LOST REVIEW - SU-GOOD Chinese - Toronto ON

It's #throwbackthursday & another LOST REVIEW!!!

Picture it, January, 2015. My good friend, coworker, and fellow food lover Helen had been telling me about some awesome chicken wings that her family gets from their local Chinese take-out. Next thing I know, I have an invite to come over to dinner and come out and try the wings from Su-Good Chinese Restaurant.

photo from Google street view

So this was a time I was documenting my wing eating, but not actually blogging. Sadly, I had a number of wing adventures at this time with Helen I just didn't post. She and I are on the same wave length when it comes to food, so she and I had some good times and good meals. I saw had, only because I no longer live in Toronto and never get to see her.

I remember the night because it was the first time I think I was at her house. I remember the night, I remember having the food, but I don't remember the details and for some reason I didn't log them down. I know they had ordered some fried rice, beef and broccoli  (I think), a couple of noodle dishes, and three of the four types of chicken wings Su-Good offers.

Can I just take a second to appreciate the name "Su-Good?" It's a great play on the Chinese surname Su, and So as in 'So Good'. Love it. I don't know if the owner's name is Su, but it's still cute.

The place is a simple take-away on the Danforth with some dine-in capacity. It has typical Canadian-Chinese fare, but surprisingly there is some Caribbean/Guyanese influenced Chinese dishes on the specials menu as well!

The first batch of wings was their Spicy Fried Wings. Battered and fried along with onions and chilis. This is a dry-style wing with no sauce, and there are about 10 wings in an order.

These must have been Honey Garlic wings, but they don't look like it - in fact they look more like a Sweet & Sour or General Tao. Very very saucy!

The other order of wings were what I'm pretty sure is the Caribbean Chicken Wings. Also fried up with onions and chilis and clearly tossed in some Caribbean flavours.

Here's my plate from the evening. I don't remember the specifics of this meal, but I remember it was really good, and very filling!

That wing looks like it was probably a Small+ or Medium sized wing. Looks crispy, meaty, and tender. Looks like anyway.

I didn't take a wide variety of photos as I usually do, and a bunch turned out blurry, so I must have been embarrassed to take a bunch of food photos and hold up supper.

I'm drooling myself looking at these wings they look so good. I like that we had 3 different styles to taste and contrast - sweet, spicy, savoury!

This is Helen going to town on one of the wings! In the background is Baby Ari, who is very much not a little baby anymore.

Very cute little guy and very funny. I don't remember if he had any wings. I didn't seem to take a photo of his older brother Yossi, and I'm not sure if he had wings. They now have a younger brother Benni and an even younger sister Miri. I do not know their stances on chicken wing consumption either.

Finally Gadi taking down one of his chicken wings.  I really appreciated this visit and for Helen & Gadi to have me over and feed me, not just because of the chicken wings, but just in general. I miss us hanging out at work and after work, or you know, just in the same city. Thanks Helen & Gadi!!!

While I may not remember the details, this was very good eats. The wings, the noodles, everything. They recommended it to me and I recommend it to you. I'm not sure if much has changed in 5 years, but as far as I can tell, Su-Good is still so good.

Su-Good Chinese Restaurant
2626 Danforth Ave, Toronto ON
sugoodchineserestaurant.com

GRACE Mild JERK WINGS - QUARANTINE FROZEN WING REVIEW

This is a QFWR:

Every once and a while a familiar brand will try something different with a chicken wing theme. Lots of chip flavours do this, movie snacks will do this, even Captain Highliner will do this. But one that I was not expecting was the brand Grace to bring out their own line of frozen chicken wings.

If you are not familiar with Grace brand, this is a lot of Canadian's first encounter with Caribbean food. It's a Jamaican-food based company that has been stocking grocery stores with sauces, rubs, spices, and drinks. Usually found in the International aisle of the store, I found one of their products not on the shelves, but in the freezer.

