LAKE COUNTRY GRILL - Orillia ON

Does #lotwsummercatchup count when you are into September? Well it's going to count since it was the last weekend of the summer, Labour Day weekend, and LJ and I took her dad out on a day trip into Midland Ontario. We didn't stop for lunch while we were there, but decided to on our way back coming through Orillia.

I had looked online before the trip for places to eat, something everyone could enjoy, but maybe someplace I could get some wings too. Lake Country Grill came up, and after reading some of the menu selections, we decided to check it out.

This place feels like it should be a stand alone restaurant, but it's in a large strip mall with ample parking. The weather was a bit dreary out, but as we walked up to the place we noticed a very dark opening - its a black mesh so that they can have an open patio feel, without letting the bugs in. You couldn't see inside, but from inside you could see out.

Inside, the place has a cottage theme going on. Big giant murals with down country feel (like on the dock at a lake), the chairs are like country farm table chairs, and nick-knacks on the wall like stuffed fish or snowshoes. It was clean, and big inside, but quite empty save for some seniors all sitting together at a long table.

Our server was Jenn, who was friendly and took good care of us. She brought us menus and took our drink orders. They serve Pepsi products, and I got a Diet Pepsi, but the drink was off so she exchanged it for a 7-up for me.

The menu is burgers, sandwiches, bar food etc. I took a look at the wing section (under Cottage Favourites) and was surprised at all the wing offerings. Then I got confused because there were so many different prices and options but Jenn was able to help navigate. You can read above, but this is what they meant:

• 1lb Wings (with veggies & Ranch dip) = $12, breaded wings = $13
• 1lb Wing Dinner (with fries, veggies & dip) = $16, breaded wings = $17
• 1lb Canadian Blizzard Wings - Breaded wings tossed in sauce and covered with Ranch or Blue Cheese = $15

Makes more sense, n'est pas?

So while I got wings, LJ went with the Fall off the Dock roast beef melt, which came to $17 with sweet potato fry upgrade.  It had grilled onions and aus jus on the side. The beef was a little tough and wasn't super flavourful, but decent enough. The crispy sweet potato fries were good and they came with a chipotle mayo which was great and I spread on a bit of the sandwich that I took a bite of from LJ.

My father-in-law got the schnitzel ($19); pork that's breaded, fried, with a mushroom gravy, and potatoes and a veggie medley on the side. He ate it all up and said it was good.

I went with the Wing Dinner, and got a good size platter.

What makes it a "dinner' is that it came with fries (or a salad but I went with fries). There was a generous heap of fries, but unfortunately they were not seasoned at all. Fortunately at the table was salt, ketchup and regular AND malt vinegar. I love a good malt & salt fry with ketchup. I was offered gravy but I passed on that.

There was also veggies and dip on the side. Fresh celery and carrot sticks, and a decent ranch for dipping. Nice. But the big question is, how were the wings?

Wings are served in orders by one pound. In a LCG pound is about 8-9 wings approx.  There was a pretty equal serving of flats and drums. For clean-up I was given a big metal plate for bones, wetnaps, and napkins.

The size of the wings were a good medium. You can get your wings fried straight up, but I went for the up-charge of having breaded wings. The breading adds a bit to the size but it's not crazy breading on there.

The wings were nicely fried, which meant the breaded wings were both crispy but lightly crunchy. That skin was spot on. But the chicken was also nicely tender and the bones pulled away easily. All around had a really spot-on texture to it.

To expand my flavour tasting and also knowing some folks at my table might want to sample the wings but not want the heat, I got them dry rubbed with the Cajun Dusting, and a side of their Flaming Campfire.

CAJUN DUSTED

The Cajun Dusted was predominately salt and pepper, with just a hint of that garlic/chili flavour that is Cajun. With the breaded crispy wings, this actually reminded me of Boston Pizza's salt and pepper wings. They were good and I would get these again.

FLAMING CAMPFIRE

While I wouldn't call this a suicide sauce, this was a nice HOT+ sauce. Their regular HOT is Frank's, and this is the Frank's with some Cajun seasoning, jalapeno juice, and maybe a few other secrets thrown in there. It was really tasty, a nice flavour with the jalapeno juice giving it a really nice zingy quality to it.

The photos of the wings I had seen online before coming had the wings tossed in sauce and they looked really good and I struggled when I ordered for getting the sauce on the side because of this. This sauce worked well with the Cajun breaded, but would be great sauced all around too.

FINAL SCORE:

The wings here were really good. Decent size, but tasted pretty fresh. They were crispy/crunchy, tender, and seasoned well. The Cajun was more salt and pepper, but good, and I would definitely get Flaming Campfire sauce for sure. The other food was good enough, but it was a pretty pricey servings as well. I'd go back for the wings, but I'd probably explore other eateries in Orillia the next time I'm there, especially since there is no wing night. 10/15

Lake Country Grill
425 West Street N, Orillia ON
facebook.com/LakeCountryGrill/*

*there is a website but it no longer seems to be working