FRAK! That is soooo my job. Stupid NYC. Why not in Ontario?
Friday, 30 April 2010
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
WWWWWW #17 ~ Chick 'N Wings
Yes, World Wide Web Wacky Wing Wednesday. WWWWWW. This is where I will surf the Web, and find other people talking about chicken wings. The world is full of chicken wing stories, wacky and otherwise. Recipes, restaurant reviews, eating contests or whatever. Today's Blog relating to wings in some shape or form:_-_BWs.jpg)
This girl came across my Twitter feed, and I was like, awesome. An 8 year old girl blogging about hot wings. Maybe there is hope for the next generation after all. She has help from her dad writing, but it seems she's eating hot wings on her own.
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I love the above picture. I want something like that for my home. She's just starting out with a few posts, but I like what I'm reading.
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What is YOUR 8 year old doing? Not being this awesome. Keep up the good work Chick 'N Wings! Go check her blog out NOW!
_-_Cross_Roads.jpg)
What is YOUR 8 year old doing? Not being this awesome. Keep up the good work Chick 'N Wings! Go check her blog out NOW!
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
BOJANGLES Sports Bar & Grill, Cornwall ON
BOJANGLES is NOW CLOSED - RIP
What a beautiful day in Cornwall Ontario. I spent the morning walking around the waterfront, taking in the waterway and the wildlife. That included a display case filled with dead spiders eating dead ladybugs, seagulls, Canada geese, and a garter snake that was sneaking up on me while I was sitting in the grass.
All this nature on a bright, sunny but not hot day got me hungry. So I thought I would check out a relatively new pub and eatery in the town, BoJangles.
Cornwall had a BoJangles before, 20 years ago. In the same building. And that building has been around since 1907! The old BoJangles apparently had a Mardi Gras theme. But this bar and grill is definitely sports bar themed. While the outside was quite understated (just a few small hanging signs - one big banner on the side of the building) the inside was another story.
Inside was a cornucopia of sports stuff. Pennants, jerseys, signed pictures etc etc etc. Oh and lots of flat screens with 'the game' on. What game? I have no idea. I don't even remember the sport. What I liked about the place was the character of the classic building. The metal molded ceilings, the old wooden floors. The inside is very spacious, with lots of seating.
I sat in the front window near the bar. Everyone else that came into eat sat on the other half of the eatery. Actually I was one of, if not the first patrons of the day. My waiter Jaime was over quick taking my drink order and answering my wing questions.
In no time I had a big plate of wings in front of me. And check out the fancy black napkins and big ceramic bone bowl.
The wings come in an order of 12 with a good mix of wingette's and drummette's. The wings are dusted in flour then deep fried. They also came with a single stick of celery, a single stick of carrot, and no dip; a little strange or a very minimalist garnish.
Their wing night is uniquely priced on Thursdays at $0.40 a wing if you order 99 or less, or $0.35 if you order 100 or more. That's $35 for 100 wings. But these are not badly sized wings.
The wings were large. You could see beyond the light dusting that these were big, meaty wings. I have to say that some, not all, but some of the wing meat was tough. The first one I bit into was tough (and I thought these were not going to be good) but most turned out just right thankfully.
The skin was nice and crispy and there was a nice level of sauce on the wings. Some wings were nice and wet while others just had a drizzle of sauce, but fortunately there was a healthy reserve of sauce at the bottom. I ordered my wings hot, but got a side of 'Buffy Sauce' to try out.
HOT
This was a good, traditional Buffalo sauce. Nothing fancy. There's a possibility it was a bottled sauce, but it tasted like an authentic cayenne pepper sauce with vinegar and butter.
My only complaint with this was there was no real kick. It was pretty mild in my books. Yummy, but no bite.
BUFFY SAUCE
FINAL SCORE: I was quite happy with my wings. As I said, big, crispy, saucy. We were just missing the heat. BoJangles seems to take some pride in their wings and I for one appreciate it. Good work at just doing a well done wing. 7.5/10
BoJangles Sports Bar & Grill
58 Pitt Street, Cornwall, ON
HOTThis was a good, traditional Buffalo sauce. Nothing fancy. There's a possibility it was a bottled sauce, but it tasted like an authentic cayenne pepper sauce with vinegar and butter.
My only complaint with this was there was no real kick. It was pretty mild in my books. Yummy, but no bite.
