Today’s Special: Woody’s Steak & Shrimp

Linwood ​“Woody” Lacy found his wings, and never gave up on his cooking dreams — which spawned a colorful spin on surf and turf.

Woody (pictured above) is the owner and head chef of Woody’s Wings at 1378 Whalley Ave, on the corner of Ramsdell Street. He launched the business a year ago on Dec. 14. And even in the pandemic, he has kept the wings flying.

Wings is where it all started for Woody, who learned to cook from his mother. But growing up in the Farnam Courts development, Woody said, he never imagined leaving his street life behind and doing cooking full-time.

Woody’s business started years before he got the Whalley Avenue spot. Many of Woody’s customers have been buying his food since 2015, when he was serving plates to the community from his home.

Woody’s most popular requests have been wings and his steak and shrimp dish. Years later that dish continues to be a customer favorite.

Takeout and delivery orders will prove crucial to the ability of local restaurants like Woody’s Wings to weather the pandemic during the coming months as Covid-19 cases climb and cold weather sets in. Pick up a steak and shrimp plate or other dishes to go by showing up in person, calling (203) 859‑5410. or use Uber Eats, Grubhub, or Doordash for delivery. Woody’s Wings is open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 8 p.m.

Step By Step

Each morning, Woody comes in around 8 to begin prepping. His first three tasks include seasoning his shrimp to marinate before cooking, cooking rice, and getting a hunk of steak in the oven.

For his steak and shrimp dish, Woody starts off with a pan of butter to sauté a handful of seasoned shrimp.

By the time the shrimp is half cooked, the baking steak is at about 165 degrees, which is when Woody deems it cooked. He removes the steak from the oven and puts it straight onto the kitchen’s (red) meat cutting board. He slices two thin cuts from the steak and lets it rest for a few minutes while he flips the shrimp.Then he cuts the steak slices into medium sized diced pieces.

He adds the steak to the shrimp pan to cook together and seasons the mixture with a steak seasoning. Before adding the seasoned peppers to the pan mix, he drains some of the accumulated meat juices to keep the peppers from getting soggy.

Then come a handful of red, yellow, and green peppers to the pan. As the mixture mingles together in the pan, Woody begins plating the dish in a to-go container. A ​“mountain” of jasmine rice is then topped with the colorful meat and pepper mix.

To finish the plate off, Woody tops it with two ladles of his signature sauce and a sprinkle of parsley.

Woody came up with the steak and shrimp dish at home when feeding a personal craving. Woody’s Wings sells at least 15 of the steak and shrimp dishes a day.

When first coming up with the recipe, Woody was making it with only steak and french fries. Then he jazzed it up with some fried shrimp.

But he felt the combination didn’t quite work. So he sauteed the shrimp and switched the fries with rice, and the final combination ​“took off.”

At the restaurant the steak and shrimp dish comes with a six-piece wing side order.

Woody Wings has 45 flavors of wings. Customers can choose from 25 wet flavors and 20 dry rubs.Most popular are Woody’s garlic parmesan, golden, buffalo, barbeque, and signature sauces.

Woody made his signature sauce from scratch with a base of hot sauce and sugar. The sweet and spicy mix is the first sauce he used with all his dishes.

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Finding His Own Wings

In 2014, Woody was released from prison his second and last time. Woody said he returned home determined to show New Haven he is the best wing chef around.

While getting resettled in a halfway house, he worked as a cook at the New Haven Lawn Club and TGI Friday’s. In his free time he would participate in cooking battles on Facebook. Wings were his speciality; he would often use remastered work recipes or his own signature sweet and tangy sauce to win.

The online audience began requesting that Woody sell plates of his food. ​“The love was so real, I knew people was coming wherever I was at,” he said.

In 2016 he moved in into a third-floor apartment and bought a deep fryer from Walmart. He began cooking and serving plates to the community. He served his staple salads, wings, and steak and shrimp recipes. He also worked at a number of bars, building up his clientele and loyal customers.

Despite the fun Woody was having cooking, the plates weren’t making him much money. He recalled occasionally asking his mother to barrow $100 for a 40-pound case of wings he would haul up to his third-floor home to prepare.

“It started getting too busy. I felt like I got the whole town coming to me,” he said

Eventually Woody quit his job and focused on improving as a chef. His wife La’Chele Lacy had her doubts but continued to support him. She was behind the camera recording Woody during his online cooking battles.

However the couple was then evicted from the third-floor apartment in 2017.

Woody refused to give up on his dream. At the time his goal was to own his own food truck for his wing dream.

A year later he moved into his current home and saved up to purchase two outdoor deep fryers. Woody continued serving plates to neighbors this time from his backyard with the help of his family. La’Chele helped him manage things financially and on social media while his kids helped with running plates to the customers parked curbside.

That same year Woody’s mother and father passed away 30 days apart. Woody lost all motivation to continue cooking. ​“That was designed for me to say, ​‘Fuck everything,’” he recalled. Woody began having thoughts about going back to drug dealing and being in the streets. He shut down his backyard cooking business for about four months. 

After some time away from cooking and debating whether to go back to the streets, he recalled conversation he had had with his mother before her death. ​“She told me, ​‘Promise you won’t hustle no more,’” he said. So he picked cooking back up and worked towards his goal of having a store front with more dedication than ever.

In 2019 Woody’s cousin Sean offered to give hime enough money to get a store front. Woody took the offer and got the Whalley Avenue spot. Later that year Woody opened Dec. 14. In honor of his mother, Woody formally named the business ​“Priscilla Lacy Presents Woody’s Wings. ”

In January, Woody’s Wings had its official ribbon cutting with Mayor Justin Elicker. ​“When the mayor dropped my sauce on his shirt while eating my wings, I knew I had something special,” he said. 

Since opening, Woody has made it a part of his business mission to give back to his community. In the summer he offered all graduating high school seniors, eighth graders, and kindergarteners free food for one day. On Thanksgiving Woody’s Wings fed seven families by providing them with a full turkey, five sides, and dessert. Woody and La’Chele are working on putting on a toy drive in the coming weeks.

“A part of Woody’s Wings is giving back,” he said.

When Woody comes up with a new flavor combination, he tests it with his customers first. For each of his current flavors, Woody has had a test day. Randomly Woody will give out ten free samples of the new flavor and gets his customers’ feedback.

During the pandemic, he introduced curbside pickup. ​“I haven’t missed a beat during Covid,” he said.

Woody’s next goals are to get his signature sauce bottled and sold in stores and to start franchising the business. Woody has ideas for a Downtown spot and a bar and grill for Woody’s Wings.

Previous coverage of recommended take-orders to help keep local businesses survive the pandemic:

• Today’s Special: Haci’s Napoletana Pie
• Today’s Special: Fred & Patty’s Brie On Baguette
• Today’s Special: Nieda’s Moist Falafel
• Today’s Special: Qulen’s Vegan ​“Wings”
• Today’s Special: Aaron’s Peruvian Rice Bowl
• Today’s Special: Singh Bros.’ Chana Kulcha
• Today’s Special: Grandma’s Chicken Soup