Santa's Coming tonight - move over Cookies

Tonight's the big night when that Jolly old elf is travelling the world . . .

. . .  and while visiting family, I was shown a comic in Women's World, which when I have kids and Santa visiting, I think would be appropriate for me:

Happy Holidays y'all!

Wing P0rn: The Ballroom Return

One of the professional associations I belong to had a social this past weekend, and it was at the Ballroom. I was there about a year ago with my staff, and I was not a huge fan of the wings I got. But this time, the wings were a different story.

BBQ: crispy, sweet, a little smokey, a little crispy. Very sticky.

There were many appetizers, but the one that stuck out beyond the wings was the Deep Fried Cheese Curds ($7). Really Salty, but soooo good.

This one even looked like a chicken wing. Check out the curd melting out.

The Ballroom has changed up its menu, dropped its wing prices (yes, $12 instead of $13) so I think they are worth re-checking out sometime.

Nibble Me This's trip to Dead End BBQ

Back in September, Chris over at Nibble Me This sent me this - and I was going to put it up, then Chris might have gotten more photos, but he couldn't, then I didn't get them up. But now I can. Or am, or will. Here they are. Sorry for the delay Chris.


"After Trevor's 12 y/o football game this week (another loss, we're 0-3) we stopped by our favorite BBQ place, Dead End BBQ to help erase the "sting of defeat". Dead End BBQ is almost 2 years old but it dawned on me I had never had their wings so I thought I'd give them a try.

Dead End BBQ hits them with their rub, smokes their wings for 2 hours and then "crisps" them to order. A lot of BBQ smokers prefer to smoke their wings and then flash fry them at the end so I guess that's what Dead End BBQ does. They offer them in 4 varieties:

Naked Smoked BBQ Wings - Served with their award winning BBQ sauce
Buffalo Wings - Smoke House Wings served Buffalo style with a smoky kick
Spicy BBQ Wings - Big BBQ flavor with a spicy kick.
Dead Hot Wings - Smoke House Wings served crazy hot with habanero sauce I like habanero in moderation but went with the Spicy BBQ wings instead. I figured I could handle any heat “spicy BBQ wings” could deliver.

Mrs NibbleMeThis waiting for our order but notice the glass in the background. One of the owners is an architect and wanted an “open kitchen” so you can see the food being prepared. He enclosed the two smokers in this glass area.

The wings come 8 to an order and include blue cheese or ranch dressing with carrots and celery.
They were big meaty wings, the kind I get when I buy fresh and cut my own at home. I could see the spices from the rub but it was the sauce that worried me. I could see chile seeds resting in the sauce. Uh oh.....


The skin was crispy and the meat was juicy tender. The flavor started off as just sweet and bold but then after the second bite, the heat started building. By the third bite my lips were stinging and I was sniffling. Turns out these things were as hot as I could tolerate.


As I sat there with watery eyes, I actually thought about how LOTW would scoff at me for having such a hard time with the “spicy” wings instead of the Dead Hot Wings. I like to think they messed up and served me the Dead Hot Wings by mistake!


I think I'll go back on Wednesday's wing night ($.50 a wing) to try them both and find out.
Chris"

Sounds like a great place. And I would not scoff at suffering at anything called "Dead Hot" - although they looked mighty tasty to me!

WWWWWW #54 - artweaponstudio's Chicken 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:

artweaponstudio (on Youtube)

So artweaponstudio has no info on their youtube channel where I found the video.

Then I watched another video where it listed the website. The website created by Matt Geerling called Art Weapon (or artweapon.com). He made the following video:

That is all.

Burger Brats ~ Toronto ON

RIP - BURGER BRATS is NOW CLOSED

I've been looking for a good neighborhood burger place since moving back to Toronto. Problem is, in my immediate neighborhood there isn't one. But trekking a little farther (and by a little farther, I mean a 15 minute walk from home) I had on a previous venture found a possible contender, but had never gone in. Well now I have.

Watch out, because you might just walk past Burger Brats. It's in the basement of a building underneath another eatery with a bigger sign, on a stretch of street that is void of a lot of commercial business shopping but it is right beside a fire station. But being on the edge of clubland, this stretch has some late night eats (burritos, poutine, etc) and Burger Brats certainly caters to that crowd.