BUFFY SAUCE
I saw this on the menu and had to know what it was. The first flavour that popped into my head was some sort of ranchy/Caesary sauce. Or maybe a hot/honey garlic combo. Jaimie had a hard time explaining it, saying it was 'like a spicy BBQ, but not really spicy.'
Well a spicy BBQ sounded good, but this wasn't a BBQ sauce at all. It was just the hot sauce with fresh chopped garlic. I liked it, very garlicky, but no BBQ.
FINAL SCORE: I was quite happy with my wings. As I said, big, crispy, saucy. We were just missing the heat. BoJangles seems to take some pride in their wings and I for one appreciate it. Good work at just doing a well done wing. 7.5/10
BoJangles Sports Bar & Grill
58 Pitt Street, Cornwall, ON
"More Chicken Wings, Anyone?" LOTW inteviewed
Neema Roshania from the Kiplinger, a "Washington, D.C.-based publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice, available in print, online, audio, video and software products." Contacted me recently about chicken wings and the current shortage in the US.
She recently wrote an article entitled "More Chicken Wings, Anyone?" about a new technique of making a 'third' chicken wing piece based on the removing more meat from the scapula.
The Scapula can be seen at the base of the wings.
I haven't been able to see a photo of this 'Third Wing' yet, so I will be keeping my eyes peeled for this new chicken wing development.
What do you think about this new chicken wing piece?
April is quite the month
Ok, so again I am behind on posts. I've been on the road, I've been looking after a sick girlfriend, I've gotten sick myself. Plus my inbox has been filling up with chicken wing updates and questions.
The good news is that the Internet situation has been dealt with (for now) so I can upload once again. So keep on the look out for:
The good news is that the Internet situation has been dealt with (for now) so I can upload once again. So keep on the look out for:
- restaurant review
- sauce reviews
- chip review
- WKTV episode/recipe
- interview
- news
I love this blog. Now if only I could make it a job . . .
Thursday, 22 April 2010
PC Mexican Hot Sauce
Picture it: Ottawa. March 2010. The grocery store is open in the early evening and at the front is a displaying a sale of little hot sauce bottles. 3 for, well I can’t remember. Two sauces are available from President’s Choice: Habanero and Mexican. We pick up two Mexican and one Habanero. They proceed to sit on the shelf with a few other bottles of hot sauce that are still unopened.
Flash forward to April, and it is decided to open one of the little 142 ml bottles. The cap is open, the seal is broken and we have a new sauce that has since been used in pasta dishes, burritos, sloppy joes and wings.
The sauce is made by President’s Choice, which really has an excellent and expansive collection of sauces. This one surprised me because it is a so called ‘Mexican Hot Sauce’ is a product of the US of A.
They say its 3 chili’s in heat, which means its supposed to be hot. Only sampling will tell.
I don’t know what really makes this a taste of Mexico. I mean aged red cayenne peppers is there and that is good, but the sauce ingredients isn’t that different from a Louisiana style hot sauce? Remember to shake well or bien agiter.
Don't you just want to lick the plate below? I do. In fact, I did.
The sauce is a red/orange hue, with fleck of spicy chilli or other spices. The sauce is a little runny. It had a smokey, peppery smell. So this sauce was hitting some good spots of the senses. The taste? Good. It had a decent kick in the heat department, but I don’t think it was particularly hot. How were they on wings?
I had some wings that had already been baked in spice. They were crispy, but I was reheating them for this meal. I took the PC Mexican Hot Sauce and added it to some melted margarine as a Buffalo-influenced style.
Flash forward to April, and it is decided to open one of the little 142 ml bottles. The cap is open, the seal is broken and we have a new sauce that has since been used in pasta dishes, burritos, sloppy joes and wings.
The sauce is made by President’s Choice, which really has an excellent and expansive collection of sauces. This one surprised me because it is a so called ‘Mexican Hot Sauce’ is a product of the US of A.
They say its 3 chili’s in heat, which means its supposed to be hot. Only sampling will tell.
I don’t know what really makes this a taste of Mexico. I mean aged red cayenne peppers is there and that is good, but the sauce ingredients isn’t that different from a Louisiana style hot sauce? Remember to shake well or bien agiter.
Don't you just want to lick the plate below? I do. In fact, I did.
The sauce is a red/orange hue, with fleck of spicy chilli or other spices. The sauce is a little runny. It had a smokey, peppery smell. So this sauce was hitting some good spots of the senses. The taste? Good. It had a decent kick in the heat department, but I don’t think it was particularly hot. How were they on wings?
