A fresh spot to grab a bite and watch big games

lost a major anchor tenant when — in less than a two-year span — the 1774 Grille & Tap opened and closed.

The location, once occupied by long-time restaurant Ricardo’s Original Tavern House, is now home to a new pub called Wings on Main Sport Bar and Grille.

Owner Jay Tulio has a proven track record, after resurrecting Hellertown’s Crossroads Hotel (with co-owner Nick Hano), as well as operating the Wagon Wheel Tavern in East Rockhill Township with his family.

The menu, in addition to its namesake dish, has a bevy of options to satisfy your hunger while enjoying MLB, NFL, UFC and other sports broadcasts on the bar’s numerous big-screen TVs.

While the menu has much of what you’d expect from a sports bar, such as onion rings, mozzarella sticks, nachos and quesadillas, there are also prime rib sandwiches, hoagies, sweet teriyaki chicken salads and more.

They offer tasty burgers (crafted with prime chuck), cheesesteaks, a kids menu and, of course, the Buffalo chicken wings.

There’s a dizzying number of wing sauces available, with everything from hot sauce to garlic parmesan, honey sriracha, BBQ jerk — and for the spice heads, a ghost pepper sauce. The wings are available

in bone-in or boneless varieties, in incremental portions sizes of five.

Setting and décor: Wings on Main has largely kept a lot of the look of the 1774 Grille & Tap — and for good reason.

The wall stonework, the dark wood flooring and the updated/ modern look is fantastic, and miles above what the space looked like as Ricardo’s.

The back area has been converted to a pool room with a takeout beer cooler. It’s perfect for playing nine-ball with some friends.

The main bar area boasts several televisions, with backed seats at the bar and a few high tops for additional diners. Each is outfitted with a paper towel roll and holder, offering easy cleanup after devouring fingerlicking wings.

A side dining area, which is the main dining room, is spaHellertown

cious with additional tables available for group dining. More TVs are spaced throughout the room. The restaurant walls are peppered with sports memorabilia featuring star athletes’ memorabilia, including a signed Julius Erving jersey and another of Whitehall/Penn State/New York Giants football star Saquon Barkley.

Food: My wife and I started with the spot’s signature feature food, and got a snack-size order of wings ($6 for about six wings) and opted for the garlic, Cajun, honey hot sauce.

While this combination of flavors may seem all over the place, they worked together extremely well.

The sauce was a perfect balance of sweet and spicy — not cloying with inferno levels of heat, but hot enough to make you sweat a bit, and with enough sweetness to even things out.

The Cajun spice — a dry blend sprinkled in — was a savory delight, and the heaps of garlic added a phenomenal flavor that melded together well. My wife called it a “flavor bomb.”

I went with the Morning Burger ($11), which came piled high with a hefty beef patty, a slice of pork roll, bacon and a fried egg on top. While messy, it was a delightful combination.

The burger was sizeable, juicy, and large enough to send me home with leftovers. The egg was perfectly cooked and the bacon slightly crispy, lending texture to the savory and rich dish.

My wife got the cheesesteak hoagie ($9), which was listed as a wrap, but unfortunately they were out of tortillas, so a roll substituted. She omitted the mayo, but with it came lettuce, tomato and onion in addition tochopped steak and gooey cheese.

This was a filling and nicely prepared mealwith a roll that held up with a load piled inside.

Both of our dishes were reasonably priced, as is the whole menu at Wings on Main. The only downside to our dishes were the fries, which were pale, bland, crinkle fries that were as uninteresting as they were tasteless.

Service: My wife and I were seated immediately, and our server was also acting as the bartender — handling double duty with ease. Our food came out in a relatively short period of time, and our server was pleasant and helpful throughout our meal.

The bottom line: Wings on Main Sports Bar and Grille is a great place to grab a some delicious, well-priced food and watch sports. With a menu chock-full of a variety of wing sauces and bar favorites, there’s something for every appetite.

Lunch for two with a beer and tax totaled $32.06.

Restaurant reviewer Glenn Koehler is a Morning Call contributor.