LORD of the WINGS (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the suicide)

Chestnut's BATTLE of the WINGS - 2011

2012-01-26T11:10:00.007-05:00

This review is late. Exactly one year late. But better late than never.

In 2010 I was invited to come and judge the first Battle of the Wings challenge at Chestnut Residence at the University of Toronto. Run by executive Chef Jaco Lokker and Food & Beverage Manager Glenn Edwards, the competition was between Jaco and his three sous chef's, Eddie, Fitzroy and Oliva with each of them designing their own wings.

I was honoured to be a judge again and for all the promotion. My vote didn't count for as much this time, but really that's much more fair.

At 4:45pm the wings came out. Each student picked up a ballot, then plated up the wings. This went on until the wings ran out around 7:30. How many wings do they go through? 1000 pounds of wings. That's one pound for every student in the building.

I was fortunate to also get behind the scenes and see how the wings were made. It was fascinating to see how the food was prepared and the testing that went into the wings.

The ballots were secret, with students only knowing the number of the wings. I'm going to tell you though who's was who's.

WING #1

Eddies wings (with help from Berto)

These wings were quite different from the ones I had sampled behind the scenes. They were breaded, deep fried, and had a sweet and spicy sauce.

WING #2

Jaco's Wings

Jaco's wings were similar to the ones he won with last year, but toned down a bit. Breaded and deep fried with a sweet and spicy sauce as well. I didn't get to try these earlier because he was keeping very secretive.

WING #3

Fitzroy's Wings.

Fitzroy went with jerk-style wings again. These were marinaded, then baked.

WINGS #4

Olivia's wings.

Olivia tested out a number of recipes, and being the 'rookie', had a lot of pressure on her. She went with a breaded dry wing, that was seasoned with citrus and salt and had a creamy dressing put on the side.

My first test plate. It was so good. And I need to be clear, they were all very good. Choosing was tough.

I think these are Jaco's wings. Not only has it been a year, but Jaco's and Eddie's wings look very similar. If they were Jaco's, they were a bit sweet, and a bit spicy. They also had a nice crunch.

Fitzroy's jerk wings were tender (having marinaded at least over night, then roasted). They weren't too spicy heat wise, but they did have a lot of flavouring of spice.

Olivia's wings were definitely a unique way to go. Crispy and crunchy - they maintained this structure because there was no sauce. The seasoning was citrus/salty which made for a nice piece of chicken, but add the creamy, garlicky sauce on the side and you had a lot of different things going on different levels.

Eddies wings were also crispy. I was told the sauce went through several revisions, and one of the ingredients was 7-Up! It had a nice heat to it, but was also sweet. Although I have to admit I did like the tandoori style sauce that they started out with.

Of course you need to keep trying to make sure you're judging correctly.

No seriously. Because different batches came out slightly differently. This is both an art and a science.

Hundreds of votes were cast for their favourite. Everyone had their opinion heard. I also made my judgement, who happened to be in the majority.

So who won (Well besides all of us eating the wings)? Well, lets watch the video and see:

Congratulations Eddie (and Berto)! It was close, but I think Battle of the Wings 2011 was a complete success.

It's Coming . . . Chestnut Battle of the Wings

2012-01-25T10:45:00.002-05:00

WWWWWW #56 - Cupcake Project Buffalo Chicken Superbowl Cupcakes

2012-01-25T10:38:00.000-05:00

Yes, World Wide Web Wacky Wing Wednesday. WWWWWW. This is where I will surf the Web, and find other people talking about chicken wings. The world is full of chicken wing stories, wacky and otherwise. Recipes, restaurant reviews, eating contests or whatever. Today's Blog relating to wings in some shape or form:

Cupcake Project: A fun experimental cupcake blog

"Hi, I'm Stef. I live in St. Louis, Missouri with my husband (who is the editor, photographer, and official taster for Cupcake Project) and our toddler. Food writing wasn't always my full time job. " But now it is, and Stef does some amazing looking cupcakes. She also makes amazing looking cupcakes with chicken wings:

Buffalo Chicken Superbowl Cupcakes

"After hearing that I was going to bake buffalo chicken Super Bowl cupcakes (with hot sauce and blue cheese in the cake and a blue cheese buttercream frosting), one of my friends asked if I would be baking the cupcakes as as a joke. "Are they just supposed to be funny, or will you actually enjoy eating buffalo chicken cupcakes?" Having not yet baked the Super Bowl cupcakes, I told them that I was baking them mostly for the fun of it. I didn't expect them to be particularly good."

That's right, chicken wings, on a cornbread muffin, with blue cheese butter cream frosting. Awesome. Simply awesome. And don't forget to wash it down with Stef's "Beer Cheese Cupcakes with Bacon Cheddar Cream Cheese" - whether it's the Superbowl or not.

Wing P0rn: Leftover photos from my Emeril Smoker Bag & Smoked/Fried/Sauced Wings

2012-01-24T10:21:00.000-05:00

Extra photos from my tasty tasty meal:

WWWWWW #55 - Amy Bergsen's 2012 wings in 2012

2012-01-11T23:23:00.001-05:00

This one's a little unconventional. Try and stay with me:

So Chris over at Nibble Me This, sent me a link from Scott Roberts, who was reporting on Eat More Heat's marketing director, Amy Bergsen, who is following in Ryan Hollman's footsteps (the Ultimate Wingman, who was WWWWWW #38,) who ate 2011 wings in 2011 - but now Amy is going to eat 2012 wings in 2012 for charity.

Got it? Good.

Let's hope she raises some good money to fight cancer and eats some tasty wings along the way.

Wing P0Rn: Chestnut Jan 2012

2012-01-09T22:56:00.000-05:00

My Supper Tonight - can you get food like this at your work?

Breaded & spiced wings, tossed in BBQ sauce. I've added Frank's hot sauce. Curly fries on the bottom.

Emeril's Smoker Bag & My Smoked/Fried/BBQ sauced Wings

2012-01-08T18:57:00.000-05:00

So last year I was given a great gift by my girl for X-mas that stayed on my pantry shelf for, well a year. It was two Emeril Legasse Smoker Bags (Hickory and Mesquite) for smoking food in an oven (now that I no longer have access to a BBQ). There was no reason I didn't use them, but this past weekend I decided I was going to use them after all.

When I think of Smoking food I sure don't think of Emeril. Bobby Flay or maybe Guy Fieri but not Emeril. I don't think he has much to do with the product other than endorsing it.

It's a great concept. You can use it on your grill or a campfire, but the great application is its use in an oven. I live in an urban environment and smoking is not a possibility except to go to restaurants. Now I have the power to make food smell good in my own kitchen.

Pick your meat, figure out how long it will take to smoke, then do it. Simple.

The inside of the packet has a bunch of recipes and cooking tips.

Size wize, the packet doesn't look very big, but it does hold a lot. And look at those clear instructions on the bottom.

PART I - PREP PROCESS

I had two pounds of wings that I cut up. I knew the smoking was good, you still got to rub your bird down. So I kept it simple and commercial and used Cajun rub.

Once rubbed, into the bag they went. These were big wings, and 2lbs fit in with just a little space to spare. Actually it was just right.

I folded up the end and the already heated oven was ready. The instructions said to heat it to 475-500 and leave the door open, but a) that seems ridiculously high b) my smoke detector goes off when the oven is near 400 with a brief opening of the door, let alone keeping it up c) it was waaay to warm in my unit as it was, let alone that much heat pouring into the space.

PART II - SMOKED

Following the directions, I let the wings cook for 45 minutes at 450. When I pulled out the tray, the bag was inflated like a little zepplin. I was very nervous about opening up the bag - not from the steam and heat - but from volumes of smoke I imagined that would set off the smoke detector, or worse, the building fire alarm. I let it sit for a minute, then slowly, slowly, opened the back up.

Steam poured out, but not smoke. I mean there was a smokey smell, but nothing that was going to wreck my place. Inside I found the wings well cooked, smoked, and swimming in juice.

I pulled out a drummette which looked really good. It smelled good too. And, it tasted good. The hickory smokey flavour was good, as was the Cajun rub. The meat was tender (actually it was so hot it was almost too hot to hold). This was good, but I had already planned to make it better.

PART III - MAKING SMOKED MEAT CRISPY

My biggest pet peeve with smoked wings are that the skin is not crispy. Knowing this, in the last 15 minutes of smoking, I had the oil in my deep fryer at the appropriate heat. After sampling the straight smoked wing, I dropped a batch into the fryer. And because the wings were already cooked, they only needed a few minutes in their bath.

Oh man, was that a tasty wing. Crispy, but the chicken was so flavourfull. This was awesome. But it I thought it could be even better . . .

PART IV - SAUCING IT UP

While the fryer was heating and the wings smoking, I also whipped together a BBQ sauce. I took some Baby Ray's, some sriracha, a little hot pepper sauce and some pineapple juice. I bottled the mix and squirted over the wings that were tossed in a bowl.

The wings with Chairman Emeril in the background looking on.

PART V - THE MEAL

My supper - homemade Caesar salad, yes, I made the dressing from scratch with coddled egg, anchovies and everything - and the wings. And a Cherry Coke to boot.

How good were these wings? Good. Very good. This has quickly become one of my favourite styles of wings. Smoked, fried and sauced wings. I love the levels of flavour and texture.

There are 3 levels of flavour:

BBQ sauce
Cajun seasoning
Hickory smoked chicken

The 3 levels of texture:

Goey, thick sauce
Crispy skin
Tender chicken that just pulls apart

Above is a shot of a deboned wing. You can see the crispiness of the skin, the saucy sauce, and the tender chicken. This was such a good meal that was satisfying on many levels. Everything went right and I'm glad.

So my review of Emeril's Smoke Bag is thumbs up. The bag was not as strong as you would get from a real smoker, but for someone who lives twenty some odd stories up, this is the only way I'm getting something smoked. I'm curious how oven cooked ribs would be like using this, or even vegetables. There is a lot of potential out there.

If your looking to smoke indoors, and you want a crispy wings, use the smoker bag, then deep fry. You will enjoy it, trust me.

Wing P0rn: Pogue Mahone's & 1st Wings of 2012

2012-01-08T16:38:00.001-05:00

Back in TO and looking for a good wing deal, I headed to Pogue Mahones, a place I reviewed back in 2007. Not only do they have good wings, but they have "5 for $5" - every Monday night after 4pm. Essentially, they have 5 appetizers you can get for $5. Thus I got two orders of wings (about 14 jumbo wings) for $10.

They also added 3 new flavours: Candadian Eh (a sweet sauce), Eastern Smoke (a smokey BBQ), and Stinger (Honey Garlic, Parmesean, and whatever heat you want). I tried Eastern Smoke and their Grand Hot (suicide).

They were crispy, big and saucy. I was very full at the end of the meal ~ what a great way to start off wing wise in 2012!

BLOGIVERSARY YEAR 6: The BEST & WORST of 2011

2012-01-08T15:20:00.000-05:00

Looking back, 2011 was a blur. Life outside the Wing Nation was very busy and while it was a good year, I was not happy with how much the blog was neglected. Very few wing reviews, no wing recipes, WKTV didn't get an episode and the list goes on. Actually there are recipes and such, but they still haven't been posted. There's a backlog on everything!

But there were some exciting wing moments too. I only hope 2012 will be the year we get back on track. With a new look and the enthusiasm to eat more wings, things can only get better!

BEST TORONTO WINGS
BEST OTTAWA WINGS

BEST ONTARIO WINGS

BEST INTERNATIONAL WINGS

WORST WINGS

BEST NON WING PLACE
BEST WING RELATED BUT NON-WING RECIPE by WK
HIGHLIGHTS

GOALS

BEST WINGS TORONTO REVIEWED IN 2011

#1 The Tara Inn - "Jumbo crispy wings in tasty sauces" - exactly.

#2 The Bishop & The Belcher - "Big, crispy wings" and the sauce, while light, was good.

#3 Puck'n Wings - "They were a good size, meaty, crispy and had sauce to spare" - loved the dill wings.

#4 Hoops - "Good size, crispy, saucy wings" - notice a theme in these places? Love the wing specials.

#5 Mullin's - "Simple wings done right. Big, crispy, tasty."

BEST WINGS OTTAWA REVIEWED IN 2011

#1 Jean Albert's - "Wings are crispy, flavourful and fresh" - good even before you put on sauce.

#2 MVP Lounge - Big, breaded crispy wings with good sauces.

#3 Atomic Rooster - Big and crispy, but simple. Great service.
#4 Crazy Horse - Technically Kanata, the wings were tender, crispy and the homemade sauces were good.
#5 Tadavalkars - "Decent size, good flavours"

BEST WINGS ONTARIO REVIEWED IN 2011

#1 -The Bull & Boar Smokehouse Grill - Smoked, then deep fried, then sauced. It was good, except cold.

BEST WINGS REVIEWED INTERNATIONAL IN 2011

#1 The Wing Wagon - I've been twice now and love these traditional Buffalo wings. Jumbo, crispy, saucy.

WORST WINGS REVIEWED IN 2011

#1 Planet Pizza, Toronto ON - Lied about the style (say they are BBQ but they are not), small, not crispy. Just sad. I write the worst not to be mean, but to show others and for the business to possibly learn from this wing mistake.

BEST NON-WING REVIEWED IN 2011

#1 Jack Astor's Buffalo Sauced Up Chicken Fingers - Crispy, saucy, spicy, savoury - add garlic pan bread and Cherry Coke and no wonder they got first place.