I had some wings that had already been baked in spice. They were crispy, but I was reheating them for this meal. I took the PC Mexican Hot Sauce and added it to some melted margarine as a Buffalo-influenced style.
This was a mistake on many levels: I used margarine over butterThe margarine was PC ultra low fat, (bought on the real cheap) but is more than 50% waterI’m cheap with the tiny bottle of hot sauce and did not make the hot sauce-to-margarine ratio equal. Way too much watery margarine.
So right from the start this Mexican Hot Wing sauce was flawed. But it made for a decent coating for the wings. If I had upped the volume of MHS than I think this would have been great instead of just ok. But until they have larger bottles or I stop being cheap, I’m using this sauce sparingly. Yes I have another, but still, I really like it.
FINAL SCORE: This is a good hot sauce. It’s more mild than hot, but there is a depth of flavour. It doesn’t taste ‘Mexican’ to me, but as I already mentioned, I’ve been putting this sauce on everything (conservatively). A nice change of pace from regular cayenne based hot sauces. 3.5/6
So right from the start this Mexican Hot Wing sauce was flawed. But it made for a decent coating for the wings. If I had upped the volume of MHS than I think this would have been great instead of just ok. But until they have larger bottles or I stop being cheap, I’m using this sauce sparingly. Yes I have another, but still, I really like it.
FINAL SCORE: This is a good hot sauce. It’s more mild than hot, but there is a depth of flavour. It doesn’t taste ‘Mexican’ to me, but as I already mentioned, I’ve been putting this sauce on everything (conservatively). A nice change of pace from regular cayenne based hot sauces. 3.5/6
PC Mexican Hot Sauce
(Their website doens’t even have info yet – maybe they are just testing the sauce in this market?)
(Their website doens’t even have info yet – maybe they are just testing the sauce in this market?)
Sexist BBQ Joke
I recieved this as an e-mail forward. In general I don't like forwards. Actually I didn't like this one either. It's out-dated and sexist and I just don't think it's that funny.
Why am I sharing it? Cuz it kinda put me in a bad mood. Normally I can take a joke, but this joke suggests men don't do anything in preparing for BBQ (and real Que'rs take the entire meal very seriously) and that women don't BBQ and are just house wives. Maybe I'm being a bit to PC.
What do you think? Is it funny? Is it stupid? Out-dated?
BBQ RULES
It is important for you to know the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity. When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the Following chain of events are put into motion:
(3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill - beer in hand.
(4) The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.
Here comes the important part:
(6) The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
(7) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he flips the meat.
(12) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed 'her night off ' and, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, Concludes that there's just no pleasing some women!
Why am I sharing it? Cuz it kinda put me in a bad mood. Normally I can take a joke, but this joke suggests men don't do anything in preparing for BBQ (and real Que'rs take the entire meal very seriously) and that women don't BBQ and are just house wives. Maybe I'm being a bit to PC.
What do you think? Is it funny? Is it stupid? Out-dated?
A Man's Grill:
BBQ RULES
It is important for you to know the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity. When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the Following chain of events are put into motion:
Routine...
(1) The woman buys the food.
(2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.
(3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill - beer in hand.
(4) The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.
Here comes the important part:
(5) THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL. More routine....
(6) The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
(7) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he flips the meat.
Important again:
(8) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.
More routine...
(9) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, Utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.
(10) After eating, the woman clears the table and Does The dishes.
(8) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.
More routine...
(9) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, Utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.
(10) After eating, the woman clears the table and Does The dishes.
And most important of all:
(11) Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM For his cooking efforts.
(11) Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM For his cooking efforts.
(12) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed 'her night off ' and, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, Concludes that there's just no pleasing some women!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
WWWWWW #16 - Uncle Eddies Buffalo Claw
Yes, World Wide Web Wacky Wing Wednesday. WWWWWW. This is where I will surf the Web, and find other people talking about chicken wings. The world is full of chicken wing stories, wacky and otherwise. Recipes, restaurant reviews, eating contests or whatever. Today's Blog relating to wings in some shape or form:
This is a unique product that I had to talk about. Because it is exciting and terrifying at the same time.
"Lee [Golani] named the company in honor of his Uncle Eddie, now deceased, who was an example to all. Uncle Eddie was a man of principle, with a depth of character and humility that are all too rare in today's world."
"Lee [Golani] named the company in honor of his Uncle Eddie, now deceased, who was an example to all. Uncle Eddie was a man of principle, with a depth of character and humility that are all too rare in today's world."
