Wildwings Chicken Cafe: Fresh, Plentiful But a Little Bland

One would think chicken sandwiches had come a long way since “Franny and Zoey,” wheD. Salinger implied that something was amiss simply by having Franny order one for lunch. (“This is going to be a real doll of a weekend,” her date said. “A chicken sandwich, for God’s sake.”)

Last week, reading the menu at Wildwings Chicken Cafe, I spied “grilled tarragon chicken sandwich” and imagined a real doll of a dish.

I take my reading seriously. Grilled tarragon chicken sandwiches, skewers of “wild grilled” chicken filets bathed in a “spicy citrus Southwestern marinade” and chicken salads composed of things like red peppers and roasted pine nuts tossed in a ginger olive dressing sounded beguiling to me.

The menu at Wildwings is appealing, full of salads, soups, hot chicken dishes and the house specialty: three types of “wildwings drummettes.” There’s boneless, skinless and fatless chicken, making it a good spot for weight watchers, and it’s also moderately priced. One can happily lunch on a commodious portion of wholesome New Mexican chicken chili and corn bread for $4.50. (The most costly entree is $6.25.)

Fresh and plentiful are two good words to describe Wildwings’ food. Timidity is a third. For instance, the menu might call its chili “spicy,” but twice at the Century City location it was what I call exceedingly tame . . . and both times the corn bread was unavailable. It is, however, very fresh and full of chicken. And at Wildwings’ second location in Santa Monica, the chili was much bolder and the corn bread, just out of the oven, was a crusty, cakey treat.

The most profound flavor of that tenderly cooked “wild chicken” sandwich--with neither hide nor ho of the advertised tarragon--was the French roll. Similarly, the new potato and roasted chicken salad tasted rather bald, its potatoes too hard, its own “fresh tarragon” so sparse as to be invisible. It’s the kind of salad you bring home and doctor into shape.

It’s easy to recognize that good ingredients are used here--if only they were punctuated with more verve. The curry chicken, packed with grapes, raisins, celery and green pepper, is middle-of-the-road mild. The nouvelle Chinese chicken salad has a smart sense of texture with green onions, almonds and alert match-stick vegetables, but the potentially potent “ginger sesame” dressing is imperceptible.

The salad of grilled chicken, roasted red peppers and roasted pine nuts is quite flavorsome, if only the attractive-sounding “ginger-olive” dressing were more muscular. Another salad of grilled chicken with long-grained brown rice, fresh peas, cubes of grilled eggplant and a “Dijon-dill” dressing is equally fresh and sans gristle--but totally chicken-hearted in taste.

Sometimes baby flavors are appealing, as in the smooth and creamy tortellini and artichoke salad and the ultra-thick, super-mild, nursery-comforting black bean soup. And I think it’s great that a fast-food cafe serves healthy, low-fat meals. But the “fresh herbs” on that “delicately grilled natural breast filet” (no salt, sugar or butter) need to be more evident.

The signature “drummettes,” in case you’re wondering, are not a poultry-goes- nouvelle baby leg; they are a section of the wing dipped in batter and fried. (Six are $4.75, nine are $5.75, half a crate of 50 drummettes--in a real crate--is $22.50 and 100 are $39.95.) Sesame is my favorite of the three varieties offered. Sesame seeds are flaked on, dashed with ginger and applied with a light teriyaki glaze. The crust is crunchy and sweet. Red Hots with their mixed barbecued/fried coat are red but not really hot.

I’d pass up the Milanos (drummettes made with wine, garlic and “Italian” cheese”); they have an unpleasant lubricated crust.

In the dessert department, there’s a fine, tart lemon bar; a nicely spiced, pudding-moist carrot cake; a very average pumpkin square and a floury “killer brownie” that is not nearly killer enough.

Wildwings Chicken Cafe, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., Century City Shopping Center; (213) 785-WILD. Open seven days. Delivery available within a 1 1/2-mile radius (with $10 minimum order). Second location at 1415 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica; (213) 393-0986. Open Monday-Friday (weekend hours expected soon). Cash only. Parking available.