Actually I had seen them the week before (this is back in February) advertised in the flyers but I didn't get to that grocery store; then when I did the next week, they had none, but I found them at another store. They were on sale from $14.99 down to $9.99, so I decided I had to try a box for sure. I was disappointed as the only two flavours available were Mild and Honey. So I went with Mild.


 

Grace's Facebook page is advertising these quite a bit, and even had this video. I didn't see any of this until I got the wings, but cool none the less.

I've been on a bit of a Jerk kick the last couple of months, making lots of Jerk chicken thighs and quarters, so trying some wings seemed like a good idea. I liked the packaging - fresh, fun, and professional. Sometimes Grace branded items look a little simple or basic, but this looked new and exciting.

Several things stood out from the box when I looked at it.

1) These were fully cooked, which means you can microwave them (which it says you can do, but a microwave is never a good tool for cooking a chicken wing

2) 750g - This isn't a big box of wings, and though they were on sale, they were still $10. The wings I reviewed last week were the same size and $5.

3) The ingredients have wheat and soy (when would you ever have Jerk chicken that has soy or wheat in it?). I also noticed there were "Dried chilies, Smoke flavour, Spice extracts" so this might bring some flavour, but those were at the bottom of the sauce ingredient list.

The only thing in the box is the plastic bag of frozen wings. The wings are pre-marinated in the sauce. This suggested to me that we were not getting a crispy wing, but then again, Jerk wings aren't known to be crispy.

I emptied out the box onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, my standard setup when baking any wings, frozen or not. Inside the bag there were 17 wing pieces, with 6 drummettes and 11 wingettes; clearly not equally distributed.

You could see on the wings that they had a brown marinade to them, as well as a little bit of frost. I had to pull a few apart as they had semi-fused together in the bag.

The instructions called for a very hot oven - 450F (232C) and to cook for 30 minutes, flipping once. I did so. They also said if you wanted crispy wings, leave them in for 5 minutes longer. I also did that.

They smelt like Jerk, but the all-spice (not my favourite) was very noticeable. They had leaked a little grease, but not much. I thought there would be lots, at least of the marinade leaking off but not the mat was relatively dry!

I plated these up and LJ and I had them for lunch. They don't look pretty. They didn't even really look like Jerk to me. But I was still looking forward to trying them.

The wings were mostly medium in length and height. Some were a bit smaller, some slightly bigger. Some were really meaty, others respectably meaty. The pieces were very inconsistent.

The skin on these were not crispy. I didn't know how they could be covered in sauce. Even with 5 extra minutes in the very hot oven, and on parchment paper, these were not crispy. They were tender though, with moist meat, but not all the bones pulled apart easily.

The wings weren't saucy either; they were kind of in a limbo state of baked on but slightly mushy. This texture wasn't bad; it is what it is. The big question was how did they taste?

Well, in a blind taste test I would know they were Jerk wings. You could taste the spices, the garlic, the chilies, but you could also taste the all spice, the cloves, and wheat and those are things I am not a fan of. LJ didn't really care for them and thought they were just ok, but she didn't end up eating too many.

There was just a touch of heat, which was perfect for a mild wing. For chili heads this is going to be weak, but for those that don't like spice but want to, this is a good gateway heat.

WOULD I BUY IT AGAIN?

Yes, but with a few conditions. I really wanted to try the Hot, because I feel good Jerk chicken should make you sweat while you are liking your fingers from the Jerk. So if I see these again on sale (and the store has them) I would get the Hot. If I was redoing the mild again (and the hot for that matter) I would for sure cook them on a grill. Charcoal would be best, but any grill. They are meant to be kissed by fire, not an oven, and certainly not a microwave.  7/14

Grace Foods

gracefoods.ca

The website doesn't list the frozen wings but their Facebook page does.

LOTW Meme Monday = Corona Virus Wing Face Guard

I mean, right?