So what is the product? What is a Buffalo Claw? Where can I get those glasses and suit???
"Lee found himself with down time during a holiday vacation, an insatiable desire to improve mankind, and the idea of combining a chicken wing and a jumbo shrimp. Drawing on his engineering background, Lee created a tool {patent pending} to insert the shrimp into the chicken wing, and the rest is history!"
"A Shrimp inside
a Buffalo Wing?
NO JOKE.
It tastes GREAT!"
NO JOKE.
It tastes GREAT!"
I have to admit, I would love to try this. I mean I love shrimp, I love Buffalo wings, I love 'Buffalo Shrimp', so this could work. It looks crispy and almost smoked, but the info says they are baked.
The only downside I see is the price. On their website, 30 Buffalo Claws (approx 5 pounds) is $64.00! And you can get them with Sweet Claw Sauce, Sweet Spice Claw Sauce and Hot Claw Sauce (which can also all be purchased by the bottle).
The only downside I see is the price. On their website, 30 Buffalo Claws (approx 5 pounds) is $64.00! And you can get them with Sweet Claw Sauce, Sweet Spice Claw Sauce and Hot Claw Sauce (which can also all be purchased by the bottle).
If ANYONE actually tries these, let me know. I'm not going to have the chance to try them anytime soon, but I would love to hear from people who have (the restaurants carrying this are in Indiana, USA). Photos a bonus. I don't think it will catch on big time, but it definitely a unique looking dish.
I just hope these things don't come to life.
Friday, 16 April 2010
La Banquise ~ Montreal, QC
Road Trip! Where to? Montreal!!!
But it was just a short trip, spur of the moment for the day. There were some errands to run so it wasn’t all fun, but I personally was excited for the food. I wanted to have one of three things while I was there: chicken wings, smoked meat or poutine. Montreal is known for its ‘Montreal Smoked Meat’, its bagels and its poutine. I’m not crazy for bagels, but I could go for authentic fries or brisket. And I’ve never had wings there so it would be interesting to see what they had to offer. With only a few minutes of foodie research, we were off on a sunny day and on our way to Quebec.
I’ve only been to Montreal once before, over a year ago and I got to go to the famous Schwartz’s Deli. How I regret not doing a photo review because the place was crazy and the food was good. But we decided to try something different. So smoked meat - out. That left wings and poutine. What better choice for lunch than poutine?
In my split second internet research one place kept coming up for poutine: La Banquise. A 24 hour eatery that serves more than 20 different types of poutine. That sounded like the place to be. The big problem was getting there.
Montreal is a beautiful city with old world charm. There are tons of restaurants, shopping and sights to see. But driving in Montreal was a little crazy. Not only do you have to deal with driving in an unfamiliar major city, with tons of one way streets that don’t follow a grid pattern and crazy cyclists and pedestrians, but everything is in French. Oh and street lights are short and on the edge of the roads instead of hanging over the middle of intersections. And normally I review the hell out of maps and figure out where to go, how to get there, where to park etc before I go somewhere. But this time I didn’t have a chance.
So I relied on a GPS which had us in circles and giving us turning info that was incorrect. On top of that, there is NO parking in Montreal. Side streets are all reserved, there are no lots, and the 5 parking spaces on the street were full, causing us to circle (and by circle I mean follow a convoluted set of side streets and one ways) the block for nearly 45 minutes. And if I knew Montreal better, we might have gone to another eatery, but parking would have been the same issue.
So finally parking and sitting down was a great relief. Next problem. Despite taking French for 7 years, I can’t really speak it – I mean I can kind of get by, but I wouldn’t put it on a resume. So when the waitress/hostess said many undistinguishable words and made the motion for 2, we nodded and smiled and she sat us at a table. Clearly she recognized our Anglaphone-ness, because we had English menus in front of us.
But it was just a short trip, spur of the moment for the day. There were some errands to run so it wasn’t all fun, but I personally was excited for the food. I wanted to have one of three things while I was there: chicken wings, smoked meat or poutine. Montreal is known for its ‘Montreal Smoked Meat’, its bagels and its poutine. I’m not crazy for bagels, but I could go for authentic fries or brisket. And I’ve never had wings there so it would be interesting to see what they had to offer. With only a few minutes of foodie research, we were off on a sunny day and on our way to Quebec.
