DEKE & SQUEAKs SPORTS BAR & GRILL - Cornwall ON

- RIP - Deke & Squeak's is NOW CLOSED -

Sometimes the stars align just right and things work out in your favour. Recently LJ had business in Cornwall again, and this time it was an overnight trip. This also meant dinner out, and it just so happened I found that one sports bar downtown had wing night that night: Deke & Squeak's.

If the building looks familiar to long time readers of the blog, this place used to be BoJangle's which had just re-opened in 2010 (there had been a Bojangles in that same location almost 30 years ago).  They had pretty decent wings, but they closed down around 2014 or so, with Deke & Squeak's  (D&S) opening in it's place.

D&S's continued the sports bar theme but went with a different colour scheme and decor. We were confused by how to enter; I'm pretty sure I saw some people in the parking lot enter via the back patio, but we went to the front. The main door was closed (now seating) so we moved to the next door, which looked like it might lead to the upstairs instead as there was no signage on it. We kept going but that was the last door. We tried it, and it turned out to be the main door.

As you enter, there was a large table in the window, but the rest of the seating you had to go up some stairs. There was a large dining room on the left, on the right, a bar at the back and a game room off of the very back.

We arrived between 5:30 and 6pm and the place was packed, with more and more people coming. I had read on D&S's social media that it get's busy so come early, and boy were they right. We grabbed a table and our server dropped off the menus. Never caught her name, but she was friendly and great, if not very busy with the crowd.

I scanned the menu for the wings and found a big red panel. Then a smaller wing night menu fell out, then I noticed that LJ had another different wing night menu that described the specialty sauces. They had 25 different sauces and while we went pretty traditional, they had some interesting sauces like Pizza, Poutine, and Chicken Caesar.

To diversify our meal, the Tornado Poutine ($10) caught LJ's eye. This is not your classic poutine! It's made with seasoned curly fries, sprinkled with deep fried cheese curds, then topped with a gravy and Tornado Sauce (tangy-sweet hot sauce) mix. It was a savoury, salty, spicy good dish. Everything is elevated over a regular poutine. We couldn't finish it and I had it cold for lunch the next day and it was good again. LJ really really liked this.

The wings weren't out quick because of the crowd (I saw plate after plate of wings go to tables around us) but that's ok.

Wings here are sold by the pound, which works out according to the menu as about 6-8 wings. One order we had was 6 wings, another 7, so ya, it does range. It's also a good mix of flats and drums.

The wings were a good size, both in length and meatiness. The wings are breaded, but they aren't overly breaded. The breading is crispy, but the wings lost points because they were quite tough and difficult to chew. I don't think they were using wings, but I suspect that the wings might have been cooked earlier in the day and re-fried before serving to deal with the significant number of people ordering wings.

We ordered 3 pounds of wings with a bunch of sauces on the side ($0.50 on wing night). This allowed for lots of sampling.

CHICKEN CAESAR SAUCE

Described as Caesar Dressing and Parmesan sauce, this was very creamy thick sauce. It was, however, super mild in flavour. I mean there was that hint of parm, but you couldn't taste much. But it was nice a creamy.

SMOKED SEA SALT & PEPPER

This was another one that was quite mild in flavour. Just a dry rub, and while you can see the flecks of pepper and salt, you couldn't tell that it was smoked sea salt. Because the wings were so tough, you couldn't enjoy the chicken, which is usually what the seasoning brings out.

BOLD BBQ SAUCE

A commercial sauce that was sweet, but also dark, bold flavour. Slightly thick but still a bit runny. I liked this sauce and would get it again. It would be great if you could up it with spicy heat.

BUFFALO SAUCE

This was a slightly unappetizing looking sauce but it actually tasted good. It's hot sauce with butter and garlic. I think they may just mix garlic butter with the hot sauce. The garlic is pungent but good. I've had this type of Buffalo sauce before, at City Limit's Bar, which coincidentally is in Cornwall too. It's not traditional Buffalo, but it's flavourful.

SUICIDE SAUCE

This was a really great sauce. It might have had a Frank's type base, the built upon from there with chilies and other ingredients. It was thinner than the Deke sauce, but it was good. I would put it just above a hot heat level.

SQUEAK SAUCE

This was another homemade sauce with good flavour. On the menu they call it a 'Spicy Pepper Sauce'. It's base was 3rd Degree, and chilies and other ingredients. The waitress mentioned it might have ghost peppers, but this was not that hot. Tasty, and at least a suicide, but not killer.

FINAL SCORE:
These wings had real potential; good size, tasty sauces, fried crispy. They would have been better if the meat was not so darn tough. Overcooked or cooked twice was the downfall here. I suspect on non-wing nights the wings are better. Maybe it was just our order, because clearly the locals just keep coming back. I'm happy to go back and try again especially on Thursdays. I wouldn't mind trying that Tornado Poutine again either.  8.5/15

Deke & Squeak's Sports Bar & Grill
58 Pitt Street, Cornwall ON
dekeandsqueaksbar.com