#2 Smokehouse Blues Pig Wings - When you take a pork shank, smoke it, then deep fry and toss in sauce, you then have a piece of pork that tastes like chicken wings. And we can always have more things taste like wings.
#3 Ombrella Pizza Cones - Pizza, in a cone? Awesome.

BEST WING RELATED BUT NON-WING RECIPE by WING KING 2011

#1 Late Night Wing Bites - so simple, so tasty.

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2011

Lots of exciting events took place this year that kept me busy and full. I,

Was interviewed by CKCU Radio

Was a panel member of a Podcast

Was a Judge at London's Wingfest and Ribfest and Chestnut Residence Battle of the Wings

Was winner of my friends Backyard BBQ Rib Competition

Successfully completed the Rim Reaper Challenge @ McKibbins Irish Pub and went on the Wall of Pain.

A few other facts and accoomplishments - readership of the blog increased quite a bit, especially due to all of the new people I've met on Twitter, in person and people linking to the blog. By far the biggest and most popular post was my coverage of Boston Pizza's new advertising guy, Wing Critic Carl - over 11 000 page hits because people want to know what a Gil Morgan is or who Leroy Bouchlette is. I want to add more World Wide Web Wacky Wing Wednesdays, but the fact that we have already reached 50 is awesome. We also added Wing P0rn as a regular update - this is where I add photos of wings at places I'm eating that I've already reviewed but don't need to rehash or wings I've made at home that don't need a recipe.

GOALS FOR 2012

My wing goals for 2012 are simple. More posts, done in a timely manner. More social media (Twitter, Facebook, WKTV - I'm looking at you). I would like to get out and try wings outside my Toronto/Ottawa circle. I also want to hear more from you - and your wing adventure.

I want to thank all my readers, those of you coming to my blog (Chris and Teena especially - always supportive and leaving comments), those that write in to me, and just anyone who's out there in the Wing Nation. I write my blog for me, but it's so cool to hear from fellow wing lovers out there.

Wing Long and Prosper,

The Wing King

Lord of the Wings

"Eating Wings Until the End of the World"

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It Came From The Back of the Cupboard: Dave's & Nance's Wing Sauces

2012-01-08T00:34:00.000-05:00

During the winter break holidays I was home visiting my folks. One afternoon I was going through their pantry, when waaaaay at the back I made two discoveries. My parents keep a very clean kitchen so this was quite the discovery. But everyone has some story or some item hidden in the back of the cupboard, or the closet.

In this case it was two very old bottles of chicken wings sauce:

Dave's

I haven't tasted this sauce for a very long time. But it brought back memories.

"Also sensational on many of your favourite foods"

I think we first got this sauce when visiting my Uncle and family in Nova Scotia, and then he would send some at Christmas time too. They still are around apparently, but don't have a website, just facebook. I would date this sauce from about the early to mid 90's.

I remember this being more like a BBQ sauce than a hot sauce. The sugary ingredients seem to support that memory.

Cooking methods are about the same today. Like Dr Who or Bill & Ted's time traveling telephone booths, this cupboard took me back!

It doesn't look so good now, but I remember having tasty wings. Does anyone else remember having Dave's?

Nance's

The other jar of sauce I found was Nance's. Sadly, not opened and I don't ever remember having this sauce. Nance's seems to be still around, but part of the Baldwin Richardson Foods Co.. If they are the same Nance's, they have changed the recipe.

Not only could I tell it was old by the label or the stained lid, but the price tag was a huge give away. IGA became LOEB in town long ago, and closed down back in the mid 2000's.

I like that both sauces recognize the importance of tossing the sauce in a covered container.

This sauce is much more of a sweet sauce - the spiciest thing in there is mustard flour. I wonder what it tasted like?

It's sad to see the sauces never got used. It gets me scared, because I have a ton of hot sauces unopened in my own pantry. I guess that means I'll just have to eat more wings this year . . .

So what's in the back of your pantry? Do you have sauces waiting to be tried out? Have you tried either of these sauces and remember them?

SIMCOE ARMS PUB ~ Simcoe ON

2012-01-07T22:49:00.000-05:00

In the ending days of 2011 my buddy Jason and I cruised on over to Simcoe. We did a little catching up, some DVD shopping, we even caught a movie (Sherlock Holmes 2 was pretty good). We also stopped for dinner to a little Pub that Jason recommended. Who was I to disagree?

In a mini mall in Simcoe is a pub called the Simcoe Arms. It's almost tucked away and with some construction in the parking lot it could be hard to find. But we were there for an early supper and it was busy enough with locals it seemed.

The entrance outside makes the place look small, but inside it's quite spacious. There is a bar area, the lower dining area and the upper dinning area (where we sat ourselves). Our waitress was Mary-Ann and she was friendly and answering all my questions about wings or bringing me a drink refill.

Jason went for his Simcoe Arms standby, liver and onions. Ya, you heard that right.

It was a monster portion of liver, with fries and cooked veggies. Now I haven't had liver in, well not this decade or even the last. I don't have a good memory of it, but Jason's was covered in bacon and onions and gravy and I'm up for trying new things, so he let me try a piece.

Now I took that piece, with bacon, I cut it in half and took the plunge: at first things were good. The outside was crispy while the inside was smooth - I was thinking this is not bad. Love the texture. Maybe I could be a liver guy. But then it hit. It was an after-flavour that came into my mouth, went down my throat, and made my stomach go "uh-unh, no thank you." I did not finish the other half of the piece and I am not a liver guy. But I gave it a shot. But let me clarify, if you do like liver, this is good stuff.

I got an order of onion rings on the side. These were homemade battered onion rings that were crispy, and just darn tasty. They came with a ranch dip that was tasty, but it was also good with my wings blue cheese dip.

As I said, I got wings.

I had to ask Mary-Ann about 'Bundy' sauce - it's honey garlic and a heat mixed in. I did not ask why it was called Bundy sauce though. I should have. Shame on me.

Wings come in an order of a pound, which is about 8 or 9 wings. The wings are dusted and then deep fried. They come with veggies and dip too.

The wings were a good size. Medium in length, but very meaty. The meat of the wings was almost tough, but not quite. The skin started off crispy, but half way through the sauce was fully absorbed eliminating the crispness.

BUTTER HOT

The picture above is Butter Hot, not just hot. They have hot, but this was butter hot, which meant hot sauce, with butter added. Basically Buffalo wing sauce, but the wings aren`t Buffalo wings because they are dusted wings. But this was a good sauce - savoury, with a hint of heat. Tasty, overall.

SUICIDE

I also got a side of suicide sauce. It had a nice heat that warmed the mouth. I wasn't crazy for the flavour, but I appreciate that it seemed to be homemade.

FINAL SCORE:

Good wings especially when they came out fresh. The pub works hard on it's food and it shows. I'd have the wings again for sure, the onion rings were good, I know Jason enjoyed his liver, and there were a dozen other things on the menu I would have ordered for sure. If you stop by Simcoe, stop by the Simcoe Arms. 6/10

Simcoe Arms Pub
140 Queensway Drive East, Simcoe On
http://www.facebook.com/TheSimcoeArms

New Look for 2012

2012-01-07T19:40:00.000-05:00

Eating Wings Until the End of the World!

Ok, I don't believe the end of the Mayan calendar is the end of the world (its the end of the calendar, there's a new calendar to come . . .) but it felt like a fun theme.

I'm behind on posts, so see a few posts from 2011, then my "Blogiversary" edition with a review, and then on to 2012!

Santa's Coming tonight - move over Cookies

2011-12-24T20:56:00.000-05:00

Tonight's the big night when that Jolly old elf is travelling the world . . .

. . . and while visiting family, I was shown a comic in Women's World, which when I have kids and Santa visiting, I think would be appropriate for me:

Happy Holidays y'all!

Wing P0rn: The Ballroom Return

2011-12-16T11:57:00.000-05:00

One of the professional associations I belong to had a social this past weekend, and it was at the Ballroom. I was there about a year ago with my staff, and I was not a huge fan of the wings I got. But this time, the wings were a different story.

BBQ: crispy, sweet, a little smokey, a little crispy. Very sticky.

There were many appetizers, but the one that stuck out beyond the wings was the Deep Fried Cheese Curds ($7). Really Salty, but soooo good.

This one even looked like a chicken wing. Check out the curd melting out.

The Ballroom has changed up its menu, dropped its wing prices (yes, $12 instead of $13) so I think they are worth re-checking out sometime.

Nibble Me This's trip to Dead End BBQ

2011-12-14T22:52:00.006-05:00

Back in September, Chris over at Nibble Me This sent me this - and I was going to put it up, then Chris might have gotten more photos, but he couldn't, then I didn't get them up. But now I can. Or am, or will. Here they are. Sorry for the delay Chris.

"After Trevor's 12 y/o football game this week (another loss, we're 0-3) we stopped by our favorite BBQ place, Dead End BBQ to help erase the "sting of defeat". Dead End BBQ is almost 2 years old but it dawned on me I had never had their wings so I thought I'd give them a try.

Dead End BBQ hits them with their rub, smokes their wings for 2 hours and then "crisps" them to order. A lot of BBQ smokers prefer to smoke their wings and then flash fry them at the end so I guess that's what Dead End BBQ does. They offer them in 4 varieties:

Naked Smoked BBQ Wings - Served with their award winning BBQ sauce
Buffalo Wings - Smoke House Wings served Buffalo style with a smoky kick
Spicy BBQ Wings - Big BBQ flavor with a spicy kick.
Dead Hot Wings - Smoke House Wings served crazy hot with habanero sauce I like habanero in moderation but went with the Spicy BBQ wings instead. I figured I could handle any heat “spicy BBQ wings” could deliver.

Mrs NibbleMeThis waiting for our order but notice the glass in the background. One of the owners is an architect and wanted an “open kitchen” so you can see the food being prepared. He enclosed the two smokers in this glass area.

The wings come 8 to an order and include blue cheese or ranch dressing with carrots and celery.
They were big meaty wings, the kind I get when I buy fresh and cut my own at home. I could see the spices from the rub but it was the sauce that worried me. I could see chile seeds resting in the sauce. Uh oh.....

The skin was crispy and the meat was juicy tender. The flavor started off as just sweet and bold but then after the second bite, the heat started building. By the third bite my lips were stinging and I was sniffling. Turns out these things were as hot as I could tolerate.

As I sat there with watery eyes, I actually thought about how LOTW would scoff at me for having such a hard time with the “spicy” wings instead of the Dead Hot Wings. I like to think they messed up and served me the Dead Hot Wings by mistake!

I think I'll go back on Wednesday's wing night ($.50 a wing) to try them both and find out.
Chris"

Sounds like a great place. And I would not scoff at suffering at anything called "Dead Hot" - although they looked mighty tasty to me!

WWWWWW #54 - artweaponstudio's Chicken Wings

2011-12-14T21:35:00.002-05:00

artweaponstudio (on Youtube)

So artweaponstudio has no info on their youtube channel where I found the video.

Then I watched another video where it listed the website. The website created by Matt Geerling called Art Weapon (or artweapon.com). He made the following video:

That is all.

Burger Brats ~ Toronto ON

2011-12-13T00:19:00.001-05:00

I've been looking for a good neighborhood burger place since moving back to Toronto. Problem is, in my immediate neighborhood there isn't one. But trekking a little farther (and by a little farther, I mean a 15 minute walk from home) I had on a previous venture found a possible contender, but had never gone in. Well now I have.

Watch out, because you might just walk past Burger Brats. It's in the basement of a building underneath another eatery with a bigger sign, on a stretch of street that is void of a lot of commercial business shopping but it is right beside a fire station. But being on the edge of clubland, this stretch has some late night eats (burritos, poutine, etc) and Burger Brats certainly caters to that crowd.

Inside the decor is pretty simple, but it works. There isn't a lot of seating, but I suspect their big open area to the cash is for big line ups at 2am on Saturday morning (they stay open till 4am). There was only one other patron when I was there. Skye took my order, I didn't wait long, and soon a fresh burger was grilled up and brought out by the cook to me.

They have a wipe board menu of burgers, dogs and sandwiches. The burgers have fun names like "The Adelaide" (BB is on Adelaide street, and consists of goat cheese, lettuce tomato, onion, maple syrup, bbq sauce & garlic mayo for $7.49), The Angry Texan (grilled cheese bread bun, peameal bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, chipotle mayo, egg and fresh jalapenos $9.99) or burger I got, The Fire House. And don't forget their special burger, The Great Canadian HANGOVER! - a 3, 6oz patty burger with peameal bacon, cheese, mushrooms, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, an egg, and special sauce. Actually eat this sandwich, and join the "Bratt Pack" in photo honour on their website.

The 10 burgers do not include sides and run from the basic (or 'classic') at $5.34 to the Hangover at $14.99. They also do special burgers each month (Right now they have the The Adam Crunch ~ Lettuce, Tomatoes, Onions, Pickles, Special Sauce, Cheddar and Ruffles BBQ Chips). You can add sides (fries, onion rings, sweet potato fries), go bigger with poutine or Tex-Mex Fries, or make it a fry & pop combo for $3.50. Pop refills are free when dinning in. They also have milkshakes, but I was feeling a soft drink more.

