Located where the late Chino’s Rock and Tacos used to stand, Angry Wings has finally opened. While the layout of the building itself remains essentially unchanged from Chino’s, the owners of Angry Wings have given the walls a facelift and a paintjob that matches the logo of the restaurant. According to the website, the owners, Santa Barbara natives, were upset with the lack of good wing places in the area and decided to create their own. Thus, Angry Wings was born.

Upon stepping into the restaurant, the first thing that caught my eyes was the Halloween-themed menu, pinned up above the registers and bar. However, before I even stepped into the restaurant, I was able to smell the delicious wings gently wafting down the street, carried by the evening breeze. Glancing over the menu, I saw offerings such as salads, burgers (offered in single, double, triple and quadruple), hot sandwiches and a bevy of classic appetizers and sides. I was also extremely impressed with the 10 beers on tap and the additional 10 offered in bottles. The bar was also serving up house-recipe cocktails, putting an Angry Wings twist on the classics.

Now all these things are very nice and all, but I came to Angry Wings for one reason: Wings. I love wings. Wings are the best. I could probably eat just wings for a month. I don’t mess around with wings either. I’m not a wimpy wing eater who order the medium or the mild or the — god forbid — sweet BBQ. The fumes coming out of my pots of chili have been likened to tear gas. I’ve been told that I’ll have a stomach ulcer by the time I’m 30. I do shots of Tabasco sauce. I’m not messing around with my spicy.

Now I had a lot of work to do the night I visited Angry Wings, so I took my wings to-go instead of eating them there. The atmosphere looked nice enough, and it’s really the food that matters. The restaurant sells wings in batches of six, 12, 24 and 50. I was saddened to learn that I couldn’t split the six wings halfway, but I could with any of the larger orders. I paid for 12, asking for six of them to be Solar Flare and six to be Habanero Dreamin’, the hottest and second-hottest wings that are served. I was particularly intrigued by the note on the menu that said that anyone who was visibly intoxicated and has a blood alcohol content of over 0.08 percent would not be served the Solar Flare wings. These must be hardcore.

I took my wings home and dug in. I wasn’t able to differentiate between the two varieties of wings. Oh well. The first few bites weren’t too bad, but then the burn began to grow. And oh, did it grow. I was able to make it through the first seven wings without any liquids to cool the burn, but by then I had a runny nose, was starting to sweat a bit, and my face was becoming numb. Excellent.

As I learned, the wings at Angry Wings truly are angry. While my superhot-food daredevil antics may not be up your alley, Angry Wings also offers medium and mild wings alongside a set of gourmet sauces. With their restaurant, the owners of Angry Wings have found an unaccounted-for niche in the food scene of I.V. and filled it.

Angry Wings is open Sunday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. You can visit them at 6530 Pardall Rd.

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