Michael Ventimiglia (right) recruited Alain Bedard to help with EZ Wings' success. (J. Gwendolynne Berry/The Palm Beach Post)

Michael Ventimiglia had a dream. Some dreams change the world in really big ways. Ventimiglia’s isn’t one of those. But it could change the world in a very big, small way. It could be great for the accident-prone and very bad for dry cleaners. It seems simple enough, but it’s a total game changer. It’s a dream that took more than 20 years, a dream that’s just now coming true.

Boneless chicken wings.

Ventimiglia has built a culinary enterprise by removing the bones from chicken wings using a nifty tool he invented. It all started in the mid-1980s, when Ventimiglia was a culinary student at Sullivan County Community College in upstate New York.

“Hot wings were all the craze,” he said. “But it was always such a mess with the bone. I started playing around with how to debone the wing, but it wasn’t feasible on a large scale. My dream was to make the deboned wings commercially.”

Hence the deboned wing. It may not be the most life-altering of dreams. But think about it: It’s everything we love about a chicken wing (the tender, succulent meat) without everything we hate (the bones). All of the flavor, none of the mess.

Ventimiglia, together with his chef/partner, Alain Bedard, produce the deboned wings in their new Riviera Beach facility. They call the wings EZ Wings, since they are, well, easy – easy to prepare and easy to eat.

Chicken Chic: Thai drumettes served over soba noodles with a chili garlic sauce.(J. Gwendolynne Berry/The Palm Beach Post)

The plump wings have drawn quite a few fans.

“It’s a real wing, not a compressed chicken nugget,” says Randy Simler, general manager of Two Drunken Goats on Singer Island, which serves the EZ Wings. “The nice thing about it is that the ladies don’t mind them. You can take a knife and fork instead of using your hands and getting messy.”

Simler started ordering the wings a few months ago, testing them out as a daily special. Now, the wings are on the menu with multiple variations.

“We deep-fry them with a Thai sauce on the side, and we do regular wings (i.e. Buffalo wings) mild, medium and hot. We put them on salads instead of grilled chicken, and we even do them in a wrap.” Simler estimates he orders 1,000 to 1,500 wings each week and expects to grow with the season.

PGA National Resort’s executive chef Gordon Maybury is also a big fan.

“Wings are great and flavorful, but they’re messy,” he says. “People like them but don’t want sauce up to their elbows. This product can be more elegant. It can be on a bar menu that’s more upscale.”

Maybury will introduce the boneless wings in a “boom boom” hot sauce served inside a martini glass as part of the resort’s iBar “Appa-tinis” menu later this month and on the resort’s poolside menu in December.

No bones about it

Ventimiglia’s dream is one that got set aside for many years. The New York native owned a few pizzerias in New York City, then moved to Boca Raton in 1992 to start a catering business, Gourmet Caterers. In 1996, he started working in mobile catering, mainly focusing on feeding construction workers out of numerous food trucks he owned and managed during the boom.

But in 2007, everything changed. In the same year the housing bubble burst, his wife Patti was diagnosed with stage 2 rectal cancer.

“It makes you realize how short a time we have to do things in life,” he says. “I spent two years caring for her, and we had no income. When she started to get better, I realized that now was the time to take advantage of lost dreams. It was time to make it happen.”

He invented a tool – the “schuka schuka,” as he calls it – and a process for cutting and extracting the bone from inside a raw chicken wing while leaving the meat tender and intact. He built a commercial business plan and found investors. But he realized soon enough that he couldn’t do it alone.

Enter: chef Alain Bedard. A graduate of American Culinary Federation in Atlanta, Bedard has worked in four- and five-star restaurants in Georgia and most recently as an executive chef for the Ritz Carlton at the Residences on Singer Island.

Old Favorite: Classic buffalo wings with bleu cheese sauce. (J. Gwendolynne Berry/The Palm Beach Post)

The two met early this year, when the Ritz was in the process of taking over the Residences, formerly a private club where Ventimiglia was in charge of restaurant and catering.

“I was job-interviewing him for a week without him knowing it,” says Ventimiglia, who was looking for someone to head up sales who was also a chef.

“We formed a really good rapport,” says Bedard. “The things that I lacked, he had, and vice versa. It was an opportunity I could not pass up. Anyone can see how unique this is. I don’t even have to sell; I just put the product in front of the chefs, and they run with it.”

On Aug. 1, the two opened a 3,000-square-foot USDA -certified production facility in Riviera Beach. They’ve built a clientele of more than 60 local restaurants and country clubs. They plan to open a second production facility early next year and plan to provide the boneless wings directly to consumers by the end of November.

For Ventimiglia, seeing his idea come full circle is a blessing.

“People talk about ideas every day and never see them come to fruition. Seeing something like this is the bright spot in my life that I needed. I was able to put 12 of my old employees back to work, and we are rebuilding our lives,” he says.

“My wife can start to see there is something to look forward to – it’s that little push to wake up every day. I feel ecstatic. I’m one of the luckiest guys in the world right now.”

BUFFALO SLIDERS WITH GORGONZOLA

Recipe by chef Alain Bedard of EZ Wings, Riviera Beach

Serves: 4

12 EZ Wings, or any boneless chicken wings, thawed

1 ounce poultry seasoning

6 ounces of your favorite Buffalo wing sauce

Nonstick spray

12 slider buns

2 pieces leaf lettuce (cut each leaf into 6 pieces)

2 plum tomatoes (sliced into 12 pieces)

2 ounces Gorgonzola cheese

3 ounces blue cheese dressing

For best results, use a flat grill or a panini press. Season wings on both sides with poultry seasoning. Spray the nonstick spray on the cooking surface.

Put EZ Wings on the grill, and press down and cook until crisp, approximately 5 minutes. Toss in the buffalo sauce. Place one EZ Wing on each bun with lettuce, tomato, Gorgonzola and a shot of blue cheese dressing.

Serve immediately with seasoned fries or another side of your choosing.

HOISIN-GLAZED WINGS SALAD WITH GINGER SOY DRESSING

Recipes by chef Alain Bedard of EZ Wings, Riviera Beach

Serves: 4

12 EZ Wings, or any boneless chicken wings, thawed

Cornstarch to coat wings (if frying)

4 ounces hoisin sauce (found in Asian markets) or other sweet Japanese glaze

8 ounces assorted lettuce mix

Assorted herbs (such as cilantro, chives and mint) to toss in salad

5 ounces Ginger-Soy dressing (recipe to follow)

1 ounce toasted nuts (cashews, almonds or peanuts)

Preheat oven to 400º, or heat fryer to 350 º.

If using a fryer, lightly coat wings in cornstarch and fry according to manufacturer’s directions. Remove from fryer, and toss in hoisin sauce.

If baking in an oven, coat the wings in the hoisin sauce and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until crisp.

Mix salad, herbs and Ginger-Soy dressing. Arrange the wings on top of the salad. Top with toasted nuts.

GINGER-SOY DRESSING

Serves: 4

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

2 teaspoons chopped ginger

1 tablespoon tomato puree

3 tablespoons light vegetable oil

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Mix all ingredients except the vegetable and sesame oil. Combine the two oils in a separate container, and slowly drizzle oil into vinegar mixture while whisking constantly. Keep chilled.

EZ WINGS 411

A retail box of 100 deboned EZ Wings sells for $69, plus shipping costs. To order, visit EZWings.com, call (855) EZ-WINGS or (855) 399-4647, or email sales@ezwings.com .