I was very tempted to have Tex-Mex fries, but my combo was pricey enough as it was, and I didn't need to feast, so I went with classic fries. I was happy with these fries - I needed to season them as they came out plain, but they tasted like good chip truck fries. Skin on, crispy, but soft at the same time. And a generous portion I nearly didn't finish.

My burger was The Fire House Burger. "CAUTION HOT!! Cheddar cheese, fresh cut jalapenos, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato and chipotle mayo." This was not a massive burger, but it was a good one. Everything complimented each other well: super fresh/soft bun; meaty beef patty that had a nice crispy crust to the outside; creamy but hint of spicy mayo; grilled onions and crisp veggies. I love the contrasts of the appropriately cold veggies to the melty cheese and warm meat to the soft bun. The jalapenos were actually not that hot, and I think I would prefer them grilled.

There's nothing fancy about Burger Brats. The place isn't that warm or exciting. The food is not falling into the gourmet burger crowd (which is a good thing). The toppings are simple, the burgers are simple, the sides are simple, and it works. I think the price is a bit high, but what isn't these days. I will go back for another burger fix, or maybe try their hot dogs and Tex-Mex fries.

Burger Brats

254 Adelaide St. West, Toronto ON

burgerbrats.ca

PS: just before publishing I noticed this in the NOW Magazine newspaper:

Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook Photos: Chicken Wings? Right On!

2011-12-08T22:05:00.000-05:00

So some big news yesterday was that Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg's own account was hacked and 14 of his personal photos were leaked.

Pic from HERE

What did we learn about Mark from these photos that The Social Network didn't capture? He's an average guy who takes pictures of himself looking social like just about everyone on Facebook.

So what does Lord of the Wings care about Mark and his photos? Well there is one other aspect of his life that I think is eccentric, but commendable:

He's only eating meat he kills. That's right, he's getting back to nature and slaughtering his own dinner. See that photo up above? That's a chicken. Lets go on to the next photo.

Do you see what's on the plate on the left? Chicken wings. Breaded, crispy chicken wings served with a plate of fries. Now look at what Mark is wearing: grey shirt with blue jeans. You see that? Now go on back up to the picture where he's holding the chicken. Same clothes.

He may be a nerd, but he's a nerd who kills his own chicken and makes wings out of them. Awesome.

And to show how else he rocks, here he is with his girlfriend handing out candy at Hallowe'en. Four words: FULL SIZE CHOCOLATE BARS.

And while we are chatting about Facebook, why not head over to facebook.com/lordofthewingsblog and Like it? I don't know what liking does, but it seems like it's what all the kids do these days.

Wing P0rn: Caf "Pub Style" Wings

2011-12-06T00:48:00.000-05:00

glut•tony
noun \ˈglət-nē, ˈglə-tə-nē\
plural glut•ton•ies

Definition of GLUTTONY

1: excess in eating or drinking
2: greedy or excessive indulgence

Examples of GLUTTONY

1: the view that gluttony is a serious failure in self-discipline
Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gluttony

That was me tonight at dinner in the caf. 3 plates of breaded wings that the chef's tossed in BBQ sauce. I added Frank's Red Hot and Sriracha. I indulged. I ate in excess. I failed in self-discipline (although the challenge of eating lots of spicy wings requires a form of discipline). The point is, dinner was good.

Late Night Wing Bites

2011-12-06T00:10:00.001-05:00

The other day I was sick. I rarely get sick, but I had to call in to work and tell them I wasn't coming in. I went back to bed. I thought I might get up around noon and maybe work from home, but I ended up waking up at 4:30pm. I didn't feel like going to the caf, or ordering out (and certainly not going out), so I made a bit of soup. I tried going back to bed, but since I slept so long, I wasn't ready for bed. And I was getting hungry as the soup didn't hold me over.

Having not shopped for a very long time, my stores were pretty empty, and I didn't want what I did have. In the freezer, I had a chicken breast, and then it hit me.

WK's LATE NIGHT WING BITES:

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken breast, cubed
Flour
Roasted Garlic Seasoning
Cajun Seasoning
Paprika
Cayenne pepper
Frank's hot sauce
Sriracha sauce
Vinegar
Butter

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix first 6 ingredients in a bowl. I didn't measure the amounts, just eye it to be enough to coat the chicken.
Heat skillet to hot, add oil to coat bottom.
Add chicken, turning every few minutes to ensure chicken is cooked on all sides (maybe 10 minutes)
Mix last four ingredients together (melt butter) to make hot wing sauce.
Mix chicken and sauce together. Serve and enjoy.

My original idea was a hot wing popcorn chicken, but short of deep frying, these just became fried nuggets of goodness. What really worked was the sauce. The chicken was tender, but I really wish the skin was more crispy. I was worried that if I cooked it longer the meat itself would get tough, so I compromised.

These were a tasty little treat that left me wanting more. And I don't want to start claiming miracle medicine, but the next day I was back to feeling like my fine self. I really do think eating spicy when sick is a good idea (clears out the sinuses, the stomach etc). But this would be good just as a snack or appetizer at a small gathering.

Next time, I'm going to try the popcorn chicken concept because I really do think that these need to be crispier. But how can you not enjoy bite size boneless wings?

Homemade Crispy Wings with Suicide Mix

2011-11-30T22:24:00.000-05:00

No real story hear - photos from the summer. Homemade wings, fried, and tossed in sauce.

WWWWWW #53 - I Came For the Food

2011-11-30T19:04:00.000-05:00

I Came For The Food: A Food Blog for Those Who Live to Eat

Anh Chu loves food. She's a blogger originally from Calgary (but recently moved to the UK) who reviews food like myself, anonymously and out of her own pocket. I love this quote from her: "Although we all love fine dining, let’s face it, sometimes all you need is a Baconator."

One thing brought me to her blog: Wing Off: Battle of the Chicken Wing. For a friend's birthday, they had a chicken wing recipe cook off, and they had some very interesting wings. There were:

Chicken of the Sea Wing
Taco Wing
Spring Chicken
Turbaco Wing
PBJR Wing
Spicy BBQ Cinnamon Cheeseball

Awesome, slow clap, simply awesome.

Above are the Taco Wings. "John’s Taco wing was made by baking the wings in taco spices, dipping it in egg, then rolling them in crushed corn chips." Muy bueno!

Or here are the PBJR wings. "The wings were dipped in a peanut butter and jam mixture then rolled in Rice Krispies." Outstanding.

And don't miss Anh's own Spring Chicken wings. "I marinated and baked the wings, wrapped them in seaweed, then a spring roll wrapper and deep fried them. Next time, I’d debone, add sticky rice outside of the seaweed, wrap it in spring roll wrapper, and add a sweet wasabi dipping sauce."

So check her out - and while she may not have any other wing posts . . . there are on poutine!

Wing P0rn: The Wing Company

2011-11-25T00:45:00.000-05:00

Some take-out wings from a busy and stressful day.

Got an order of delivered wings from The Wing Company (had them in 2010)

Spicy (but not suicidal heat), these are also a bit sweet. Remind me of a personal fave from Moose Winooskis.

Got a second order of Smoked Lime & Tequila (smokey BBQ infused with lime and Tequila). Funky and tasty.

Lots of moisture should totally wreck these wings, but they are still good after being delivered.

Made a bad day much much better.

WWWWWW #52 Nicki Minaj's Chicken Wing Necklace

2011-11-23T11:39:00.001-05:00

Niki Minaj's Pink Chicken Wing Necklace

I had no idea who Niki Minaj was. Looking for something on the WWW for today, I randomly searched 'chicken wing necklace' and overwhelmingly the results were Niki Minaj Pink Chicken Wing Necklace. I'm not up on music or pop culture, so I had to go to wikipedia to figure out who she was - and I still don't recognize her, but again, I'm not hip to today's music.

The point is she was wearing a chicken wing necklace, and I think that is awesome. It's pink, because that is Minaj's thing, but it looks pretty real. It retails for $100 on the onchmovement's website:

"Get it while it's hot!

PINK FRIED CHICKEN!!!
Deep fried and extra crispy, the Pink Fried Chicken Wing is bold statement for any fashionista. Each chicken wing is hand battered so no two pieces are the same. Made from 100% animal free material!
This juicy wing measures approximately 4.5" tip to tip and hangs from a 17" heavy duty gold tone link chain with an extra 5" inch adjustable sizing chain."

I thought the onch movement was some sort of charity, but they are just a fashion movement.

Pink Chicken Wing necklaces. Crazy, but kinda cool. I don't wear jewelry, but maybe my sweetheart will be getting something special for Christmas . . .*

*I will not actually be getting her this. She encourages my wing obsession, but that encouragement only goes so far.

Jack Astor's Buffalo Sauced Up Chicken Fingers ~ Toronto ON

2011-11-21T00:48:00.000-05:00

Last week I was attending a "Business Meeting" (like a mini-conference) at Humber College for one of the associations I belong to for my work. It's a great chance to meet up with my colleagues from around the province and compare war stories and discuss the future of our work. After a social was organized at Jack Astor's and I couldn't turn down the chance to eat and socialize.

Jack Astor's is a chain across Ontario (and elsewhere) that went from crazy-wacky family restaurant to more casual-chic. This was actually one of the earliest wing reviewed joints I did back in 2006. I liked the wings, but I was looking for a Buffalo-style wing more so then. You can always identify them by their sign where the 'tor' flashes on and off, as if broken, which makes the sign look like 'Jack As s'. Get it? Huh? Huh?

The location I was in on this visit had our large group sitting in a kind of plain open space. But the main part of the restaurant looks nice. The above is a screen capture of their website which has a stylized and interactive version of their restaurant. If you look at my picture below, it really is very similar (look at the chandelier).

It's not the best photo, but you get the idea.

It's also Movember, and they have this cool coaster going on. Not only that, but the mustache actually pops out of the coaster for you to use! Not only that, you'll notice that there is a number on my coaster. That's because they gave everyone a number so that they could do separate bills for us all. This is awesome because usually when you have a big group, you pay as a group, then some people don't put in enough for tax and tip, and others have to put in more, and I just hate it. So this was awesome. Not shown is the cherry Coke that went on the coaster. You heard that right, cherry Coke.

Our Humber hosts got appetizers for us all. Our table had a plate of Roasted Garlic Bruschetta ($8.97). I don't care for bruschetta, but this one looked good. I didn't try, and they didn't last very long either.

They also got us a plate of Jack's Ultimate Nachos ($13.44). This platter was emptied in minutes (we were really hungry) but it was pretty good. What really stuck out for me was the Layered melted cheese (yes, not just cheese on the top layer) and chopped up jalapeno that actually had some kick.

Most of those sitting near me had the chicken fingers. My boss Sarah went for the Shanghai Lettuce Wraps ($9.97). This was a cool dish of sliced chicken, veggies and deep fried noodles tossed in a "sweet chili-hoisin sauce" that you spoon into a lettuce leaf cup. She said it was ok, but low on chicken.

With my dinner, I added Jack's Garlic Pan Bread ($5.98 regular, $7.93 with cheese, $2.96 to add to an entree, and $4.34 with cheese added to an entree). This is a loaf of bread, covered in cheese, and soaking in melted garlic butter dip. It is soft, delicious and heavenly. There is a slight yeasty taste, but otherwise this is a dangerous indulgence.

My dinner: The Sauced Up Chicken Fingers ($12.96). "Fresh chicken tenders, marinated, seasoned and breaded in-house to order . . . tossed in your choice of Buffalo Wing Sauce (mild, medium, or hot) or zesty chili honey sauce." You can get it with fries, soup or house salad, or upgrade to sweet potato fries for $1.79.

The fries are just slightly crisp, mostly limp, but seasoned well. They were pretty greasy, but I don't mind them.

I'm a little embarrassed but I don't remember if this was a blue cheese dip or a ranch dip. It was thick and creamy and was excellent for dipping fries or chicken into. You can't really make it out, but the swizzle stick actually has a donkey on it (a Jack ASS if you will).

I really love these chicken fingers. They are fresh not frozen, then breaded and deep fried. Toss that in hot sauce and you have some awesome 'boneless wings.' They are not uniform in appearance and about 4 pieces come in an order.

I went with the hot sauce. This sauce actually has a kick. Hot is hot, and my mouth has a nice sting that attacks the tongue and lips, but also has a lot of flavour from the cayenne hot sauce and butter. It's very buttery sauce.

The chicken is crispy from the breading, but the meat (breast meat) is tender. Even after being tossed in sauce and being saucy, the chicken maintains its crispy structural integrity.

This is the only place I will pick chicken fingers over actual chicken wings. I'm sure the wings are good, but this dish is just too good. With the pan bread, this is a killer dish. Spicy, saucy, crunchy - how can you go wrong? With a cherry Coke on the side, I am super content and barely miss the bones.

Jack Astor's

25 Carlson Court (Toronto Airport Hwy27 & Dixon), Toronto ON

jackastors.com

EAST SIDE MARIOS ~ Ottawa ON

2011-11-20T23:22:00.000-05:00

Across Ontario (and beyond) is a chain of Italian-American casual restaraunts. East Side Marios. If you don't like chains, you probably don't like East Side Mario's (ESM). I, however, do like them. I always leave full, with leftovers, and satisfied.

It's not always perfect, but most times it's all good. I have two go to dishes: sausage pepper penne (in ariabata sauce) and Hell's Kitchen (spicy breaded chicken) - both are spicy and I either get a good piece of chicken, or some good sausages. And the meals come with hot loafs of bread and a tasty house salad I like. The place is kind of like Olive Garden, but IMHO spicier and more fun.

