavor! Lemony, peppery, with that tangy Cajun seasoning and heat, this was a fun twist on some familiar flavors.

Kickin' Bourbon: Everyone in our group rated this one highly, super tasty! Sweet, tangy, and smoky, this a deep and rich sauce packed with flavor.

Hot Buffalo: I didn't directly sample this one as I opted for the Extra Hot Buffalo, but this was a solid Buffalo flavor with a good amount of heat. This was on the upper edge of Molly's heat tolerance, but she is certainly not much of a heat seeker.

General Tso: another favorite for the crew, this sauce was reminiscent of your favorite Chinese takeout, but in wing form! Sweet and slightly spicy, a good option if you're looking for a sauce with some Asian flair.

Extra Hot Buffalo: Traditional Buffalo flavor with a good amount of heat, for many this will be plenty hot and it was pretty much a perfect heat level for me, spicy without burning too much. There is one heat level above this called Napalm, but we left that one alone on this visit.

Hot Honey: Another flavor I did not sample directly, but Ross really liked this one. Sweet but with a kick of heat that he enjoyed, but Molly found a bit too spicy for her liking.

Garlic Parmesan: For clarity we had the Garlic Parmesan sauce, not the dry rub. Super garlicky and buttery, but maybe not much on the Parmesan taste, so maybe better named Butter Garlic. To be fair, that's not really a bad thing, this was a super rich and tasty wing.

Sweet Teriyaki: With any teriyaki sauce, I always say there needs to be a balance of sweet and savory, and too many teriyaki sauces are too sweet for my taste. I was a bit worried on my first bite as this one came across pretty sweet, but subsequent bites evened out, and I got that nice sweet/savory balance I was looking for.

The MKE Wings Crew's Favorites:

Frank: Kickin' Bourbon

Amber: Kickin' Bourbon

Jeremy: General Tso (honorable mention to Kickin' Bouron and Hot Honey)

Ross: Hot Honey Molly: General Tso

Conclusion:

A word of caution, the kitchen capacity isn't that large at Tracker's, our order of 60 wings more or less maxed out the fryer, and thus the wings took a little longer to all come out. For us this was fine, we were in no hurry, but I just wanted to point this out for anyone who ventures in, make sure to have a little patience! I started this review my saying that maybe we'd find a hidden gem, and I certainly think we did! A variety of sauces, well cooked wings, great beer, reasonable prices and super friendly staff all add together to give us our newest Milwaukee Wings Certified Wing Joint! Additionally, this visit made me a create an entirely new badge! The Hidden Gem badge will now be given out to any place that is off the "wing radar" and greatly exceeds expectations!

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