Show-Me’s
724 N. First St.
St. Louis, MO 63102
http://showmes.com/

I wasn’t planning on a visit here, but IndianapolisEater twisted my arm on Twitter the night before (it was only two tweets, but we all know his impeccable sales record). I had been there before, and for those unaware, Show-Me’s is an absolute Hooters rip-off. I remember when a group of us, IndianapolisEater included, went to the original location (this one) about nine years ago and our waitress told us the owner was a former GM at a Hooters and thought he could “do it better.”

Evidently “better” is basically having the waitresses less clothed.

From what I remembered, the food was nearly identical to Hooters (for me, that’s a plus … I love the wings, specifically the breading) and the outfits on the waitresses were eerily similar. Even the tables, plates and everything else was basically the same as Hooters. Fast-forward nine years …

Uh, wow.

It’s funny, I sometimes hear older women whine and moan about Hooters, only to later find out they’ve never even been inside a Hooters. I hate judging things you haven’t seen for yourself and I don’t see how a reasonable person can be overly offended by the outfits Hooters waitresses wear. Yes, they’re tight, but walk around a mall in the middle of the summer. Whatever, it’s a discussion for a different day/website.

If you walk into a Show-Me’s now, though, my guess is that this is actually what the complainers think Hooters is. Just look at the bottoms those girls are wearing on the front page of the website. And the tops I saw in the actual restaurant all revealed way more cleavage than you’ll see on the website. I was surprised there wasn’t a cover charge.

Anyway, let’s focus. I went there for lunch on a Thursday and it was completely dead. My service was fine, but the entire staff was a bit pre-occupied with planning for the evening. Considering it was the day of Game 6 of the World Series, I wasn’t about to be offended.

What I Got: 10 spicy BBQ wings, fries; $6.99.

The wings were Hooters/Show-Me’s wings. We all know what we’re getting there and I was pleased that they were good sized wings and had the signature breading that I love. If you don’t like the breading, you can get naked wings and they’re still better than Buffalo Wild Wings (then again, what wings aren’t?). I do like the spicy BBQ option because I’m completely burnt out on buffalo sauce at this point, no pun intended. It’s just been done to death. Enough already. But I do like spice and I love barbecue sauce, so this option sounded perfect. As it turned out, I was right. I really liked this sauce. If you’re a heat fanatic, these won’t be enough, because the kick was subtle. It was there, sure. You wouldn’t mistake it for Sweet Baby Ray’s (my choice at home) or anything. It just wasn’t overly hot. The chicken meat inside the sauce/breading was juicy and tasty, as per the norm at Hooters/Show-Me’s.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes, I would. It has to be the right fit, of course. There aren’t any surprises here. You’re going to have loud music, sports on TV, girls dressed in basically lingerie and greasy wings/burgers/hot dogs/breaded chicken sandwiches. And plenty of beer (they even had Natural Light on tap, which cracked me up). If you have a group of people who can handle that and want a quick bite of the aforementioned fare, it’s certainly reasonably priced. I’d imagine it’s a great time when busy, too.

As for this location, it’s in Laclede’s Landing, which has lots of restaurants and bars in just a few blocks’ radius and is walking distance from a casino and the Arch. I’d actually recommend this area for bachelor parties with all the bars and casinos (and another important fixture is across the river, if you get me). But that’s not what we’re here for, so I’ll stop now.

- Show

[Editor's Note: Show-Me's is a small chain with several locations throughout the midwest.]

Everyone knows about Hooters wings.  They are breaded and up until recently were available in just the normal flavors of naked, mild and hot.  But, Hooters has recent debuted some new wing flavors such as Cajun, Samurai, Spicy Garlic, Parmesan Garlic and BBQ.  WIBIA and I decided to make a visit for $10.99 All You Can Eat Wing night (this is a running promotion on all Wednesdays) on a recent Wednesday night to give a couple of these new flavors a shot.

And since it is Wednesday and some of you may be having these same thoughts of going, here’s our “timely” review:

Samurai Wings

First up was the Samurai wings.  These wings were the standard Hooters breading coated in a layer of teriyaki sauce.  What was odd about this sauce is that it was VERY thick and mildly sweet, yet somehow also very bland.  Personally, I thought these wings were just okay, but if you don’t want to have sauce everywhere and don’t generally like thick, sweet sauces, this is not something that you want to order.

Cajun Wings

Next up were the Cajun wings and these were unlike any wing that Hooters serves.  Normally, Hooters wing breading is very compact and tightly held together.  These wings had a flaky and greasy breading.  It was so greasy in fact that WIBIA was using paper towel and squeezing the grease out of the wings before he ate them.  That’s not exactly the most appealing visual to have before you eat the wings, but hey, that’s why we try these things for you!

Anyway, despite the disgusting visual, I will say the taste wasn’t all that bad.  You could obviously tell that they had used one of those spicy/hot dried creole seasonings like you would buy at the grocery store, but the taste of the seasoning was not overpowering at all.  I felt odd sitting at Hooters eating these wings because this is definitely not something that is normally on their menu and they just seemed out of place.  Despite this, the taste was somewhat appealing.

Would I Buy It Again? If I was there on another night that was not all you can eat wing night and was only having a regular meal, then I would not buy these again.  If I was there for all you can eat wing night and had the option of mixing it up with different flavors with no additional repercussions (a higher bill), then I would maybe order a plate of these just to fulfill my curiosity.

Regardless, I will still go back to Hooters because there’s one thing that you can’t match anywhere and that’s the old reliable hot wings.  Often imitated, but never duplicated, the Hooters hot wings are the best.

Hot Wings

WIBIA can add his feelings in the comments because I know he had a differing opinion on at least one of these flavors, so you can check that out once he posts.

-IndianapolisEater

I was craving wings the other day at lunch and I was right by a Hooters.  Bingo.   I love Hooters wings.  Their wings are getting smaller, however they have all you can eat night on Wednesday for $10.99 so at that point wing size doesn’t matter. 

Wings are usually $7.99 for 10.  At lunch, they are running a handful of sandwiches, burgers and wings for $6.99 with fries, that will save you about $3.50 off the normal price.  Pretty good deal really.

Also, if it has been a while since your last visit to Hooters, then you should know they now have a spicy garlic, parmesan garlic and samurai sauce.  I am sure that I will try them soon and report back.

-WIBIA