The spicy side of Princeton cuisine

Chuck's Spring Street Cafe is one of Princeton's hidden jewels as it subtly harbors many qualities that are lacking in many other restaurants in town — a quality variety of food, served in a nice, clean environment with the most important ingredient: plenty of room to sit. The only downfall is the slightly inflated prices, especially for a place that does not take credit cards.

Chuck's calls itself "home of the buffalo wings," and rightfully so. Wings are the first thing listed on the menu, and they "sure were" tasty. They are sold in a range of 14-100 wings for different set prices. The wings were great, but I thought $6.45 for 14 was a little steep. Maybe I'm just used to hearing about 10-cent wing nights and the like. A platter of 100 wings is $33.95, a reasonable price to split with a bunch of people or to pay for takeout to munch on while watching sports. All of Chuck's food can be eaten at the restaurant or ordered out. The menu starts with wings, but this little cafe offers a wide variety of other options. Most of it is the greasy "Hoagie Haven" genre of food, like burgers, hot sandwiches and cheese steaks, but Chuck's also offers ribs, an array of fried seafood and kids' fare, that is grilled cheese and hot dogs. On the healthier side they have veggie burgers and an assortment of salads. If it is any consolation to the calorie-conscious, the wings come with a nice helping of celery sticks as well.

After deliberating about what to order — everything sounded good — and following some suggestions from the owner, I settled on an order of the wings, a chicken parmesean sandwich with an order of their fresh-cut fries and a lemonade to drink.

The wings were delicious, on the spicier side — there is no choice of mild or hot — and very filling. The chicken parm was good, but not as quality as the one the Haven sells in that it needed a little extra sauce.

The fries were also great. These were the old-fashioned fresh cut and fried kind — no McDonald's chemicals in those bad boys. They even had that diner-style ketchup, the real vinegary kind, not Heinz. The lemonade, promoted as "fresh" was good but not out of this world, I was a little disappointed because all the salt in the food had made me especially thirsty.

While a quality meal of good old junk food is the main goal of feeding your face at Chuck's, the atmosphere provides some additional benefits. The service was quick and very friendly. You order at the counter, pay and then sit down, and the owner brings you your meal . Wisely, they use all paper and plastic products, and there are napkins on the table. When you're finished they clear your mess for you.

The restaurant is clean, there is no smoking and the walls are cute, decorated with children's paintings by the Princeton Arts Council. There is a television humming, but the volume is low. The crowd during a weekday lunch hour was mostly younger businessmen. Overall, I found Chuck's to be like a more upscale combination of Hoagie Haven and George's Roasters and a great place to eat.