PUB 101 ~ Ottawa

The Market. The Byward Market. The heart and soul of Canada's Capital. Or is that the Parliament Buildings? I don't know. Either way, the Market is where the action is at and I was . . . at there. I guess all the rain we've been getting has got my brain waterlogged.

So the point is, I was in the Market, and decided to check out the pub, Pub 101.

Before this night, I had some pre-concieved notion that PUB 101 was just a student club that was about getting drunk and not about food. I had no real reason I thought this. No one ever told me that, I had never been, I just thought this. But walking by, I looked in and it appeared to be a cool little pub.







The supper crowd on a Wednesday was pretty mixed. The atmosphere was kind of 'hipster-pub', with a few students, some suits, and some rough looking locals. Lots of dark wood, a great looking bar, this place definitely had some character. There are 3 floors (1 =pub, 2=sports room, 3= dance club) and a patio, so there's a nice appeal to everybody apparantly.

My waitress Marcela was friendly, helpful and willing to answer all my questions. She brought me free refills on pop, but had to charge me a side of sauce for $1.50 extra. She also told me about wing night right off the top, which should be common for servers, but isn't.

Everywhere I looked it seemed people were eating wings, and it wouldn't be long before I understood why.

Wings came out 10 in an order, dusted and deep fried. I wanted to try a couple of sauces, so I got two orders and a side of sauce to try 3. The two baskets came out and I was just so happy to see them filled.

The wings ranged from Medium-to-Large wings. They were pretty meaty, and tender too. The dusted wings again let to a crisp skin. A good over all piece of chicken.


For the sauces, I went for Hot, Suicide, and BBQ.

HOT

These wings were, well, pretty generic. Hot was not, more of a mild. The sauce had been pretty absent, or absorbed into the skin. It wasn't bad, but just a generic hot sauce in the wing. I could have eaten them as they were, but I ended up adding the Suicide to them all.

SUICIDE

The little black container came out, and I took a whiff. I couldn't smell all that well (I've had a big of a cold) so I stuck my pinkie in to sample: my good old friend 3rd Degree. Found in bars and restaurants all over Ontario, this bottled sauce is one of my favourites. It is a syrupy sauce, with a nice kick that increases the more you eat.

As I said, I dumped the sauce all over the Hot to increase the heat, and by the time I was done, I had a nice sting going on in my mouth.

BBQ:

This is my secondary go-to wing sauce after hot/suicide at restaurants, and so I had to sample 101's. One bite and I was in heaven. The BBQ sauce was sticky, sweet and melded so well with the crispy wings. It was good enough that I had to ask Marcela what the sauce was. She went and checked: Diana's. Bottled Diana's Gourmet BBQ sauce.

I haven't actually had this sauce in a LONG time (last time I can remember is high school, over 10 years ago). I felt a little duped that store bought BBQ sauce was going to be that good. I am no culinary expert, but I was feeling that I was a little better than this. Maybe it was the combination of the damp weather with crispy wings, a friendly atmosphere, and lots of wings in my belly that had me enjoy them. Well the they were good, and I guess that's the important thing.

FINAL SCORE: Sometimes places have wing night, and the wings are over cooked, under cooked or just done poorly because its cheap night. But this night at Pub 101, the wings were hot, tasty and really hit the spot. I might try their Cajun or the Jerk wings, but I will be having BBQ again for sure. 7/10

PUB 101

101 York Street, Ottawa

pub101.com