LJ went to our usual location at the St Laurent Mall in Ottawa, but it was super packed, so we went to the Gloucester location. Inside any ESM the walls are covered in fake New York City memorabilia, and no EMS is without a person-sized Statue of Liberty. We were sitting in the bar section which was full of flat screens, tall tables, and people watching some sports event.

Normally we don't sit in the bar, and I've already told you what I normally order, but this night was different. We were there for 1/2 price appetizers. Every night after 9pm (depending on the location) is 1/2 price appetizers. Different items are 1/2 price at different locations. Also, you have to sit in the bar for the deal to work.

We ordered Budda Boomers ($5.95). At this location these were not on 1/2 price. At other locations they are. Budda Boomers are deep fried pizza dough tossed in "herbs and garlic, sprinkled with Parmesan Romano." It normally comes with tomato dipping sauce, but we always ask for their garlic aioli. They are slightly crispy, light and very addictive.

We also has an order of Calamari Fritti ($9.99 regular price). These calamari rings were not like any we have had at ESM before. Normally they are tender rings in a panko-like breading that is fluffy and crispy. These were tough and rubbery and the coating was like a bad onion ring. I would swear they came from a plastic bag. This time they weren't that enjoyable.

At least there were wings in our order.

The wings come in orders of 7 wings. Considering they aren't big wings and the cost is $10.99, that's almost $2 a wing! That is a terrible deal, especially for an appetizer. But for $5, that is a better deal.

The wings are all breaded, but depending on your flavour choice, they might be dry or they might be well tossed in sauce. We ordered one plate Hot, and the other garlic Parmesan. They also come with veggies (carrots and celery) and the garParm came with Caesar dressing dip, but hot came with sour cream (oh Ottawa).

The wings were pretty small length wise, but were meaty meaty wings. The breading wasn't too thick, but the saucy nature of the Hot wings made the skin mushy. The garPar stayed crispy.

HOT

I really liked these, and normally I wouldn't. Because while there were spicy (I mean in a cayenne pepper sauce way, not heat) but they were also sweet. Like a spicy red sauce from a North American Chinese restaurant.

LJ wasn't a huge fan, she felt they were heat wise spicy, and too sweet. I had no problem finishing them off for her. I don't think everyone would like these wings, but I did.

Garlic Parmesan

This was a great concept wing. Crispy deep fried wings that are tossed in a bit of garlic infused oil, tossed in spices and Parmesan cheese.

This is a much more savoury wing with lots of things going on - texture from the crispy skin and breading, the oil and the cheese just add something different, the garlic and seasoning. If you dip this in the Caesar dressing, it's almost too much.

THE SCORE: This isn't really a wing place, but I like the wings at East Side Marios. I like the contrasting flavours of Hot and garPar really compliment each other with the sweet heat and the savoury garlic spices. I like it. They aren't very big, but they are meaty. The other sides this night were hit (Budda Boomers) and miss (calamari). But at least most of the meal was 1/2 price. I would never buy these wings at full price, but for 1/2 price, they aren't bad. 5/10

East Side Mario's

1820 Ogilvie Road, Ottawa (Gloucester) ON (and other locations)

eastsidemarios.com

THE BULL & BOAR SMOKEHOUSE GRILL ~ Belleville ON

2011-11-19T13:02:00.000-05:00

I'm still catching up from the begining of November when I was in Ottawa. Well this particular story was when I went to Ottawa and then went to Belleville for the day. For lunch I went to one BBQ joint, and then once LJ was done work, we went to another.

If you told me Belleville had one BBQ joint, I'd be surprised. But to have TWO BBQ joints in town is down right amazing in a country that is just starting to embrace this culinary technique. Well I was told about it, which was by an excellent review by the Oshawa Ogre. Although I hadn't read the review in a while, it seemed like a good spot to stop for food.

The Bull and Boar is much more like a family/causual restaurant with lots of booths and table seating. It was kind of dark inside, and for a Thursday it seemed a bit quiet. Our server was Kristopher, who was friendly and informative about any questions I had about the BBQ or the wings.

LJ didn't have lunch, so both of us were really hungry. We decided to to a big sampling feast:

We started off with the Iron Skillet Sour Dough, which is "a sour dough loaf dripping in chipotle garlic butter with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese" ($6.99) with cheese (+$0.99). We both love sour dough loafs, but the presentation of this one is quite different than I had seen before. Usually they are a whole loaf that you tear apart (and after going back to Oshawa Ogre's review, seems to have changed) but is now slices with the cheese melted over. The melted butter, cheese and soft bread just make this wonderful.

Going to a BBQ joint means I want to do a lot of sampling. We shared "The Trough" ($18.99): "Belly up; everything including the kitchen sink is here in true Southern BBQ Style. It's loaded with all you favourite including ribs, brisket, pulled pork, BBQ chicken and sausage. We're not finished yet, it also comes with beans, slaw, fries and cornbread."

What a combo!

The bun. Generic. I would like it to be more fresh.
The Sausage. Kristopher informed me it was a pork/beef mix. The skin was crispy, the meat was tasty - this was probably my favourite part of the trough.
Brisket. Sliced thin. It was a bit cold. Was better dipped in BBQ sauce.
BBQ chicken. Liked the skin where most of the taste lie. The chicken was a bit tough.
Ribs. had a bit of pull (which is good). There was a mild pork/smoke taste. Not bad, but not great.
Smokin' Bull BBQ Sauce. Darker, smokeir sauce - not that sweet. Great for dipping the que into.

7. Coleslaw. It left no impressions on me.
8. Pulled Pork: Tender, but no flavour. BBQ sauce was a must.

9. Beans. They came out in this awesome little cast iron-like pot. But the beans really turned me off. I was expecting a rich, thick, savoury bean. Instead they tasted like it was beans mixed with salsa. Maybe this is more my hang up because I expected something else, but I just didn't care for them.

Not shown are the french fries. Crispy, fluffy inside, seasoned well. Good fries.

Oh, our sampling didn't end there. We also had the Fiesta Platter ($18.99). "Stuffed Jalapenos, Pig Skins, Deep Fried Pickles, Wings and a mound of Nachos with cheese, Pico, peppers, onions, jalapenos and baked beans."

i) Deep Fried Pickles. Generic, but good.
ii) Pig Skins. Standard potato skins with pulled pork and bbq sauce. I love potato skins, and if this was warm, it would have been great.

iii) Stuffed Jalapeno. Bacon wrapped jalapenos. They were cold. But it was still good. But would have been much better hot.
iv) Baked Beans. More salsa-like beans.

v) Nachos. Slathered on high. Lots of cheese, lots of toppings. Not a fan of pico cooked right on it, but oh well. The jalapenos actually had a nice kick.

Of course, the Fiesta Platter had wings.

The Fiesta Platter clearly doesn't represent a regular order of wings. On the platter, there are 3. I asked Kristopher how they are cooked and he said smoked, then deep fried and sauced. This is the way to do BBQ'd wings.

The big dissapointment with these wings were that they were cold when they came out. They looked great though and were nice and saucy.

In length they were about a medium, but they were very meaty chickens. The skin was crispy, and the meat was tender. After biting into them I wanted more than 3.

Sauce wise I went with their Hot BBQ. This was their BBQ sauce described above mixed with a hot sauce. This was a nice blend that was going to be palatable and tasty to anyone no matter their heat level. I also got a side of suicide on the side ($0.99). This was very fresh and had a good bite. It was full of chopped peppers and very juicy. Not exactly my favourite style of suicide, but lots of flavour and had a good kick.

The SCORE: I felt the Bull and Boar was all over the place. Some things were good, others ho-hum. Nothing was terrible, but the fact that both platters were half hot, half cooled down food made the experience less enjoyable. The BBQ was decent, but little stood out - I liked the ribs and the sausage. The wings were cold, and that was sad. At the same time, they were really good. Kristopher was a good server, but I should have mentioned the temperature issues. Overall, I liked it there, and I would go back for the wings for sure. I just hope if I do, they are hotter. 6/10

The Bull & Boar Smokehouse Grill

13 Bell Blvd, Belleville ON

thebullandboar.ca

WWWWWW #51 - Mahalo Tristan Blash

2011-11-16T23:05:00.000-05:00

Mahalo: Learn Anything

This week we are looking at Mahalo, a website to, well, learn how to do stuff. More importantly, we are looking at Tristan Blash:

Tirstan is one of Mahalo's cooking experts:

"Tristan Blash is a chef and teacher at the San Diego branch of Hipcooks, a hands-on culinary school for adults. A graduate of Colorado University-Boulder, Blash has been a caterer and event planner in Scotland, New York City and Oregon. Blash left the food industry for a while to become a nutrition teacher, but she returned because she said she was "not able to keep her hands or brain off of food.""

She is also really into chicken wings. Go to the link on her name up above and you will see a ton of wing recipes that are simple to do. I started off excited, then came across some serious errors, which I will get to, but overall she is a great wing resource.

First off, she will totally teach you How to Brine Chicken Wings.

Want to bake chicken wings? Here's "How to Make the Best Baked Chicken Wings Ever"

Then I watched this video, and my Spidey-sense started tingling. "How to Make Classic Buffalo Hot Sauce for Chicken Wings." OK the sauce is pretty close - the addition of pepper and garlic powder is forgivable.

But then I saw "How to Make Restaurant Style Buffalo Chicken Wings" and I was like no. These look like well made 'Hot Wings', but Buffalo wings are NEVER tossed in flour with a load of ingredients. Deep fry right, sauce is soo close, but the chicken is never dusted or breaded.

And if you aren't using all your chicken, Tristan teaches you "How to Store Leftover Chicken Wings."

So check out Tristan's videos (there's lots). I can forgive her for the "Buffalo Wing' snafu for her simple but effective videos. While the videos are almost (almost) unintentionally funny (like how some internet cooks are sad to watch like those on infomercials who aren't quite comfortable) but she isn't so pretentious like tv chef's who ooh and ahh about their own dishes. She's down to Earth, clear and she seems to like wings. That's a good combo to me.

SMOKEHOUSE BLUES ~ Belleville ON

2011-11-13T23:21:00.000-05:00

While visiting LJ in Ottawa, she had to travel to Belleville for work. So I decided to tag along and look into some local history. First I went to the Belleville Chamber of Commerce and tourist info cabin. Then I went to the Canadian Forces Base Trenton which has the National Air Force Museum. After lunch I went to the Belleville Armory which has the Hastings & Prince Edward Regiment Military Museum. Then I went to Glanmore National Historic Site, a historic house restored from the 1800`s. It was an afternoon of history, learning and respect for those that sacrifice for our protection.

In that busy day, I went for lunch. LJ had to work through lunch, so I went to a place across the street from where she was. I immediately remembered Signature Blues from Wilfred Reinke, the Oshawa Ogre who reviewed it on his blog earlier this year. I was hungry and I could definitely go for some BBQ.

This is mostly a take-out joint that has a few tables and high-counter seating. I was surprised how quiet it was at lunch, but they were getting phone-in orders. The smell of BBQ was in the air, and I really had to take in the whole menu.

I was hungry, wanted to do some sampling, but not spend too much. They have your standard ribs and brisket, chicken etc, but unique items like potato nachos, sandwiches and their Pulled Pork Parfait were also tempting tasting grounds.

The good news was that I was going to be able to add whatever sauce I wanted on after I was served, because the tables all have extra sauce bottles for sampling!

Then I found the perfect combo for me: Combo Plate A

1 Pork Wing, 4 Chicken Wings, and 1 side for $13.99.

There were lots of tasty sides to choose from: fries (both potato and sweet potato) slaw, cornbread, etc but I thought beanse were the way to go. And boy was I right. These beans were smokey, tomato sweet, thick, mushy etc. Hands down one of the best beans I've ever had. Perfect on a slightly cool day.

Pig Wings. Brilliant idea.

What is a pig wing? Take a meaty pork shank (part of the leg), smoke or braise it, then deep fry it and toss it in sauce. Smokehouse Blues gets their Pig Wings packaged and then just deep fry for service.

I got my Pig Wing tossed in Smokey BBQ Sauce, which is a "Kansas City style traditional BBQ Sauce with a hint of Guinness Beer".

The Pig Wing was super tender and meaty. The sauce had a nice hint of smoke, and not too sweet. This was a great wing concept and well executed.

A normal order of wings is about a pound, but I was ordering Combo Plate A where there were just 4 in an order.

The wings were smoked and then tossed in sauce. The wings looked absolutely gorgeous. Nice and saucy. too

These were pretty big wings. Very meaty. They were not crispy though. This is a challenge for BBQ smoked wings. It also lead to some very tough wings. Each bite was a difficult and I had a hard time pulling the bone from the wing. This was the only downside to these wings.

HOUSE HOT

I went with the House Hot for the chicken wings. "Our House Sauce with some heat. Starts Sweet, finishes Med Hot." This was an accurate description of the sauce. It wasn't too spicy, really a medium heat like they state. Before ordering the wings my server let me sample the sauces, and when I sampled House Hot, it had a lot more flavour, but on the wings they didn't stand out.

XXX

I also squited on some XXX on after. "Our own Fiery Hot Sauce powered with Naga Jolokia peppers." Yes, this was a spicy sauce. It too started sweet, but had a strong kick from my old nemesis the Naga Jolokia. It had multiple levels of heat.