Inside the decor is pretty simple, but it works. There isn't a lot of seating, but I suspect their big open area to the cash is for big line ups at 2am on Saturday morning (they stay open till 4am). There was only one other patron when I was there. Skye took my order, I didn't wait long, and soon a fresh burger was grilled up and brought out by the cook to me.

They have a wipe board menu of burgers, dogs and sandwiches. The burgers have fun names like "The Adelaide" (BB is on Adelaide street, and consists of goat cheese, lettuce tomato, onion, maple syrup, bbq sauce & garlic mayo for $7.49), The Angry Texan (grilled cheese bread bun, peameal bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, chipotle mayo, egg and fresh jalapenos $9.99) or burger I got, The Fire House. And don't forget their special burger, The Great Canadian HANGOVER! - a 3, 6oz patty burger with peameal bacon, cheese, mushrooms, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, an egg, and special sauce. Actually eat this sandwich, and join the "Bratt Pack" in photo honour on their website.

The 10 burgers do not include sides and run from the basic (or 'classic') at $5.34 to the Hangover at $14.99. They also do special burgers each month (Right now they have the The Adam Crunch ~ Lettuce, Tomatoes, Onions, Pickles, Special Sauce, Cheddar and Ruffles BBQ Chips). You can add sides (fries, onion rings, sweet potato fries), go bigger with poutine or Tex-Mex Fries, or make it a fry & pop combo for $3.50. Pop refills are free when dinning in. They also have milkshakes, but I was feeling a soft drink more.

I was very tempted to have Tex-Mex fries, but my combo was pricey enough as it was, and I didn't need to feast, so I went with classic fries. I was happy with these fries - I needed to season them as they came out plain, but they tasted like good chip truck fries. Skin on, crispy, but soft at the same time. And a generous portion I nearly didn't finish.

My burger was The Fire House Burger. "CAUTION HOT!! Cheddar cheese, fresh cut jalapenos, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato and chipotle mayo." This was not a massive burger, but it was a good one. Everything complimented each other well: super fresh/soft bun; meaty beef patty that had a nice crispy crust to the outside; creamy but hint of spicy mayo; grilled onions and crisp veggies. I love the contrasts of the appropriately cold veggies to the melty cheese and warm meat to the soft bun. The jalapenos were actually not that hot, and I think I would prefer them grilled.

There's nothing fancy about Burger Brats. The place isn't that warm or exciting. The food is not falling into the gourmet burger crowd (which is a good thing). The toppings are simple, the burgers are simple, the sides are simple, and it works. I think the price is a bit high, but what isn't these days. I will go back for another burger fix, or maybe try their hot dogs and Tex-Mex fries.

Burger Brats

254 Adelaide St. West, Toronto ON

burgerbrats.ca

PS: just before publishing I noticed this in the NOW Magazine newspaper:

Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook Photos: Chicken Wings? Right On!

So some big news yesterday was that Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg's own account was hacked and 14 of his personal photos were leaked.

Pic from HERE

What did we learn about Mark from these photos that The Social Network didn't capture? He's an average guy who takes pictures of himself looking social like just about everyone on Facebook.

So what does Lord of the Wings care about Mark and his photos? Well there is one other aspect of his life that I think is eccentric, but commendable:

He's only eating meat he kills. That's right, he's getting back to nature and slaughtering his own dinner. See that photo up above? That's a chicken. Lets go on to the next photo.

Do you see what's on the plate on the left? Chicken wings. Breaded, crispy chicken wings served with a plate of fries. Now look at what Mark is wearing: grey shirt with blue jeans. You see that? Now go on back up to the picture where he's holding the chicken. Same clothes.

He may be a nerd, but he's a nerd who kills his own chicken and makes wings out of them. Awesome.

And to show how else he rocks, here he is with his girlfriend handing out candy at Hallowe'en. Four words: FULL SIZE CHOCOLATE BARS. 

And while we are chatting about Facebook, why not head over to facebook.com/lordofthewingsblog and Like it? I don't know what liking does, but it seems like it's what all the kids do these days.

Wing P0rn: Caf "Pub Style" Wings

glut•tony
noun \ˈglət-nē, ˈglə-tə-nē\
plural glut•ton•ies

Definition of GLUTTONY

1:   excess in eating or drinking
2:   greedy or excessive indulgence

Examples of GLUTTONY

1:   the view that gluttony is a serious failure in self-discipline
Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gluttony

That was me tonight at dinner in the caf. 3 plates of breaded wings that the chef's tossed in BBQ sauce. I added Frank's Red Hot and Sriracha. I indulged. I ate in excess. I failed in self-discipline (although the challenge of eating lots of spicy wings requires a form of discipline). The point is, dinner was good.

