Wouldn't you be super happy?!?!
Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Monday, 19 November 2018
LOTW Meme Monday: Rocky IV Ivan Drago Wing Quotes
This past weekend, I caught the tail end of Rocky IV. I'm assuming it was on because Creed 2 comes out this week where it seems Apollo Creed's son Adonis avenges his fathers death by fighting Viktor Drago who's father Ivan Drago killed Apollo in the ring. Make sense?
I love the Rocky movies, and my favourite is Rocky IV, mainly because I love the Soviet angle and the villain, Ivan Drago. As it turns out, Drago only has 9 lines in the whole movie - each could be applied to a wing meme (go here and think chicken wings after each quote). But here are my top 3 Ivan Drago wing memes.
Are you going to see Creed 2? I probably won't - I didn't see Creed yet. For me, it's just the first 5 Rocky movies, and then Rocky Balboa. Which is your fave?
Sunday, 18 November 2018
Dic Ann's (Marche Central) - Montreal QC
This may sound crazy, but every time I travel from Ontario to Quebec, it feels like going to another country. The road signs are different, the language is different, and there is a distinct cultural difference between the two. This includes food; not only does Quebec have it's own culinary eperience, but it's own fast food chains that don't exist outside the province. Dic Ann's is one of those.
LJ was in Montreal for business, but when she was done it was time to get some lunch. I was doing some research on where to eat, and I came across this Quebec-only chain called Dic Ann's. See, back in 1954 jazz accordionist Ann Russel and her American born husband Dominic 'Dick' Potenza who moved to Montreal and opened their vision of a hamburger joint that served their special hot sauce in a little shack. They moved into their original restaurant and now over 50 years later they have a chain of more than 10 locations. But they don't just serve normal burgers. More on that later.
If time and distance permitted I would have liked to go to their original location, but as life would have it, we couldn't, so we hit up their location at Marche Central. I've noticed several mall or commecial buildings that in Montreal make no sense to me. This location is in a big mall plaza, in a building shared by a Tim Horton's that is undergoing renovation. But both store fronts look like the back, but are the front as the other side just faces the entrance to the mall area. The construction aside, we weren't sure if this was the front of the restaurant or the back. It was the front, but what a terrible looking store.
The inside is painted in yellows and oranges and off-whites. There are black and white photos of Dic and Ann, the first restaurant and other franchise nostalgia. The seating is classic fast food tables with a mix of American and French pop music.
The menu is very limited to their burger and it's variants, hot dogs, and fries and fry variants. We decided to split a Poutine between the two of us, and LJ went with a cheeseburger, and I went with a double cheeseburger.
I was shocked at the poutine. I was shocked that such a thing could be called and served a poutine in Quebec. Shocked. Their poutine ($4.95) is thin cut fries, covered in shredded mozzarella and their 'hot sauce'. Shredded mozzarella. Not cheese curds, mozzarella. #poutinecrime. And no gravy, just their hot meat sauce. It's not that it tasted bad, it wasn't half bad. It just isn't like any poutine I know, (well maybe like some in Ontario). The fries were crispy, the sauce slightly spicy. Ketchup helped. It was a good size portion.
Now one thing that sets this burger chain apart from others is the construction on their burger. They start off with ground beef that is pre-pressed into the flattest possible patty you can imagine. That patty is 1.75 ounces - super tiny. When I proposed this place to LJ, it was based on this fact as she loves a thin burger. That thin burger is cooked on the flat top and pressed even flatter. See this photo from their website:
That is almost paper thin. They cook it for like 30 seconds a side then flip.
The bun is white burger bun that is squashed and toasted in it's own press. The bottom bun is then layered with their spicy sauce, then the burger and whatever burger variant you are getting.
There is an excess of their spicy sauce on the plate, so they supply popsicle sticks that you use as a lever to lift the burger out of the sauce.
LJ just got the classic cheeseburger that comes with 1 patty, spicy sauce, cheese, swiss cheese, onions, relish and mustard. She thought the burger was ok. It was really small even for her. For $2.80, it still seemed really small.
I knew a single wouldn't be enough, so I went with a double, which 3.5 oz of beef and is $4.45. It was still pretty small. I debated going with the double, or the Hi Boy, which just adds lettuce and tomato, or even the 3DST which is 3 patties, 2 mozzarella slices, with lettuce or tomato. Or the Hambourghini which has pepperoni on it. Again, I just went with a double.