HOUSE
I squirted a little on another wing as well. "Our own sweet, tomato based North Carolina style BBQ sauce."
They said it was sweet, and yes it was. Too sweet, too sugary for my liking.

FINAL SCORE: Smokehouse Blues is a great little BBQ joint. Staff was friendly, the food was good. I was really impressed with the Pig Wings and the beans. The wings had a good flavour, but they were tough. I liked some of the sauces, and not others, but that's ok. Next time I would have the Pig Wings for sure, but I'd like to sample some other options. 4.5/9

Plus, Belleville is a nice town with a lot of history. Go check it out.

Smokehouse Blues

300 North Front Street, Belleville ON

smokehouseblues.ca

TADVALKARS ~ Ottawa ON

2011-11-13T21:20:00.000-05:00

Funny story (ok not funny ha ha, more interesting). So a couple of years ago I was living in Ottawa, and at one of the cinemas I attend, they built in the parking lot a Shoeless Joes. I like Shoeless Joes when I've been there in the past, but never went to the Ottawa location. Now in 2011 I visit Ottawa and Shoeless Joes is gone and in its place is Tadavalkars.

I don't know what happened, I don't know who Tadavalkar is or what the deal is, but I thought it was worth going in and seeing what they are all about.

Inside looks like every Shoeless Joe's I've been to: kind of a classier sports pub vibe. It was pretty quiet at lunch, and while there were some in the dining room, I was seated in the bar area with a big booth to myself. There was what looked like some business guys there for lunch, and more eventually joined at another booth and another guy at the bar with the giant tv. The music was top 40. My server was an older gentleman - the bartender, host, waiter and I'm willing to bet manager. I never caught his name but he was friendly, joking around a bit, and filling my drink as necessary.

I ordered wings, which are usually enough for me, but I saw lattice fries on the menu, and I'm a huge fan. I love lattice fries because they are crispy, but full of potato. They are also great because they hold well for dipping and for piling on (like as a nacho base). These were good - and I dipped them in ketchup, I dipped them in ranch, and I dipped them in BBQ sauce.

On the side of my wings was some ranch dressing. That's all I have to report. Ranch.

Wings come by the pound, which works out to be about 8 or so wings. They come breaded or not, and I didn't specify, so they came out non-breaded. As I said there is ranch on the side (thankfully not sour cream) but no veggies.

The wings are also listed as capon wings, which means they are castrated rooster wings. I didn't notice a difference between capon and hen wings, but they were a pretty good quality.

The wing size varied from medium to large, and medium meatiness to very meaty. The wings were a decent level of crispiness, but because they were pretty wet, they lost that crunch soon. That didn't ruin the wings, but it didn't make them better.

There were some interesting flavours, but I chose two on my order. Oh, and it turned out on Tuesdays it's 1/2 price wings, so I got a much cheaper lunch than I was expecting (should have ordered more!)

BLAZING HOT

OK so the above photo says HOT, but they are actually Blazing Hot. I felt pretty confident that this wasn't going to be very hot. I was right, but it was a decent Hot. So I guess the above photo was correct.

Either way, it was good classic cayenne based hot sauce. I could eat a ton of these.

SOUTHERN BBQ

This was a weird one. I mean it was tasty, but it looked like baby food. It was thick and oily looking.

The flavour was sweet but a bit smokey too. My server asked how it was, but volunteered that he had no idea what was in it because it changed with whoever was making it in the back. I would have it again for sure, but it sounds like I might get something different next time.

FINAL SCORE: The wings were a decent size, with good flavours. And all day 1/2 price wings is great. Shoeless Joe's may not have been able to stay in this location, but hopefully this now local place can. Plus I love their lattice fries. 6/10

Tadvalkars Lounge and Restaurant

3094 Carling Ave, Ottawa ON

tadvalkars.com

LOTW Interviewed on CKCU 93.1 FM

2011-11-13T20:20:00.001-05:00

In October I received an e-mail from Candice Su, a journalism student at Carleton U who was interested in interviewing me for a segment on "Weeks End" for CKCU 93.1 FM, about chicken wings. It was meant to be a phone interview, but I happened to be in Ottawa. So we met up, chatted for a long time about wings, and the interview was complete.

I missed the initial airing, but have listening since.You can listen to the edited version HERE on CKCU's website. Candice sent me a copy of the full interview, and to upload it to the blog, I added it to WingKingTV and made a low quality video to go along with it:

I had a lot of fun and don't feel I sounded too dorky. Actually I sounded really serious, but I was smiling a lot in real life.

Thanks Candice for the interview!

JEAN ALBERT's ~ Ottawa ON

2011-11-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

I've been to Ottawa a few times in the past couple of weeks. One night when LJ was at a work function, I decided to try out a new/old haunt. How can it be new/old? Well the place was Jean Albert's which used to be in Hallville On, but they moved to Ottawa's Chinatown since I left Ottawa. It had been a couple of years since I had been to Jean Albert's, so they were due a visit.

In early October I had gone in and finally got to sample their wings. I spent a good chunk of time talking to owner LeRoy. We talked about the move, the difficulty that comes up with know-it-all blogger/foodies (claiming his food isn't authentic, or when people says he serves certain items that are canned goods when he actually makes things from scratch) and the occasional racists that give him a hard time. It was great to chat because I don't usually get a one-on-one with an owner (although I didn't reveal my blogger status). While we talked I found out about their all-you-can-eat wing night, and said the next time I was in town I was definitely going.

Well jump back to the beginning of November and it was the next time I was in town. This time LJ was free, so we went for wing night. There was a birthday crowd in, also taking advantage of AYCE wings. (note the photos were at the end of the night when we were the last customers of the evening, not when people were there). Other than that it was quiet, but also later than the regular dinner hour.

The atmosphere is similar to their Hallville location with all the Americana: portraits of Lincoln and Obama, old Pepsi signs, giant American flag etc. But they've traded in their picnic tables for real tables, plastic plates for real plates - and they have an upstairs that can be rented out for functions that looks kinda like an old speakeasy. Its cozy and warm inside, and you are always close to either LeRoy or his wife Jennifer with the main counter right in the main dinning room.

Jennifer was our server and she is super friendly. She helped LJ choose what to have and negotiated some of my wing questions. It wasn't long before an order of their sweet water corn bread came out - which are a little thicker than they used to be, but taste really good.

LJ went with the Chicken and Waffles - three pieces of fried chicken on a waffle. She had never had this before and wasn't sure how you eat it, so I told LJ to cut up the chicken with the waffle and dip it in the syrup, or the Frank's hot sauce on the table - and she really enjoyed it. In fact she ate the whole plate (she almost always has leftovers!).

As already stated, I went with the AYCE wings. The wings come in an order of about 8-10 wings in a pound, that are dusted/breaded in their own spice mix, then deep fried. There are no sides. You can get their special sauces on the side ($1.50) or baked in after the frying process ($2.50), but things change when you are ordering AYCE.

I love Jean Albert's and I really like the owners, but one thing that always seems strange is the money and cost of things. They are upfront about charges, but they seem to charge for a lot of extras or things that one wouldn't normally. For example, the wings come standard with Frank's hot sauce. Normally on wing night you get this sauce automatically, and if you want to try one of the homemade sauces, its the $1.50-2.50 extra. On this night, Jennifer said they were including one of the homemade sauces. However that is the sauce for all the AYCE, so when I wanted to try 2 different sauces, I had to pay $1.50 more. Basically, my first two orders of wings I had "Slap Yer Mamma" which was included in the price; when I had my third order of wings, I tried the Honey BBQ and it cost $1.50 more for a small dipping container. I was really hoping to try more of the homemade sauces, but wasn't willing to pay that much more.

The wings ranged in size from medium to large, with about a medium level of meatiness. Above is one of the larger wings. The chicken is super crispy, and the meat very tender (and comes out temperature hot!). I easily ate many of the wings just plain with the tasty seasoning, but the others I removed the bones (came apart easily) and dunked the skin/meat in the sauces.

There are lots of extra sauces to choose from - most homemade.

Slap Yer Mamma

I've had this sauce before and I really like it. The pictures don't do the rich dark red sauce justice. This sauce is peppery, smokey and has a good kick. The more you eat the hotter it gets, but still has a lot of flavour. This is a great suicide sauce.

Honey BBQ

Out of all the BBQ sauces, I tried a classic honey bbq. This sauce was very sweet, but had a good depth of flavour. It worked on the wings, but I think it would be better on ribs.

I am curious how the standard hot sauce was like, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Honey Garlic Candy Coat sauce appeals to me (candy coating, it sounds soo intriguing).

FINAL SCORE: I love Jean Alberts. The service has always been friendly and the food has always been good. Some of the food can be pricey and they are cooking from scratch, so the food takes a while, but I think its worth it. Wings are crispy, flavourful and fresh. I really recommend the `Slap Yer Mamma' sauce to go with them - but I'd stick to sauce on the side and not go for baked in. And how can you beat AYCE wing nights? 8.5/10

Jean Albert's American Style Soul Food

495 Somerset Street West, Ottawa ON

Urban Spoon has a copy of their menu HERE

Return to WING WAGON

2011-11-13T13:20:00.000-05:00

Many many weeks ago, let's say one month ago it was my birthday, and on my birthday I traveled to Ottawa to be with LJ and to do some feasting. And feasting I did. The one place I was really looking forward to going was a trip down to the US for some excellent wings.

We popped down to Watertown New York - do a little shopping and of course to do a little eating. Most of the shopping I do is getting cherry flavoured beverages that I can't get back in Canada - you know, Cherry Coke, Cherry Coke Zero, Wild Cherry Pepsi, even Black Cherry Schweppes Ginger Ale!

Well it was time for supper and I wanted to go to one of my favourite wing joints, The Wing Wagon.

LJ and I tested out the Wing Wagon back in May. We were going to get take-out, but it was late, the weather was rainy and there wasn't really anywhere to eat outside. The last time we went the tables were sticky and not so clean, this time around it was much better, so we ate in. The service was friendly and before long we had a tasty supper.

LJ went for their Chicken Parmesan Hoagie ($4.29 USD). It was on a toasted roll, with the breaded chicken patty, mozzarella cheese, and marinara sauce. LJ isn't crazy about marinara sauce in general, but this was mild and not overpowering. The chicken was crispy and I had a bite and thought the sandwich was good. We both agreed that we personally don't like that much marinara sauce on the sandwich, but that others might.

We went for another order of Fried Dough ($2.49). This time it seemed like a pre-formed dough instead of one made for scratch. It was good, but not as good as last time.

I went back for wings of course. I ordered 20 wings, split in flavour. Last time they came in two giant containers, this time in two smaller containers. Either way they looked exciting.

Just to keep in reference to last time, the wings came piping hot, crispy and large, with a ton of celery and some thick blue cheese dressing.

XXX-HOT

I ordered two flavours of wings - the first - I wanted to up the heat ante. From X-Hot to XXX-Hot. Visually they looked meaner - darker red, chili flakes. The smell itself had a bite.

The heat was good. My nose was definetely running, but the burn wasn't scorching my tongue. This is what a good suicide should be - a sharp sting, but still a lot of flavour.

HONEY MUSTARD

Honey mustard is definitely a flavour that is growing in the wing world. It's unique, sweet but has a different heat style than a traditional wing. And Wing Wagon has a quality version.

It's thick, sticky/gooey and really good. LJ had never had honey mustard wings before, and I think she got hooked on them. I don't think I've had bad honey mustard wings, but these are certainly one of the best.

I ate wings until I was in a chicken coma. Every bite was so good, and I never wanted it to end. Awesome birthday feasting!

Thanks LJ!

5 Guys Burgers ~ Kanata ON

2011-10-09T01:34:00.000-04:00

Day 2 of my Birthday Gluttony Weekend.

Friday, 1pm.

Kanata Ontario

Since I am back in the Ottawa region relatively frequently, I try and keep an eye on the food scene. I had heard about the coming of the American chain Five Guys during the summer, and, well its open. Not in Ottawa, but just outside in Kanata (there are more coming to Ottawa soon though).

I walked in and was amazed at the machine that is 5 Guys. First, long line-up, but it moved quickly (I overheard a cashier say it was out the door at noon). Realistically, there are only a few things on the menu, and there is a rapid assembly line with lots of staff all hustling.

I ordered a Bacon Cheeseburger, with a regular Cajun style fry and a drink. I was a little shocked when there were no combos (I've just gotten so used to this at fast food) and my total came to $14.99.

You are given a number while you wait. And while you wait, help yourself to some peanuts. That's right, peanuts for free. And don't forget that the fries are cooked in peanut oil too. And free refills on Coke (self service fountain machine).

Here is my order of fries. This is the smallest size fry they have. Lets come back to that though. You can get them regular or Cajun style. I went with Cajun which meant a ton of seasoning. This was good for the first few fries, but became overwhelming salty after a couple. They did have ketchup, as well as malt vinegar for dipping.

So going back to the fries, the above being the smallest size, but realistically that is a big cup of fries. And that wasn't it.

Here is the bag with all the other fries that were on top of the burger and fry cup. Very generous portion.

Onto the burger. This is a tall one. Apparently a regular hamburger is a double patty. I should have just gone with the Little burger.

