THE PUCK (formerly PUCK 'N WINGS) ~ Toronto ON

= THE PUCK in NOW CLOSED - RIP =

Puck' N Wings is now called THE PUCK

The past several years has seen a rise in wing joints all over the Greater Toronto Area. I have to say, I'm enjoying the wing boom. One of these locations has been on my radar for a while, but whenever visiting, its been pretty busy. Like very very busy.

Fortunately on this Monday, I had my pick of seats at Puck 'N Wings. And Monday is wing night to boot.

When I walk down any street, this is the most beautiful kind of sign to see.


  This is a hockey themed restaurant with a pretty clear mission statement: "Our game plan is unique: 50 wing flavours and 50 salad toppings on a menu designed to attract large groups of fans and foodies. With an emphasis on top quality service and fresh food, the spirit of hockey and the love of the game make PUCK'N WINGS the place to be any day of the week."  Well I may not care a lot about hockey (I know, I feel like a bad Canadian saying that) but I do love my wings.

I was in at around 5pm and the crowd was small, and extremely varied. High school students, seniors, soloists. Whenever I have been by, it's usually filled with UofT students, but school's not back in yet. There was lots of sports on tv and some decent music playing overhead.

There are 50 flavours, so choosing can be difficult. My server was Chiara, and she was friendly and able to answer wing questions I had.

Puck 'N Wings says right on their menus that they prepare their wings fresh to order and ask for patience. Well the wings did take a while to come out, but a freshly deep fried wing should take 15-20 minutes. But I don't mind waiting if the quality is good.

I went with two orders of wings to meet my spicy and creamy mood. Two baskets came out and my stomach started growling in hunger when I saw the wings. Normally they come with a side of veggies and choice of dip, but on wing night ya gotta pay extra. The menu also says 1 free refill on Coke, but I guess on wing nights there are no freebies. It is a business I guess.

The wings themselves slightly ranged from a medium-large to large. These were also very meaty, but still tender wings. You have the choice of them coming out what they call a dusting, but I call a breading,  or naked, but I went with breaded. The wings were nice and crispy, but also super saucy. In fact, they were in a lake of sauce. I like a lot of sauce, and visually I find it very enticing (I want to gorge!) but it runs the risk of losing structural integrity. But these wings held up pretty well.

LOUISIANA HOT

When I asked about their heat levels, Chiara explained that the different levels of heat were different sauces. I wasn't looking for the hottest sauce on the menu (this day anyway) and while it was on the milder heat level, when she said Louisiana Hot was a mix of  Hot and Buffalo, something about that just sounded delicious.

And it was. It tasted like a good Louisiana cayene sauce with a buttery accompaniment. So a little savoury, a little spicy. This was a great sauce combo and I would love to try it in something hotter.

DILL

There was a more creative name to this, but I didn't write it down because I remembered seeing a menu on their website from a while ago. Unfortunately the website hasn't been updated in years and the new menu has flavours that aren't on the net.

The dill wings were very creamy (and wet, they looked like they've been dipped in a tasty-looking white glue!). And there was even chopped dill pickle mixed in. The dill flavour was pretty mild, but it tasted fresh. The sauce went well with the dusted wings.

At the end I started mixing the two together - hot and dill is a good mix!


FINAL SCORE: I get nervous with wing chains, especially if they serve a ton of flavours. But Puck 'N Wings wings were pretty good. They were a good size, meaty, crispy and had sauce to spare. The flavours I had were good, fresh and did not just taste like bottled sauces. I can safely say "He Shoots, he scores!"
6.5/10

Puck 'N Wings
362 Bloor Street West, Toronto ON
pucknwings.com