I’ve only been to Montreal once before, over a year ago and I got to go to the famous Schwartz’s Deli. How I regret not doing a photo review because the place was crazy and the food was good. But we decided to try something different. So smoked meat - out. That left wings and poutine. What better choice for lunch than poutine?
In my split second internet research one place kept coming up for poutine: La Banquise. A 24 hour eatery that serves more than 20 different types of poutine. That sounded like the place to be. The big problem was getting there.
Montreal is a beautiful city with old world charm. There are tons of restaurants, shopping and sights to see. But driving in Montreal was a little crazy. Not only do you have to deal with driving in an unfamiliar major city, with tons of one way streets that don’t follow a grid pattern and crazy cyclists and pedestrians, but everything is in French. Oh and street lights are short and on the edge of the roads instead of hanging over the middle of intersections. And normally I review the hell out of maps and figure out where to go, how to get there, where to park etc before I go somewhere. But this time I didn’t have a chance.
So I relied on a GPS which had us in circles and giving us turning info that was incorrect. On top of that, there is NO parking in Montreal. Side streets are all reserved, there are no lots, and the 5 parking spaces on the street were full, causing us to circle (and by circle I mean follow a convoluted set of side streets and one ways) the block for nearly 45 minutes. And if I knew Montreal better, we might have gone to another eatery, but parking would have been the same issue.
So finally parking and sitting down was a great relief. Next problem. Despite taking French for 7 years, I can’t really speak it – I mean I can kind of get by, but I wouldn’t put it on a resume. So when the waitress/hostess said many undistinguishable words and made the motion for 2, we nodded and smiled and she sat us at a table. Clearly she recognized our Anglaphone-ness, because we had English menus in front of us.
Looking around, the atmosphere was bright, slightly funky and busy! It was after 3 and the place was packed with young people eating huge piles of poutine. Giant plates with towering orders of poutine. Poutine, for those that may not know, is French fries and cheese curds covered in gravy. I made Hot Wing Poutine a while back, remember?
There were over 20 types on the menu. Some of the more interesting types include the T-Rex (poutine with ground beef, peppers, bacon and smoked meat), the B.O.M. (poutine with bacon, onions and merguez sausage) or Italian (poutine with Italian meat sauce). There were things like hamburgers and hot dogs on the menu, but nobody was ordering that. It was all poutine.
We chose a simple poutine with bacon, and the Kamikazi, merguez sausage, hot peppers and Tobasco sauce). The poutines come in two sizes, small (which range $6-$9 and what we got), and the monster large ($10-$14).
BACON POUTINE
This was close to classic poutine with the wonderful addition of bacon. But let’s deal with the negatives for the poutines up front. First, the regular is still a big serving with generous toppings of curds, gravy and bacon, but they serve it on such a small plate that fries curds and bacon are guaranteed to fall onto the table.
Second, the fries. They use almost shoestring fries that are extremely limp. Don’t get me wrong, I like those fries normally, but they don’t hold up to the gravy. Also, several were not cooked and still hard inside. Not all, but a number were hard and floppy at the same time and really detracted from the whole dish.
That being said, they are fresh cut and the cooked ones are good. The gravy was much milder than I expected, but still warm and tasty. The cheese curds were definitely fresh and very squeaky. And came in big chunks.
The bacon was great. Smokey, slightly crisp but soft. It blended well with the Earthy flavours of the dish.
KAMIKAZE
There were over 20 types on the menu. Some of the more interesting types include the T-Rex (poutine with ground beef, peppers, bacon and smoked meat), the B.O.M. (poutine with bacon, onions and merguez sausage) or Italian (poutine with Italian meat sauce). There were things like hamburgers and hot dogs on the menu, but nobody was ordering that. It was all poutine.
We chose a simple poutine with bacon, and the Kamikazi, merguez sausage, hot peppers and Tobasco sauce). The poutines come in two sizes, small (which range $6-$9 and what we got), and the monster large ($10-$14).
BACON POUTINE
This was close to classic poutine with the wonderful addition of bacon. But let’s deal with the negatives for the poutines up front. First, the regular is still a big serving with generous toppings of curds, gravy and bacon, but they serve it on such a small plate that fries curds and bacon are guaranteed to fall onto the table.
Second, the fries. They use almost shoestring fries that are extremely limp. Don’t get me wrong, I like those fries normally, but they don’t hold up to the gravy. Also, several were not cooked and still hard inside. Not all, but a number were hard and floppy at the same time and really detracted from the whole dish.