Here's the burger breakdown. One correction is the pickles are above the tomato and there is onion in there too. What isn't there is bacon. I got more than halfway through and realized there was no bacon. I thought I must not have ordered it. But when I was done I looked at my bill and I had indeed ordered bacon. Oh well.

The good: simple tasty burger. Meat has nice meaty flavour. Cheese is processed but its good that way. Lots of toppings to choose from and you can have it your way.

The bad: low structural integrity. This burger fell apart easily. It was sloppy. Pilled high but flip flops on itself.

So would I go back? Yes. Here's what I would do differently: Little Bacon Cheeseburger, regular fries, more peanuts. Maybe even trying their hot dog. It was nice to have a change in the chain burger world. But they are not going to topple the competition after the novelty wears off.

Five Guys Burgers

5517 Hazeldean Road, Kanata ON

fiveguys.com

2011 Thanksgiving Turkey Wings

2011-10-09T00:33:00.000-04:00

This Thanksgiving I'm on my own, away from family and friends, doing work and chilling out. And that`s OK because I`m not a huge lover of turkey etc anymore. But around lunch time I thought about doing something wing related, and something T-Day related. I thought, why not make turkey wings?

So I marched down to St Lawrence Market (which was easy because it was simply beautiful out) and toured the stands for turkey wings. Witteveens (witteveens.com) was one of the few stands that did (there were lots of turkeys for sale everywhere though!). I asked for one turkey wing, and the young guy at the counter looked at me like "seriously?". I confirmed just one. One turkey wing was just under a pound. Crazy.

That is a monster wing. Seriously, look how big it is. That's a big wing.

Here's what I did with the turkey wing:

Put the wing in a brine: vinegar, water, pepper, spice mix. - it was in for about an hour.
After drying the wings, I rubbed them down with garlic powder, pepper, salt, Hungarian Paprika, and a small vial of spice I made for some unknown rub.
Bake the wings at about 400. 20 minutes, then flip and bake for another 20 minutes.

After that, I basted the wings in a hot/bbq sauce mix I made, flipping 2 or 3 times every 5 minutes.

With my wings I needed to have something. A vegetables. I walked around the market, looking at all the vegetables. I don't like a lot of vegetables. I was like "I know I won't eat this or that." Then I saw this green cauliflower. I thought, that looks funky, and maybe I can do something with this.

Here's what I did with the cauliflower:

Chopped up into florettes, boil for about 5-10 minutes, then drained them.
Dusted with flour, seasoned with Cajun seasoning and Hungarian Paprika.
Toss.

While the Turkey was in the oven at 400 degrees, I popped these in for about 20 minutes. I love the colours!

To go with the cauliflower I whipped up a quick dip: a little sour cream, cream cheese, mayo and dill popcorn seasoning.

While at the market I walked by the cheese mongers and saw "Red Hot Chili Cheddar Cheese" and "Smoked Gouda with Pepper." I kind of feel bad about how much I spent on these cheeses, because I feel that's decadently expensive. But I'm weak.

I also went over to a chain grocery store and picked up some stuffing. Yes, Stove Top. No matter how 'good' you say homemade stuffing is good, I've yet to try one that I would take over Stove Top. I'm a foodie, but not a gourmand foodie.

Oh, and they had Egg Nog. In early October. Egg Nog. Normally I hate X-mas stuff that is out this time of year, but for Egg Nog, I will make an exception.

And then I brought it all together for a nice little Thanksgiving for one.

I just had the wingette of the turkey wing. It turned out really well. Visually anyway.

Actually taste too. The skin was nice and crispy. I could have just eaten the skin.

The meat was relatively tender - more than I expected but less than I would prefer. The brine helped for sure.

The best part was dipping the turkey. It was simple, margarine, vinegar, sriracha, BBQ sauce, Worcestershire sauce. Sweet with a little heat.

The cauliflower was actually good. I mean, for someone who hates veggies, this was something I would have in the future. The dip also made an excellent accompaniment. Creamy and dilly. I want to make this dish again, and I might consider frying them to make it crispier.

The cheese was good. The Gouda was smokey. The cheddar spicy. And no, I didn't eat that entire mound.

And the stuffing was good too. I went with "Cornbread" because I had never seen that variety. And it had a hint of cornbread flavour, but not so much that it overpowered the stuffing taste. I made it a little too moist, but it was good. I love stuffing.

Overall, very good meal, complete with leftovers. I am both stuffed and satisfied.

I am thankful for family
I am thankful for friends
I am thankful for my job and my coworkers
I am thankful for my health
I am thankful for chicken wings
I am thankful for the wing nation and for those of you that read the blog.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

TARA INN ~ Toronto (Scarborough) ON

2011-10-08T20:20:00.000-04:00

First stop on my Birthday Feast for 2011 was the Tara Inn. I have heard about this place and its good wings for a long time, however it being out in Scarborough, I have never been able to get out there to try. But since I was headed to Ottawa and had a car, I decided now was the time.

There are actually two Tara Inn's: I don't know which came first or how different they are. The one I went to is on Kingston road, dead centre of a strip mall. It has its own patio, but it was too rainy on this Thursday for anyone to enjoy. I went inside and was surprised at how empty it was. The restaurant was split with the main bar on a lower level to the right, and the 'dining' area to the left.

I tried to make eye contact with the waitress/bartender Melanie, but she was tending bar where all the other patrons were sitting. I went to the left for some solitude and to be able to review. I sat in the big front window. I waited for a few minutes, concerned that I wasn't seen, but eventually she did make her way over.

Before long I had a beverage, and then shortly I had my post-wing clean up. Wing bowl, napkins, moist towelettes, and something I have never seen a wing place do, but all should, a tooth pick! How many times have I had a little piece of chicken stuck in the teeth and wished I had a toothpick. Now I just needed my wings.

The wings come in an interesting ordering pattern. You can order wings either by the number (5, 10, 20) or by pound. I don't know why, but there it is.

Above is a glorious order of 10 wings that they split into two sauce orders ( a lot of places won`t split). The wings were nice and wet, with more of the sauce prevalent on the BBQ than the Hot.

On the side were celery sticks and some ranch to dip. Crunchy celery. Bottled ranch.

The size of these wings were impressive. These were jumbo wings. I mean long, big wings. Sometimes when a place has jumbo wings the chicken is mutant and rubbery and not good. Not here my good friends, this was a well cooked wing. And crispy skin. Deep fried to perfection.

HOT

I went with hot as a good base sauce. The hot was traditional cayenne based hot sauce. The sauce absorbed into the skin but the wings did not get soggy.

The taste was bang on for a good hot wing. Nothing crazy - just good. Hot was not, sadly.

HICKORY BBQ

Contrary to what I wrote in the above picture, this was a Hickory BBQ. And boy did it have a hickory smoked flavour.

Dark, smokey with a hint of sweet. This was a good BBQ sauce.

SUICIDE

Killer stuff? Not so much. But it did have a nice kick. It was a different sauce from the regular 'hot' - more vinegary, but much more peppery. The taste was ok - but I wasn't too keen to do extra dipping.

THE SCORE: I had heard the hype about the wings, and I was not disappointed. Jumbo crispy wings in tasty sauces. Hot was good. BBQ was good. Suicide, spicy but not great. And there were quite a few flavours to boot. If you want near perfect wings, Tara Inn is the place to go. A great way to start off my gluttonous weekend. 8.5/10

The Tara Inn: Irish Pub & Restaurant
2365 Kingston Road, Toronto (Scarborough) ON

Rectory Cafe, Ward's Island ~ Toronto ON

2011-10-08T12:36:00.000-04:00

A few weeks back my office had a retreat over to Ward Island, part of the Toronto Islands. After a busy and stressful month, it was good for us to get out, reconnect and relax a little. There were 5 of us (Sarah, Naeem, Kate, Kelci) with Kat unfortunately not attending due to sickness.

The short ferry ride from the mainland over is fun and relaxing journey, especially with the initially gorgeous weather we had (sunshine turned to rain by the afternoon).

Ward's Island isn't actually a separate island, but an extension of Centre Island. Most of it seemed to be residential with a few parks and beach. Very peaceful. Well, except for the constant take-off and arrival of aircraft from the Billy Bishop Airport.

We went for lunch at The Rectory Cafe. Go HERE to read about how this is one of the few original homes that survived a purge in the 60's.

We sat on the back patio, which felt like an enchanted garden. We were the first one's on the patio, and we thoroughly enjoyed the lush green and fresh air. The seating is extensive (clearly they know people are coming to enjoy the outdoors).

We started off with a few appetizers. We had the Char Grilled Calamari ($7 for one, $13 for share) "marinated in a fifteen spice rub and served with a scallion thyme aioli and lemon olive oil." Calamari is a difficult dish to execute in my opinion because it can become very tough. Fortunately this squid was very tender. The many layers of flavours came out, from the 15 spices to the rich aioli as well as the nice grill accent.

We also had the Sun Blushed Tomato Hummus ($10). "Accompanied by Kalamata olives and roasted flatbread." I'm not crazy about hummus (I like it, just not crazy about it) but this was very good. I love the addition of the sun dried tomatoes. The dish was an experience onto itself.

Then on to the main courses. Kelci went with the Tofu Tikha Panini ($12): "Stewed with Indian spices, tomato and almonds then topped with a cucumber mint yogurt." I've never seen this before, but it looked tasty. And Kelci said it was.

Kate, our office vegetarian, made our waiter choose for her between the Tofu paninni and the Moroccan Chickpeas. He said both were good, but that the Chickpease were more filling. So she went with the Chickpeas ($16). "Done with wilted spinach, red onions and Yukon potatoes with smoked paprika and mango salsa." Kate said it was really good and it was quite filling (it's hard to see that the portion is quite large).

Sarah, Naeem and I all went for the same thing: The Ontario Chipotle Bison Burger ($14). "Smoked mozzarella, lettuce and tomato with zucchini relish on a ciabatta bun with garlic aioli." It was a tough choice, with both the Philly Cheese Steak Panini and the Pulled Pork Panini as options, but I love Bison burger and how often do you see it on the menu? On the side was a simple salad with oil and balsamic dressing.

This was a beautiful craft burger (as opposed to your regular burger burger). I mean it kind of looks like a piece of art with the colours and the deliciousness.

Above is the breakdown of the burger. Things to note: The bun was soft and chewy. The aioli was light in application but still present. The mozzarella had a wonderful smokey flavour that really accented the bison. Bison is a super lean meat, but has a nice earthy-meaty flavour. It was just shy of being dry, but it was good. The chipotle was mild but added for a great spice mixture to the meat.

I asked our waiter where the Bison actually came from, and he said Ontario. I'm still curious where in Ontario.

Then we had dessert. Clockwise starting in the top right was my New York Style Cheesecake ($7) -awesome by the way. Sarah went with the Callebaut Semi-Sweet Brownie ($7). Kelci had the Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Torte ($7) and finally Kate and Naeem had the Toffee Blondie ($7). All were heaven.

There was also an extensive list of unique and exotic teas. I don't drink warm beverages so I didn't have any, but my crew did, and they seemed to enjoy their selections.

The Rectory Cafe served a delicious meal in a very relaxing setting. The service was friendly but not intrusive, and the company was great. It was just what we needed. Afterwards we played on some crazy geodisic/spider web climbing equipment, walked along the beach, and toured through the cottagey lanes of the island. It was a great day, what else can I say?

Oh, yes there is: thank you Sarah (awesome boss)!

The Rectory Cafe

102 Lakeshore Ave, Ward's Island, Toronto ON

therectorycafe.com

Longos BBQ Wings

2011-10-08T11:12:00.000-04:00

Do you ever do something once, and then regret it? But for some explainable reason, you do it again and again. And each time you do you know you shouldn't but you do it anyway? Like a bad relationship, or alcohol.

I do, and it involves wings that are in-house at grocery stores.

Here's the thing, many grocery stores serve chicken wings as quick and easy to go meals. And they are often not very good. Often breaded, they either are put in the containers hot where they steam themselves until they are fall off the bone, but are mush messes OR they are semi-cooked at the plant, frozen or sent very cold and sit in the container in a gloppy mess. And because of my wing sickness I have to try wings where ever I am.

So I was at Longos, a nice grocery store chain, where my location is waaaay too small, and waaay too expensive for my likings. I don't even know why I was in there, but I was, and I saw wings for $6.99 and my love of wings and cheapness said, that looks like a good deal. So I got it.

The instructions read:

"Keep Refrigerated until ready to consume. Pre-heat oven to 425F. Remove from packaging. Bake on cookie shet for 10-15 minutes. For microwave, remove lid and heat on high power for 2-5 minutes"

Um, microwave? No. Please don't.

Above are the wings straight from the, uh, shelf. They were very very cold, seemingly just from frozen. Very saucy though.

I put the oven to 450 degrees and placed them in a circular pattern on a pizza pan, on parchment. The wings won't stick to parchment.

Here are the wings before putting them in the oven, and the wings after 15 minutes. I then flipped the wings so that both sides got somewhat crispy.

Because they come pre-sauced, they were much harder to get crispy. I kept a keen eye on them because I did not want all the sauce to caramelize, then burn at such high heat.

The wings were tiny. Tender, slightly meaty, but small.

How did they taste? Well, not great. They were a very sweet BBQ (and I use the term BBQ only because they did), kind of sickly sweet. An off ketchupy taste, very artificial.

So, what did I do? I added my own sauce. Hot. Very hot. Drowned out the other sauce. This made them better.