I was really underwhelmed by this burger. It was tiny, and the flavour was simple. A little too simple. The beef at that size has no flavour. The texture is fine, but I don't understand the point. The bun was kinda crispy and had a unique texture. It was different and no complaints there. The spicy sauce is a secret homemade, tomato based, meat sauce. On the burger, the sauce is barely noticeable beyond the texture. When you try it on it's own, it's got a very slight kick of cayenne. But again on the burger you can't even taste it. The onion and mustard is the dominant flavours here, and even they aren't that strong.
Would I go back? Maybe? We just didn't get it. I don't know why folks seem to go crazy for this place. The burgers are small, with not much flavour. It was just too simple and not bold enough. With our 2 mini burgers, poutine and a 500ml Pepsi the bill came to $17.83. That just didn't seem worth it. Again, the food was ok, it was just tiny and plain. We left not full, nor satisfied. Oh well, sometimes you score when you explore another culture, sometimes you don't.
Dic Ann's (Marche Central)
1000 rue du marche-central, Montreal QC
dicanns.com
Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Happy National Pickle Day!!!
HAPPY NATIONAL PICKLE DAY!!!
I love pickles. LOVE them. Dill are my favourite. Kosher dill is great too. Bread butter? Yes please. Gherkins, sure. I also love pickle appetizer - deep fried pickles, pickle chips, dill pickle potato chips. I'm in heaven watching a movie with dill seasoning on my popcorn. Love it.
So it was natural that I want to combine those loves. Back in 2011 I went into the LOTW Test Kitchen and made a Pickle Wing: I brined raw wings in dill pickle juice. I breaded the wings, deep fried them, then tossed them in Dill Pickle Popcorn Seasoning. They were dill-liscious! I will wright up a proper review one day, but for now, enjoy the view!
Meatings BBQ - Rootbeer BBQ Wings
Way back in early October I made a very very good lunch decision; I went back to Meatings BBQ.
If you remember, I went to Meatings back in June and had some totally awesome smoked wings. I also went on a Wednesday which is their wing day ($10 for a pound when normally its $13) which made it even better. It was such a good lunch, and I had been jonesing for those smoked wonders.
Flash forward to late September and I see on their social media a post about "Spicy Smoked Root Beer" sauced wings. I love every word in that menu description. I couldn't go that week, or even the next, but the NEXT Wednesday I could ... but I had no idea if they would still have that sauce. Spoiler alert: they did and I got them.
I was the only patron there (it was after the lunch crowd) so I walked right up and ordered. I grabbed a free sampling of bbq rubbed popcorn (salty good) and grabbed a seat at the big table, which was good seating but in hindsight was terrible for photo taking. I also got a Pop Shoppe Black Cherry soda which was awesome. Before long, I had my metal tray of wings.
This order was 9 wings stacked like a log pile making up a pound. They smelled smokey and BBQ-ey.
The wings were not pretty. They look like they had been in a fight. That's ok, they were huge and meaty. Not super tender this time, and not crispy either. There wasn't a lot of sauce, but the wings were sticky.
I dropped everything and dove into these wings. When I eat on my own I often write, or do work or figure out tasks, but I couldn't focus on anything but the wings. They had a slight heat, but they weren't overly spicy. The spice balanced out the sweet root beer bbq sauce. Now the root beer was not strong, more of a hint. But these wings were very balanced in their flavour.
I was also very excited because they had the Alabama White dipping sauce which was missing on my first visit. Alabama white sauce is almost a ranch-type dipping sauce. It's mayo based and it goes well with BBQ in general, but especially well with the wings. I had a hard time deciding between eating the wings as is with their Spicy Root Beer BBQ sauce and dipping those wings in the white sauce. Friggin good.
I know I'm gushing but these wings were just so good. Meaty and smokey on their own, better with the root beer BBQ, and even better with the Alabama white sauce. And with $3 off, they were even better. It's probably good this place isn't near my home, because I would be there way too often.
Tuesday, 13 November 2018
Monday, 12 November 2018
Thursday, 8 November 2018
Monday, 5 November 2018
LOTW Meme Monday - Remember Remember the 5th of November ...
Because people should not be afraid of their government, government should be afraid of their people, and chicken wings.
Next year I will come up with 'Gunpowder Treason Plot Wings' ...
Wednesday, 31 October 2018
HAPPY HALLOWE'EN 2018!!!
HAPPY HALLOWE'EN EVERYONE!!!
My favourite holiday of the year. Love it. Hope you get lots of wicked wings while you Trick or Eat!!!
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