That being said, they are fresh cut and the cooked ones are good. The gravy was much milder than I expected, but still warm and tasty. The cheese curds were definitely fresh and very squeaky. And came in big chunks.
The bacon was great. Smokey, slightly crisp but soft. It blended well with the Earthy flavours of the dish.
KAMIKAZE
Finding two poutines that LJ and I both liked on their menu to share was difficult, but we could both agree on the Kamikaze. Regular poutine kicked up with hot peppers, sausage and Tobasco sounded damn good.
The fries on this bad boy were not under-cooked fortunately. The pepper rings were tasty and really added a zing to a dish that is usually very savoury and mute. I mean there was nothing special about the rings, but that tart bite punched up the dish. I didn’t really taste the Tabasco sauce, but they did bring it on the side.
The other part of the dish was the merguez sausage. Supposedly a spicy sausage from North Africa with lots of spices and usually a mixture of beef and lamb, the ones in this dish were very very mild. While I couldn’t quite place the flavour at the time, I am pretty sure they are either lamb or beef/lamb mixture. Interesting, but not heat spicy at all.
Plate after giant plate was being ordered the whole time we were there so this place is definitely popular with the locals. And it was good hearty fare. But I have to say it wasn’t the best poutine I ever had. The fries were really shocking, being limp and some under cooked. The gravy was good, as were the curds and the other toppings. The service was very friendly, forgivenly in English for us tourists. And the portions were very decent for the price. Would I go back? If I lived in the city, probably, but since I only go very rarely, I would experiment with other poutine places.
PS: For supper we were going to go to a pub that had a chicken wing so hot you have to do their Grim Reaper challenge. Unfortunetely, after over 45 minutes of circling for parking, the place was so packed for the hockey game there were no tables. Next time, next time. Montreal is a great place that I love to explore, but it really needs more parking.
The fries on this bad boy were not under-cooked fortunately. The pepper rings were tasty and really added a zing to a dish that is usually very savoury and mute. I mean there was nothing special about the rings, but that tart bite punched up the dish. I didn’t really taste the Tabasco sauce, but they did bring it on the side.
The other part of the dish was the merguez sausage. Supposedly a spicy sausage from North Africa with lots of spices and usually a mixture of beef and lamb, the ones in this dish were very very mild. While I couldn’t quite place the flavour at the time, I am pretty sure they are either lamb or beef/lamb mixture. Interesting, but not heat spicy at all.
Plate after giant plate was being ordered the whole time we were there so this place is definitely popular with the locals. And it was good hearty fare. But I have to say it wasn’t the best poutine I ever had. The fries were really shocking, being limp and some under cooked. The gravy was good, as were the curds and the other toppings. The service was very friendly, forgivenly in English for us tourists. And the portions were very decent for the price. Would I go back? If I lived in the city, probably, but since I only go very rarely, I would experiment with other poutine places.
PS: For supper we were going to go to a pub that had a chicken wing so hot you have to do their Grim Reaper challenge. Unfortunetely, after over 45 minutes of circling for parking, the place was so packed for the hockey game there were no tables. Next time, next time. Montreal is a great place that I love to explore, but it really needs more parking.
I'm sorry!
Dear Readers and members of the Wing Nation,
I apologize for the severe lack of communication on my part. No posts, updates or comments. No twittering. Nothing. And for that I'm sorry.
But recently and with little fanfare did we realize that a new cap on Internet usage just started and BAM! we were well over our limit and looking at fines. So the Internet is self disconnected and I'm actually at the public library trying to post this before my time runs out. Damn you Internet!
I have been busy with wings, sauces, non-wing items etc etc. and I'm trying to get much posted right now, but it has not been easy. Please bear with us, and hopefully soon we can have our personal Internet up and running and chicken wing stuff galore.
Thanks for your understanding,
The Wing King
aka
Lord of the Wings
I apologize for the severe lack of communication on my part. No posts, updates or comments. No twittering. Nothing. And for that I'm sorry.
But recently and with little fanfare did we realize that a new cap on Internet usage just started and BAM! we were well over our limit and looking at fines. So the Internet is self disconnected and I'm actually at the public library trying to post this before my time runs out. Damn you Internet!
I have been busy with wings, sauces, non-wing items etc etc. and I'm trying to get much posted right now, but it has not been easy. Please bear with us, and hopefully soon we can have our personal Internet up and running and chicken wing stuff galore.
Thanks for your understanding,
The Wing King
aka
Lord of the Wings