So Longo's, I gotta say, tres disappointing. Tiny, terrible tasting wings. What you think of as BBQ is really sad. And the chicken going from factory to the shelves just doesn't seem respectful of the chicken medium. Please let your chickens grow so that you can serve decent sized wings.

If you were really craving wings, and you were willing to really doctor these up, these would be ok. I guess. For $6.99 it wasn't bad, but this is a product that really needs to shape up.

Longos.com

Randy's Review of Hot Pot Wings from Chengdu China

2011-10-06T00:34:00.002-04:00

Dude is still over in China, eating it up. Literally. Ha! My birthday falls on the same day as National Day in China. So here is how he celebrated both events, with Vicky and Shirley, in his own words:

"This year I thought I would give Lord of the Wings a belated birthday wing review. I traveled to Chengdu, Sichuan Province here in China. It was their National Day and let me tell you…so many people!!

Two things stuck out for me on this trip. The pandas and the food. Sichuan is famous for their spicy food. We hit up this famous hotpot place and they of course served wings.

Us getting ready for the world famous Sichuan hotpot @ Shu Jiu Xiang
!

This is their famous hotpot. One of the best meals I’ve had in China thus far. I mean really really good!

This is us cooking. So much fun! Now its time for the wings….

It doesn’t look too tasty here, but they were pretty good. And hot.

My Zoolander impression getting ready for the wings.

Sichuan hotpot is really hard to explain. I mean yes its super crazy spicy but not in the normal sense. It’s a burn that just overwhelms you with deliciousness. I really can’t handle the heat. I mean I usually can manage Hot, but the not traditional Suicide sauces. But this was so tasty that the spice took a back burner (excuse the pun).

This is us processing the heat, each of us had our own techniques:

Vicky with the classic drinking to cool down her taste buds.

I went for the “zoned out” approach. Trying mind over matter. I may look calm…but my mind is saying…”This tastes like the surface of the sun”.

Shirley went for the traditional eating bread to neutralize the heat. Well played Shirley, well played.

The girls out front of the restaurant after our meal.

All in all, a fantastic meal. But the wings were really small. But it was a nice change from the wings I usually have in Xi’an. In Xi’an they seem to have the same flavour at every place.

Of course we had to get rid of the burning in our mouths…and what better way than………Chicken Wing ice cream???

Ok, no this is just chocolate…but it helped the burning!

Happy National Day! AND Happy Birthday Wing King!"

Thanks Dude - looks like a fun and tasty time!

Birthday Feasting

2011-10-05T21:40:00.001-04:00

Last weekend was my birthday and let me tell you it was a glutton food fest.

Meal after meal after meal.

It was soo good.

And I'm going to tell you all about it soon. But not yet. Because work has been keeping me busy. But I'm super stoked about re-living through the blog.

Sorry for being behind yet again.

Wing Long and Prosper

Lord of the Wings.

WWWWWW #50 - Merrick Petcare

2011-09-28T09:26:00.001-04:00

Merrick Petcare: "Comfort for the Soul!"

WWWWWW# 50 and today we are talking about wings and pet food. Yes you heard that right. Merrick makes pet food. But not just any pet food. We are talking 'gourmet'. I think this is a bit crazy, but I mean, they have dog food chicken wings.

From their website:

"Our mission statement is “Comfort for the Soul,” and we do that by offering you simple, nutritious and healthy products. You want to be a good pet guardian and our products give you comfort to know that you are giving your pet a healthy meal and treat. We feel the same way because we are pet guardians just like you. In fact, we don’t have just dogs and cats, we currently have llamas, ducks, chickens, emus, zonkeys (that’s right a cross between a donkey and a zebra), goats, koi and longhorns. When my father started our treat company, he put the following scripture from the Bible on our boxes, and we still display this Proverb today; “A good man is concerned for the welfare of his animals.” I don’t know many people who could argue with that, and we feel the same way. Knowing we are committed to this verse is “Comfort for the Soul”.

Wingaling

"Once upon a time there was a magical place called Wingaling and it had the best tasting chicken in the world. Nutty brown rice simmered in savory gravy that naturally marinates these delicious chicken wings on the bone to add flavor. The Merrick's would like to welcome your dog into this wonderland of flavor that is chicken paradise.

A NOTE FROM THE CHEF: please read before feeding. Our slow cooked whole chicken wings offer marinated tender chicken cooked on a softened bone. THIS SPECIAL COOKING PROCESS MAKES THE BONE MUSHY AND SAFE FOR YOUR DOG TO ENJOY. Feel free to serve whole or to break apart the chicken and soft bones for ease of pet consumption."

They also have it in a smaller serving. Cute.

Wild Buffalo Grill

"It's winter in the Rockies at a quiet cabin with the one you love, a good book and a warm fire. The taste of the west is on the menu tonight. Buffalo and a host of tasty vittles are warming on the stove. The Merrick family is happy to share this original taste with your canine friend. The Merricks say Howdy and thanks. Wild Buffalo Grill is prepared with Buffalo, Cracked Pearled Barley, Zucchini, Carrots, Snow Peas, & Fuji Apples."

This I misread. I was thinking Buffalo wings, not actual Buffalo.

Don't forget Turducken.

Or Burger Pie & Sweety Fries.

Or what dog doesn't love sports? So Gameday Tailgate naturally is the meal for them.

So how about you - would you serve your pet gourmet chicken wing food?

This Pizza Hut Wingnormous Commercial Bothers Me

2011-09-21T22:44:00.000-04:00

I got an add in my inbox from Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut changed over to Wing Street not long ago, and I thought they weren't bad. The pizza isn't as good as it used to be in my opinion though. But decent new wings. And I don't mind advertisement, especially about wings. But I got the one below and it bothered me.

Can you guess what is wrong?

The $25 Wingnormous deal is the same as their other Panormous combo - same amount of everything just re-branded.
10 wings should never be referred to as anything 'normous'.
You can not have a Wing Eating competition with 10 wings. Unless its to see the minimum number of wings eaten by a person in 5 minutes.
"It's a guy thing" - what is? A wing eating competition? Is Pizza Hut aware of Sonya Thomas, the 'Black Widow' who ate 183 wings in 12 minutes? (that is a wing eating competition).
There are 4 cans of pop, which suggests this combo is for 4 people. Sure there is a lot of pizza for 4 people, but 10 wings divided by 4 is 2.5. 2.5. How do you share wings like that? How is 2.5 a reasonable amount of wings.

That's my rant. I know I'm ridiculous, but wings are my business. I understand what they are doing, trying to make it all 'bro' friendly and hip and macho, but they aren't hitting the mark in my opinion. Grrrrrr.

Anything make you irrationally annoyed?

Does this advert bother you?

WWWWWW #49 - Ice Cream Club

2011-09-21T11:21:00.000-04:00

Ice Cream Club

How would you like to to join a club that is all about ice cream? Well if you live in NYC, you can. The Ice Cream Club. What are they really about? Well straight from their website info: "Ice Cream Club is a group in NYC that does a buncha things with ice cream. Take ice cream classes, subscribe to our ice cream CSA, or just show up to swap pints. We meet on the second Sunday of the month." Sounds tasty in my opinion. So what is the deal with them on LOTW? Ya, they did it. They did it. They made Buffalo Wing Ice Cream.

I have to include the whole post because, well I just do:

"Buffalo Wing: I am only telling you how to make this so you never ever ever do it. Cream about 1/3 cup sugar with 1/3 cup butter. Add enough Frank’s Hot Sauce until it tastes like buffalo sauce. Combine with 1c cream, 1c milk. Add bits of blue cheese when it’s almost done in the machine.

I mean, it does taste like buffalo wings, but there’s a time and a place for that flavor, and I’m not sure it’s in ice cream. I am not tough enough to mix in the celery I bought."

I like all things wings, but this might be the one thing I would really have to be in an experimental mood for . . . but awesome that it was tried.

Ruffles Buffalo Wing Chips

2011-09-20T00:04:00.000-04:00

One thing that is great about potato chips is the endless possibilities of flavours. And I love that the chip companies have been jumping on the wing wagon.

Ruffles have been making Hot Wing chips for a while. And to admit to some unprofessionalism on my part, this was a review from 2010 that I found recently. Actually my good friend Julianna was the first to tell me about these.

First off, I'm glad they called them Hot Wing. Buffalo wings are very specific in smell and taste. But Hot Wings . . . a hot wing sauce is just hot and tasty.

I have to say I prefer a ridged chip, and in my opinion Ruffles chips are crunchy and flavourful.

Those wings on the package look not too bad.

That's ah, that some ingredient list. At least hot sauce is in there. Before salt even.

This was a regular sized bag. As usual, half full of air.

Some things about the chips to point out. First you can notice the size. That's a big chip. Good ridges, however you can see the browning and/or burning. For 'specially selected potatoes' I wonder what their selection process is.

Let's look close up. Reeeallly close. Lots of flavour powder on that chip. Its the kind that helps tingle the lips and tongue. There was a little bit of a burn, but nothing crazy. The flavour is a mix of all dressed, salt and vinegar and bbq. Did it really taste like hot wing? Not in a blind tasting. But I think this is a tasty chip with a minor kick.

In the States I've seen "Molten Hot Wing" chips, and the next time I go, I'm gonna buy some and see how they compare. For now, these are a decent 'wing' chip.

Crispy Baked Wings?

2011-09-19T23:37:00.000-04:00

As you know, I love wings. I like lots of different styles and sauces. I respect different methods of preparation for wings from smoking to stir fry, to deep frying and grilling. But one method I regularly scorned was baking wings. I hated baked wings because they were never crispy. Crispy wings are very important. When people wrote Buffalo wing recipes and listed baking them, I would lose my @#$. Partly because a Buffalo wing has very specific criteria, but mainly because baking doesn't make for crispy skin.

Or so I thought.

But I've come to realize that under the right conditions, you can have a very-close-to-deep-fried crispy baked wing.

First thing - get some fresh wings. Do not get frozen. Go to your butcher, go to your poultry dealer, go to where ever you can and get fresh, not frozen wings.

Next step, toss them in some flour. Maybe some flour and spices. Maybe even corn starch. Some say baking powder. Do it.

Then take those wings (knocking off excess powder) and put them on parchment paper. Parchment paper is key here. In the past I used tin foil and the chicken sticks and never cooked right. Parchment paper is magic, magic I say. And I know there are some out there who are like, what about wax paper? No. Parchment. Wax and parchment are not the same. Parchment will not burn in the oven, the chicken will not stick to it, and it will help in the crisping process.

Then put it in the fridge. At least 30 minutes. I do it for an hour. Or more. Then when your ready, pre-heat the oven for 450 or higher. Hot.

See those wings in the oven? Baking (middle shelf). High heat, fresh, dusted, parchment. This is the way.

Here is the wings after being flipped after say 15-20 minutes. Ya, baking takes a long time. But you can see how the skin is browning. The photo makes the wings a little pink, but they didn't look that pink. Weird. Keep baking for another 15-20 minutes or until they are crispy.

Here's a finished drummette. I took a bite. You can see the layers of crispy skin. Yes, that chicken is baked.

While the wings were baking I made up some Buffalo-style sauce. For some reason I put it in the bowl first. It's sitting on the burner that gets hot when the oven is on (but the burner is off). I don't like my sauce cold, but the Frank's sits in the fridge. Heat it up.

Then toss it up. Mix mix mix. Flip flip flip. Sauce sauce sauce. Until completely coated.

And there, baked Hot wings. Can you tell that they weren't deep fried? No, no you can't.

Look - each one of those wings looks nearly perfect. And they were crispy, and tasty and pretty darn good. I still prefer deep fried, but this is as close as you are going to get.

So remember:

Fresh chicken
Dust in flour/corn starch/baking soda (one or all)
Place on parchment paper
Air chill in fridge for minimum 30 minutes.
Cook in oven at 450 degrees. Flip once after 15-20 minutes. Cook for another 15-20 minutes. Or until skin is crisp.
Toss in sauce, enjoy.

First Wings in the Caf

2011-09-19T22:39:00.000-04:00

What's for dinner?

Well tonight in the dining hall at work it was the first wings of the year (the work year here starting in September).

Tonight they were serving them up honey garlic and bbq, with hot & more honey garlic on the side. I asked for the wings sauceless. The wings tonight had a heavy flour dusting. They were deep fried, and because they are serving hundreds of pounds, weren't straight from the fryer. They weren't the crispest at this point, but still good fried chicken.

On my wing journey were four lovely ladies. Mel, Lisa, Kat and Claire. Claire refrained from wings this night, but she normally loves them. As you can tell, the rest enjoyed their meals.

I took the dry wings and poured a bowl of some Frank's sauce. I added some Sriracha, some Tobasco and some vinegar. I took the dry wings in a bowl, poured the sauce mix over, then put another bowl on top and shook.

On the left, the wings sauced (poured over). On the right, 15 seconds of tossing.

The final product was a super saucy wing. The meat just fell away from the bones, so I basically dissected each wing, and could dip the meat into the sauce bone free.

I started off with a double order of wings (over 10 wings). I was still hungry so I went up for more. I just grabbed a plated wings of BBQ, and then did the whole sauce thing again. Tasty.

The wings were good. They weren't the best I've had in the caf, but they were good. I was very satisfied at the end of the night.

Here is our collective bone basket. May all those chickens rest in piece.