#nonwingsunday = Pork Souvlaki Wrap from the Grill

View this post on Instagram

#nonwingsunday = Pork Souvlaki on a pita. Well naan bread instead of pita. Grilled up the pork & naan on the grill last evening while it was beautiful out. Made a fresh Greek salad, smeared some tzatziki, added hot sauce & had a great supper. Hope you have a good weekend supper too! #lordofthewingsblog #souvlaki #souvlakiwrap #greekwrap #greeksalad #greekfood #tzatziki #naan #itsnotallaboutwings

A post shared by LORD of the WINGS (@lotw_wingking) on Apr 26, 2020 at 3:35pm PDT

Coke Zero Flavour Line Up in my fridge: Orange Vanila | Cherry | Vanilla | Regular

These are some of my favourite beverages. It makes me frustrated that they are all only limited release, but in the US you can get Coke Zero Cherry or Vanilla all year round. Those two cans are from sometime in early 2019 at least that I had rationed. The release of Orange Vanilla was a month or two ago and is absolutely delicious. I may even like it more than Cherry (and I'm a Cherry die hard fan).

My only critique of the Orange Vanilla is it has to be ice cold, and by the end of the can it seems to lose its flavour bite. The 500ml bottle version is better.

But it turns out there might be hope on the horizon; I got a message on Instagram from @sodaficionado:

Wow ... that sounds exciting!!!

#fryday Wings from Dunn's Express

These wings were from Dunn's Express but they have since closed and reopened as Markie's Smoked Meat. I think the menu is exactly the same.

LOST REVIEW - Rock'N Horse Saloon from 2015 - Toronto ON

It's #throwbackthursday & another LOST REVIEW!!!

It was September 20th 2015, a Sunday in the city of Toronto. I don't remember much from that day, other than I went to Rock 'n' Horse Saloon on Adelaide Street in the Entertainment District. When I first moved to Toronto, I remember coming to this location when it was a dance club called LimeLight. It was scuzzy, dirty, creepy; one of my least favourite places to go clubbing in (not that I was a big clubber). After it closed in 2003 it eventually became the London Tap House (never went), and was re-purposed sometime around 2014 into the country bar it is today. Actually, I was shocked that almost 5 years later it's still up and running (well, temporarily closed for Covid-19) today.

I'm not sure why I ventured down there on a Sunday to eat;  I think I had read somewhere that they had wings on special on Sundays, but when I got there there was no wing special on.

The place is country western themed ... but it's just as much sports bar and Toronto casual restaurant as it is country bar. It was mostly empty when I got there except for a few folks at the bar. I think this place is more about the dancing and music at night than a lively Sunday lunch place.

The wing menu in 2020 is Salt & pepper, hot, honey garlic, bbq, teriyaki, Korean bbq. no idea if you still get veggies & dip though

My server was Eryca and I remember she was very friendly and took real good care of me. She chatted with me a lot and overall was very cool. I asked about the wings, she brought me my Diet Coke and was always checking in on me.

My metal basket of wings, complete with veggies, dip, wings, and a side sauce. I also got a bone plate.

The blue cheese was pretty chunky. Can't remember if it was good or not. At this point I was still taking review photos on my digital camera - I didn't have a cell phone at this point - but these photos look pretty good to me.

Pretty decent sized chicken wing, if not for a little skinny. Nicely sauced though.

I think there were 7 or 8 wings in my order which was $13 back then, but hey, they are only $14 now so the price is pretty stable!

I went with two sauces and my guess is that I had the Artisinal Hot on the wings and Bourbon BBQ on the side. Or I got Extra Hot on the wings and the Artisinal on the side, but I'm pretty sure it was the former. To be honest, I don't remember, and I don't have notes to back this up.

All I really know is that they look good.

Why didn't I take notes on these!?!?

Have you been? Is it the same? Different? #lotwwants2know

Rock 'N' Horse Saloon
250 Adelaide Street West, Toronto ON
rocknhorsesaloon.com