HOG's BACK RESTAURANT - Ottawa ON

So I can't get into it, but I needed wings fast. There wasn't time for research, there wasn't time to wait for an order or even to scarf it down. Hog's Back Restaurant came up and it was time to try take-out wings from somewhere I knew nothing about.

I called ahead to save time and had an older woman on the phone with an accent. She didn't seem particularly friendly; when I ordered the wings, she asked what flavour. I asked what did they have, and she responded "all of them" in a kind of sarcastic tone. They, uh, they do not have all of them, I can assure you of that. 

I drove past the little plaza it was in (competely missed the turn), which it shares with a Chinese restaurant and a video game store. The parking lot was deserted, so there was ample parking. I walked inside, and while there is normally sit-in dining, with the current lock-down it was all blocked off.

This old take-out menu had wings slightly cheaper than the current price

The lady from the phone was at the cash behind plexiglass, and she was super friendly. I knew it was the same person, but I clearly interpreted her phone presence very differently. The wings were almost done so I walked outside for another 5 minutes. I circled back inside and I heard the wings come out of the fryer, then I saw her sauce the wings with a familiar looking jug. I asked her what she used for Suicide and she got the bottle and showed me an old friend: 3rd Degree.

She packed up wings were in a styrofoam container, put into a paper bag on its side, and she put in napkins and a plastic fork. Off to the car and on the go I went.

When I opened the clamshell, I found the wings were further reinforced with tinfoil.

Inside were my wings and an insane amount of sauce!

Wings come in only one order type - 12 wings to an order. That's exactly what I got. There are no sides with the wings.

The wings were about a medium, maybe some on the smaller-medium size in all aspects. They're meatiness was in relation to their size. 

 

Now the wings were crispy I'm sure, but there was so much sauce they lost their crunch real quick. The meat was ok in tenderness, but they were a little tricky to pull the bones apart. The meat appeared to come from frozen.

Were these wings saucy? Yes, a thousand times, yes. I don't know how they could be any saucier. She must have dumped 1/3 of the jug into the container. The wings were treading sauce to stay above!

This made the wings really difficult to eat, especially in a moving car! Yes I spilled some on the seat (because seats are not flat, they dip down). Yes I spilt on my shirt. Yes my hands were coated in sauce just pulling a wing out. I appreciate the generosity of sauce, but this was not the occasion for a flood of sauce. 

Even if I had not been told, there would have been no doubt in my mind the sauce was 3rd Degree. It's slightly sweet, with a sharp bite, and an artificiality about it that I enjoy. It's good. Without the sauce the wings were ... well there was no way to know how the wings were on their own. These were decent wings, but nothing special.

I just want you to see once the wings were removed just how much sauce was leftover. Look at it!!!

FINAL SCORE:

The wings were classic pizza take-out wings. Deep fried and tossed in a commercial sauce. My wings were definitely saucy and the suicide had bite like it should. In person the proprietor was friendly and clearly took care of my wing sauce needs. In a pinch, Hog's Back Restaurant was there for my wing needs.  6/14

Hog's Back Restaurant

888 Dynes Road, Ottawa ON

hogsbackrestaurant.com