At the last stop on the northern end of the Q train — the new 96th St. station in Yorkville — new commuters are bringing new life to the northeastern corners of the Upper East Side. Hopefully, great small businesses like these three will continue to blossom.
Wings and other tasty things
International Wings Factory is no ordinary house of hot wings, thanks to the dedication of owner Deepak Ballaney, a former consulting chef and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park.
Determined not to take out loans to open his own restaurant, Ballaney settled on fast food, but didn’t want to skimp on flavor. He now makes more than a dozen sauces to dress his hormone-free chicken, including one with a Tandoori-masala rub; and another with a parmesan-buerre blanc sauce you can only order in-house for maximum butteriness. (Wings start at $5.50 for four.)
This spring, Ballaney also launched a Friday through Wednesday project he’s calling Fishwiches, inspired by the requests of his pescatarian wife and daughter. Fresh fillets are fried in one of Ballaney’s many sauces and seasoning mixes — like Cajun-spiced or black pepper-teryiaki — and served with tater tots or in a brioche bun with crunchy vegetables. Prices vary by fish: wild-caught cod is $8, mahi-mahi is $10, while whiting and tilapia are $7.