Late Night Wing Bites

The other day I was sick. I rarely get sick, but I had to call in to work and tell them I wasn't coming in. I went back to bed. I thought I might get up around noon and maybe work from home, but I ended up waking up at 4:30pm. I didn't feel like going to the caf, or ordering out (and certainly not going out), so I made a bit of soup. I tried going back to bed, but since I slept so long, I wasn't ready for bed. And I was getting hungry as the soup didn't hold me over.

Having not shopped for a very long time, my stores were pretty empty, and I didn't want what I did have. In the freezer, I had a chicken breast, and then it hit me.

WK's LATE NIGHT WING BITES:

INGREDIENTS:

• Chicken breast, cubed
• Flour
• Roasted Garlic Seasoning
• Cajun Seasoning
• Paprika
• Cayenne pepper
• Frank's hot sauce
• Sriracha sauce
• Vinegar
• Butter

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Mix first 6 ingredients in a bowl. I didn't measure the amounts, just eye it to be enough to coat the chicken.
2. Heat skillet to hot, add oil to coat bottom. 
3. Add chicken, turning every few minutes to ensure chicken is cooked on all sides (maybe 10 minutes)
4. Mix last four ingredients together (melt butter) to make hot wing sauce.
5. Mix chicken and sauce together. Serve and enjoy.

My original idea was a hot wing popcorn chicken, but short of deep frying, these just became fried nuggets of goodness. What really worked was the sauce. The chicken was tender, but I really wish the skin was more crispy. I was worried that if I cooked it longer the meat itself would get tough, so I compromised.

These were a tasty little treat that left me wanting more. And I don't want to start claiming miracle medicine, but the next day I was back to feeling like my fine self. I really do think eating spicy when sick is a good idea (clears out the sinuses, the stomach etc). But this would be good just as a snack or appetizer at a small gathering.

Next time, I'm going to try the popcorn chicken concept because I really do think that these need to be crispier. But how can you not enjoy bite size boneless wings?

Homemade Crispy Wings with Suicide Mix

No real story hear - photos from the summer. Homemade wings, fried, and tossed in sauce.

WWWWWW #53 - I Came For the Food

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:

I Came For The Food: A Food Blog for Those Who Live to Eat

Anh Chu loves food. She's a blogger originally from Calgary (but recently moved to the UK) who reviews food like myself, anonymously and out of her own pocket. I love this quote from her: "Although we all love fine dining, let’s face it, sometimes all you need is a Baconator."

One thing brought me to her blog:  Wing Off: Battle of the Chicken Wing.  For a friend's birthday, they had a chicken wing recipe cook off, and they had some very interesting wings. There were:

• Chicken of the Sea Wing
• Taco Wing
• Spring Chicken
• Turbaco Wing
• PBJR Wing
• Spicy BBQ Cinnamon Cheeseball

Awesome, slow clap, simply awesome.

Above are the Taco Wings. "John’s Taco wing was made by baking the wings in taco spices, dipping it in egg, then rolling them in crushed corn chips."  Muy bueno!

Or here are the PBJR wings. "The wings were dipped in a peanut butter and jam mixture then rolled in Rice Krispies." Outstanding.

And don't miss Anh's own Spring Chicken wings. "I marinated and baked the wings, wrapped them in seaweed, then a spring roll wrapper and deep fried them. Next time, I’d debone, add sticky rice outside of the seaweed, wrap it in spring roll wrapper, and add a sweet wasabi dipping sauce."


So check her out - and while she may not have any other wing posts . . . there are on poutine!

Wing P0rn: The Wing Company

Some take-out wings from a busy and stressful day. 

Got an order of delivered wings from The Wing Company (had them in 2010)

Spicy (but not suicidal heat), these are also a bit sweet. Remind me of a personal fave from Moose Winooskis.

Got a second order of Smoked Lime & Tequila (smokey BBQ infused with lime and Tequila). Funky and tasty.

Lots of moisture should totally wreck these wings, but they are still good after being delivered.

Made a bad day much much better.