Mr. Wings relocates to its own building in downtown Rock Island

A Quad-City restaurant known for its southern style wings and catfish is opening a new location in downtown Rock Island. Mr. Wings is opening the doors to its new location on the corner of 2nd Avenue and 18th Street.

For owner Daryl Farmar, this was a dream he's long had his eye on. Farmar moved to the Quad Cities area in 2004. He graduated from Scott Community College's culinary school and then moved south to find his styles.

"I was down in Grenada, Mississippi, even worked down there with my friends," said Farmar. "They had a club down there, so I did some cooking for them, and it's just been up from there."

Farmar learned the most from his family. Not just one member, but everyone from his mom, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

"My uncle Cliff is a big inspiration. He passed away a couple years ago. He's from here, in Rock Island, originally from Mississippi," said Farmar. "So it was a combination of everyone teaching me something and I just took in what everybody taught me and put it all into one recipe."

It led him to start Mr. Wings about four years ago. It was his second food business in the area. Before he went down to Mississippi to refine his skills, he owned a Mississippi barbecue food truck. Farmar made the specialties at Mr. Wings, the catfish and, of course, the seven flavors of bone-in wings - Honey Hot, Honey Gold, Hot Lemon Pepper, Daytona, Buffalo, BBQ and Southern Style.

"Not simple, but enough, so people have a variety to choose from," said Farmar.

Since the restaurant started, Farmar has been at two locations, both of which he had to share with another restaurant or shop. Now, Farmar will operate this restaurant independently in the heart of downtown.

"When I finally saw the opportunity, I jumped on it because I've seen how Rock Island is growing and how they've redone everything," said Farmar. They're trying just to bring life back to the city, back here to downtown."

This also gives Farmar his first opportunity to truly make the Mr. Wings experience his.

"I just kind of took in some ideas from down on Beale Street, downtown Chicago, just kind of put together a feel of both of those that I feel would meet the needs of downtown Rock Island specifically," said Farmar.

The grand opening for Mr. Wings will be Thursday at 11 am. On weekends, the restaurant would stay open until the early hours of the next morning.

Mr. Wings is located at 1726 2nd Ave., Rock Island.

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