Thursday 9 July 2020

CITY FRIED CHICKEN Toronto 2013 - LOST REVIEW

It's time for another #tbt & #lostreview


This is yet another review where I don't have notes to remember this trip. I actually thought this review was from 2016 because the following restaurant is on the Danforth and I went there several times in 2016 when I had a car. In fact, I was sure I did a better review of this place but my records say otherwise.


The way I remember finding out about City Fried Chicken & Pizza was that there is a 7-11 (or was, as of 2018 it closed. Can you believe a 7-11 closed?!?!) and I think the fried chicken part stood out. Well one day in the summer of 2013 I had a car (a rental or a Zip Car, but why I don't remember) and went up to check it out.



Two things stood out for me when I went in: 1) I got a lot of stares. Every time I've gone in the customers all stare at me like, who is this guy. I'm also the only white person I've ever seen in there, so maybe that's why. 2) This place serves Halal chicken, and has lots of religious plaques and flyers up as well. I'm not a fan of any place toting it's religious affiliation but so many restaurants do this.

Inside the place is marked by a yellow and black colour scheme. It has one big long take-out counter with various hot foods in heating trays, or fried chicken under heat lamps. There are several tables along the wall and some window counter seating at the front. The staff were friendly and seem to know most of the customers coming in.



There's a lot on the menu. There's pizza, burgers, fried chicken, cheese steaks, fish, bagels, fries, onion rings, salads and on and on. The fried chicken looked like it was really crispy and a nice coating, so I was looking forward to the wings. The prices were really good. I remembering about asking for flavours and I think it was BBQ, Honey Garlic and Hot but they were not listed anywhere. I think they might have even offered ketchup too, but that would be a #wingcrime I'm pretty sure.



When my order was ready I popped back in the car and drove till I found a little park. I grabbed a picnic table. Packed tightly in a brown paper bag was the Styrofoam clam-shell, with the wings resting on a sheet of food paper. There were a few paper napkins also in the bag. No dip, no veggies, just wings.


What a beautiful summer evening to have a wing picnic!!! And the wings looked good!


I got a 9 piece wing (I'm assuming - the bill said $8.01 which included a $0.15 fee for using Interac), and that photo looks to be about 9 wings.


The wings seem like they were ok in size - not big but not tiny either. There was a nice, fine crispy breading on them, which make for a light crunch. This was crispy good fried chicken!



I'm pretty sure they only had the three flavours of sauce, BBQ, Honey Garlic, and Hot. To my surprise the Hot was 3rd Degree!



That 3rd Degree is unmistakable with its viscous-like texture.




They weren't big, but these were some tasty wings. I love that little piece hanging off on the above pic - that's good eats!


To see if City Fried Chicken & Pizza is still around, it is, but according to their website, it's just City Fried Chicken now. The menu doesn't seem to list pizza anymore. Probably for the best as they seem to do chicken really well. After this visit I did go back several times as I could get some good late-night take-out wings. Good times!


City Fried Chicken
990 Danforth Ave, Toronto ON
cityfriedchicken.ca

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