BLOGIVERSARY YEAR 4: The BEST & WORST of 2009

2009 was, in my opinion, the Year of the Chicken Wing. Expanded news coverage due to wing shortages, boneless wings, the explosion of dedicated wing restaurants, more wings on menus, blogs, recipes etc. Truly, the wing was king.

The future of chicken wings seems bright as this food becomes part of the zeitgeist and as chicken wings are accepted as more than just 'bar food' and elevated and recognized as the complex cuisine that it is. Wings are an accomplishment, a challenge. Through varied cooking techniques, styles and so many flavours, 2009 really showed us what wings can do. Here at LOTW we baked, we grilled, we deep fried. We sampled. We loved. Chicken wings are such a personal thing, and we all look for something different. I'm glad I could continue to share my wing experiences with all of you and hope to see you all in 2010!

So here is a quick recap of mainly the best ( I prefer to dwell on the good rather than the bad) wings of the past year. The reviews are based primarily on my scoring system (which was stable for the whole year!), or just my general feelings from this past year that I reviewed, not my overall faves throughout the years. Everything can be improved, and this should be seen as fun and educational endeavour!

BEST OTTAWA WINGS
BEST ONTARIO WINGS
WORST WINGS
BEST NON WING PLACE
BEST FROZEN WINGS
BEST SAUCE
BEST WING SNACK
BEST WING RECIPE by WING KING
BEST WING RECIPE not by WK
BEST NON-WING RECIPE by WK
BEST WING RELATED BUT NON-WING RECIPE by WK
BEST FEST
BEST EVENT

BEST OTTAWA WINGS

#1 The Georgetown Sports Pub - Impressed with their unique take on wing sauces & quality chicken.
#2 Whispers Pub and Eatery - Meaty wings and tasty sauces in the 'friendliest little pub in Westboro'.
#3 Hooleys - Good wings, good size, good bbq sauce (excellent Halifax garlic fingers).
#4 Pub 101 - Crispy, wet well done wings.
#5 Rockwell's - Decent enough wings, but awesome AYCE deep fried rib & wing combo.

BEST ONTARIO WINGS

#1 Mill Tales Inn, Tillsonburg ~ Glad to see the hometown wings shine! Big, crispy, tasty.
#2 Palasad/La Fiamma, London ~ Big wings, tasty Cajun Sauce.
#3 Wild Wings Sports Pub, Toronto ~ Not the big chain, lots of sauces that are homemade.
#4 Boston Pizza, Waterloo ~ Wet, crispy - this chain surprised me.
#5 Remington Pub, Cornwall ~ Big meaty wings, but rubbery (score of only 5.5/10).

WORST WING PLACES

#1 Rideau Carleton Raceway ~ Blah, over breaded factory wings. Yuck!
#2 Santa Fe Southwestern Grill (Brockville) ~ Liars (not jumbo at all) - stick to the Tex-Mex.
#3 Montana's Cookhouse Saloon ~ Blah, overcooked, cold wings. Nuff said.

BEST PIZZA JOINT WINGS (Ottawa)

#1 Preston Pizza ~ Nothing special. Basically they didn't screw up.

BEST NON-WING PLACE (Ottawa)

#1 Jean Albert's Authentic Soul Food ~ Awesome fried chicken. Super suicide sauce. Great sweet water cornbread!
#2 Yres BBQ Chicken ~ Moist, smokey, delicious chicken. Its a sketchy joint with a long wait, but great chicken.
#3 Fadi's Fine Foods @ Saunders Farm ~ Bacon cheeseburger to drool over. Perfect poutine. Caramel Apples and jumbo hot dogs. Heaven for a fall evening on the haunted farm!

BEST FROZEN WINGS

#1 Pintys Classic Buffalo Wings ~ Bigger than your average frozen wing, with a bit of a kick.

BEST HOT SAUCE

#1 Wing Master X Hot ~ Ok, only reviewed 2 sauces, but this was a unique take on Buffalo. And it had a bite!

BEST WING SNACK

#1 Marzetti Buffalo Ranch Dip ~ Creamy, Buffalo tasting dip.

BEST WING RECIPE by WK

#1 Authentic Buffalo Wings ~ What can I say, I love real Buffalo Wings.
#2 Crouching Buffalo Hidden Dragon Wings ~ Buffalo Wings kicked up a notch using Asian hot sauces.
#3 Tandoori Destroyer Wings ~ Spicy, flavourful, grilled wings. If only I had a read Tandoor oven.

Non-WK RECIPE

#1 Nibble Me This's Fire Roasted Sriracha Wings ~ I have yet to make these, but dang they look good!

BEST NON-WING RECIPE by WK

#1 Baked Beer Can Chicken ~ So juicy, so flavourful!

#2 Cheeseburger Eggrolls ~ What a concept - savoury and delicious.

#3 Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos ~ Ooh, smokey, cheesy, bacony good!

BEST WING RELATED BUT NON-WING RECIPE

#1 Hot Wing Poutine ~ fries + curds + gravy + hot wings = crazy delicious.
#2 Hot Wing Popcorn ~ Spicy and crunchy. What a snack.
#3 Buffalo Tofu 'Wings' ~ For our veggie friends who want a wing experience.

BEST FEST

#1 London Ribfest ~ What can I say - ribs, food, music, friends. One of my favourite traditions.

BEST EVENT

#1 Rib/Wing Judging/Backyard Ribfest @ London Ribfest ~ What an honour! I had a blast and my belly was filled. Good times.

Runner Up:

#2 Wing Eating Competition @ PJ Qugileys ~ Fun experience - I also enjoyed practicing, even if victory was not had.

Some other highlights this year have been expanded projects and articles, such as Bloggers in my Neighborhood, World Wide Web Wacky Wing Wednesday, Wing Dreams, Chicken Wings on Screen, and of course, Wing King TV. We've expanded our social media into the realm or Twitter too.

So what does 2010 have in store for us? Well, wings, wings and more wings hopefully. I'd like to see more WKTV episodes, more twittering, more recipes - more everything! And I'd like to hear more from you, the readers, who I appreciate every time I see a comment, an e-mail, a tweet or even just my statistics that say your out there. Thank you.

Cheers,

The Wing King, Lord of the Wings.

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Best & Worst of 2006
Best & Worst of 2007
Best & Worst of 2008
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