Old and New posts

2011-09-17T23:22:00.000-04:00

I mentioned recently that I've been catching up on posts due to being busy for the past month. But I've actually been much more neglectful than I thought.

I try to keep my Lord of the Wings files in order. I have a complex system of folders and catagories and such. Arranged by type of wing and by year etc etc etc. But since moving back to Toronto I haven't been on top of things they way I used to be. So not only did I have unattended files for the past month, I also had more from the summer, and even one from a couple of years ago. Wow.

So for the next couple of, I don't know, I want to say days but lets say weeks, I'm going to try to bring things up to speed. Most of these posts are recipes, sauce reviews, chip reviews etc. I don't know what happened, but lets try and make things right.

Teena in Toronto has some wings!

2011-09-17T22:19:00.000-04:00

Fellow blogger and frequenter to my own blog, Teena of Teena in Toronto has been having wings recently, and I'd thought I'd let you all see:

Here are some wings from Muddy Waters Smokehouse in Winnipeg! She says they weren't great, but they look tasty to me.

Here's an order of wings from the Local. She said they were good. I thought so too when I went in 2007.

Have you had wings recently? Send in your pics!

Wing P0rn: Wild Wings

2011-09-15T22:41:00.000-04:00

I'm enjoying my new Wing P0rn series (I hope you are too). Its nice to not do a review every time I have wings or when I go back to try other flavours.

This is also from some lost photos from earlier in the summer - a late night tuesday night special at Wild Wings (.5bls added to a 1lb order). These are Hot Dill Pickle (Come Get Some - a creamy dill, with hot mixed in).

Creamy, dilly, with just a hint of heat. Crispy but meaty wings.

MMmmmmm.

WWWWWW #48 - gchang on picplz

2011-09-14T10:47:00.000-04:00

gchang @ picplz

All I know is that gchang has this picture online. It's two giant chicken wings on skewers that look really good. Dang!

That is all.

THE FOXES DEN ~ Toronto ON

2011-09-13T23:22:00.000-04:00

What's better than spending a beautiful day on a patio eating wings?

Nothing right?

Then something was wrong with a lot of other people.

The Foxes Den is a quaint little pub up on Bay street across from St Michael's College at UofT. On the East side of the street its all concrete jungle . . . except for the oasis that is the Den. You can see in the photo above the very private patio that is covered by ivy and other plant. When I went to sit on the patio, I was flabbergasted that no one was out there. I went inside to let the waitress know I was out there, and no one was inside either.

Oh well, I was happy to have the space to myself and some tiny birds looking for a hand out. I chatted with my waitress Beth about how quiet the patio was, and she said she was expecting a big rush, but the first customer didn't come until 12:30! And I was there not long after that. Beth was very sweet and friendly and before long I had a drink, and then some wings.

The wings looked good, but there was something about that little metal bowl that made me feel something special for this lunch.

There are four flavours at the Den. Old school. The heats and honey garlic.

On the side you have veggies and blue cheese dip. This was a seriously good blue cheese dip. Maybe I was just in the right mood, but I gobbled up the veggies and even dipped my wings after (I rarely dip my wings). I also like that it was in a washable bowl instead of a disposable container.

The wings come by the pound, and at the Den (I don't know if anyone actually calls them "The Den" but I think this is something that could catch on) a pound is about 9 wings. I always find it funny how apparently there is no standardization in the poultry world what a pound is.

These were not a jumbo wing. These were not a big wing. They were a small to medium sized wings. They were meaty, and they were crispy due to the dusting on the skin.

I went with the 'Hot' wings. They weren't hot. No bite. But good. The sauce tasted like a straight bottled sauce, no in house additions. The wings were also 'wet absorbed', as in they were well coated in sauce, but it was not wet to the touch, but absorbed into the skin. But the wings stayed crispy, so that's good.

FINAL SCORE: Wings were good, standard wings. A little crispy, a little little. Decent sauce, nice crispy skin with dusting. Great service. Loved the patio outside and can't understand why no one else was out there, but my win. There is some question as to whether wing night still exists, so the SCORE is about 6/10.

The Foxes Den

1075 Bay Street, Toronto ON

foxesdenbar.com

MR GREEN JEANS ~ Toronto ON

2011-09-11T22:37:00.000-04:00

At the end of summer I was involved in a two week intensive training for our new and returning employees. To celebrate the end of training, we went out for a staff supper. My boss was looking for someplace that would accommodate our very large group while not being too expensive (normally we cater in house, but this year the dining staff had their own training going on). The decision was made: Mr Green Jeans at the Eaton Centre.

Aside from the name of a TV show character, I don't know what the history or reasoning for the name of this place. I just know as long as I've been going to the Eaton Centre, it was there. In fact, when I turned 19 I purchased my first alcoholic beverage there (I may or may not have had the wings). In recent years they have renovated and the place has a splashier outside.

Inside . . . inside looked like the last time I was there 4 or 5 years ago. The inside is bright due to a two story window wall. The revamp that has gone on for the outside and the menu seems to indicate a direction to go from family restaurant in the urban mall to a big-box-like chain but not a chain, restaurant.

I didn't catch the name of our waitress, but considering our large group, she did great with our orders and bringing refills on drinks (she did have some helper staff as well). She also brought out spinach dips for all the tables, served with bread and tortilla chips. It was a good dip and devoured quickly by the ravenous crowd.

Co-workers nearby got a range of dishes. On one side Naeem got the Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken ($20). On my other side Nishant got the classic Fish and Chips ($15). Both enjoyed their meals. Me? Well, I went for wings of course.

When I was at Mr Green Jeans in the past, I had the wings, and were not very impressed. But its been a while, so I decided to give them another shot.

It was a big platter, but then for $12 and 7 wings, it better be.

The wings came with a side of veggies, 'Buffalo Chips', and dip. The dip was good, but I couldn't figure out what was in it. It was green and unique. I asked the waitress, and she said in an obvious manner that it was blue cheese. Oh. But its green? Green Blue Cheese at Mr Green Jeans I guess! As for 'Buffalo Chips' these are basically in house made potato chips. Plain, and several overcooked, but most tasted good with the dip.

I gotta say, these were big wings. Jumbo. Good length, super meaty . . . but still very tender. Sometimes jumbo wings can be tough, but these were nice and soft. On the other hand, despite being floured, these were not crispy wings. Skin and dusting were soggy by the time I got my wings.

HOT

I went with an order of wings Hot. This was a misnomer. There was no mild on the menu, just Medium and Hot. So really these were a Medium and I can only imagine that the Medium is Mild.

Hot, or 'hot' was still a good sauce. A little salty, a little sweet, a little cayenne peppery. The wings were coated well in the slightly thick sauce.

BBQ

I also got a side of BBQ. This container was not only good for the wings, but also the Buffalo Chips.

I took the least Hot covered wings and dipped them into the sauce (so as not to contaminate the BBQ flavour). The sauce was a generic sauce, not really smokey, mostly sweet. It was good, but Hot was the way to go.

Oh, there was also a mutant wing. So really 6 wings and this mutant wing, which was like a drummy that was crushed up. Still meaty, still had flavour, just a weird wing.

FINAL SCORE: Well after several years it was good to see Mr Green Jeans revamped their wings. These were huge wings, tender and saucy. Crispy, not so much, and that hurt. Flavour was good but they could still do some revamping. If I was going back would I get the wings again? Probably. But there was definitely room for improvement. 6/10

Mr Green Jeans
220 Yonge Street, Toronto ON (The Eaton's Centre, 2nd floor)
mrgreenjeans.ca

MULLINS IRISH PUB ~ Toronto ON

2011-09-11T20:59:00.000-04:00

Just before the end of summer I took a trip out to The Beaches area of Toronto. I've been out in the East end before, but I took some different streetcars and buses to explore different areas. I had a plan: go for a burger at one of the most acclaimed burger joints in the city (it was closed). I had to go to a chain instead, but I did see Guillermo del Toro there (I kid you not, at least I'm 95% sure it was him). Then I was off to a matinee at the cinema, with plans to go out for wings that night. I had two places in mind to try.

After the movies I headed to the Northern part of the Beaches. I arrived to the first place I had picked out and it was packed. Early. On a Sunday. So I went to my second location. I walked into the middle of a dart tournament. I was the youngest in the crowd by 20 years at least. I didn't feel comfortable. So where to go? I saw a third pub and made my way there. Something turned me off from that place. I started walking down the street trying to figure out where I could possibly go when a fourth place came up a block away. The patio outside was empty, it was a beautiful afternoon, so I went for it.

I ended up at Mullin's Irish Pub. It seemed like just the kind of place I was looking for. I walked in and let Casie the server know I was going out to the patio (I do this now after so many instances in the past where I sit on the patio and no one comes to check if new customers have arrived). Inside was small and cozy, wood covered everything, and just seemed like a classic pub, complete with regulars. I headed back outside to enjoy the wonderful weather.

There was one guy on the patio, but he had a take-out container - so I assumed he was leaving soon. I took a four person table to myself because a) I didn't want to sit next to the guy and b) it was so quiet I didn't think it would matter.

Casie brought me a menu and took my drink order. Then two gentleman came out from inside and started playing chess at the table beside me. Guy in the corner stayed the whole time to watch them play. I opened the menu and noticed no wings. No appetizers even. This was devastating to me, mainly because I had not had wings for a long time, it's all I wanted, and I already had several disappointments that day.

I looked over it again. Still no wings. And I wasn't in the mood for the other pub food. Casie came back to ask if I was ready to order, I closed my menu and said I needed a few more minutes. She left, and I looked at the cover of the menu: appetizers. And there were the wings. Now I could sit back and relax. It was wing eating time.

I also wanted to point out Casie was great. Friendly service, got me refills on cola, answered questions. Thanks!

The wing offerings at Mullin's is pretty simple. Deep fried wings with a few sauces. But by keeping it simple they could do it right.

This is the classic pub wing set up: plastic basket with checkered paper, deep fried tossed wings, with veggies and dip. The chopped parsley was a nice visual.

Celery and carrots. Too many places forget this these days. Came with a side of dip.

The wings were deep fried crispy. Perfect skin. The wings themselves were fairly large (lengthwise that is) and medium meatiness. Tender meat - the chicken itself was just really good. The wings were not saucy, but I could really get a taste of the chicken, the skin as well as the sauce.

I had the wings Hot, but as usual they were not. But they were a standard cayenne based sauce that was tasty. I never wanted this basket of wings to end.

THE SCORE: I really liked Mullin's. The patio was great, the service was great, the wings were great. Yes they were simple wings, but simple wings done right. Big, crispy, tasty. I want some right now. 6.5/10

Mullin's Irish Pub

917 Kingston Road, Toronto ON

mullinspub.com (the website is for the other location on Bay Street. Similar but slightly different)

CRAZY HORSE ~ Kanata ON

2011-09-08T11:25:00.000-04:00

Yee haw!

I've always said the National Capital Region needs a good country bar.

Ok no I didn't, but that didn't stop Kanata from building one. Crazy Horse opened back in 2009 (which seems like last year). I was curious to try it out back when I was living in Ottawa, but never did go. But on a visit to LJ this summer we decided to finally go and check them out.

Crazy Horse's food schtick is stonegrilled steak. That is, you have these special lava rock stones that are heated to 400 degrees celsius and the food is 'dry cooked.' You get to cook it yourself, which is kinda cool. Neither LJ or I got this however. But a very interesting concept.

I loved the inside of Crazy Horse. It feels like an old saloon, but more kitschy. I mean there are stuffed animal heads and old lanterns, wood carved creatures, barrels and lots of wood. There's a stage for live music and a dance area (popular on the weekend). They even have a mechanical bull. The music is of course, country. We were in for a weekend lunch and the place was pretty empty inside. I mean the place is huge with lots of seating, so what few people were there made it look dead. I half expected a posse of outlaws to walk in the door. LJ wasn't a fan of the darkness inside for lunch, but I'm sure this place gets bumping and even more cow-boyish atmosphere at night.

I never did get our server's name, but she was friendly in her cowboy hat. Brought drink refills for me unprompted but we had to ask for LJ. Now our food order got a little complicated from there. We got an appetizer platter to share, then LJ got a steak sandwich and I got more wings (I say more wings because there were wings already in the platter). But I'm going to review non-chronologically and give the non-wings first.

LJ went with the Grilled Steak Sandwich ($14) which is a 5oz AAA Alberta Beef Striploin steak on an open faced bun, topped with onion strings, chipotle mayo and as a side she went with sweet potato fries. The steak was cooked medium-well and was tender and had a nice grilled smell, but was a really bland tasting meat. The sweat potato fries were crispy and really good. LJ said the meal was ok, but there were lots of other things on the menu she would like to try in the future.

The menu has a lot of really intersting things on it, and an appetizer platter is great way to try different things. This is the "Everything is Bigger in Texas Platter" ($23).

Clockwise starting in the top left:

Cornmeal Dusted Calamari: Calamari is a tricky seafood to cook, but this was done nicely: tender with just a little crispy edge to the coating.
Onion Petals & Stuffed Potato Spuds: I love onion petals - like onion rings but just more fun. As for the Potato - mashed up potato that is breaded and deep fried. Side dips were necessary for flavour but still good.
Chicken Fingers: As far as chicken fingers go, these were good. Whole pieces of meat (not ground chicken), crispy, warm, not bad at all.
Chicken Quesidilla: These were my least favourite of the platter. Chicken and cheese on a tortilla. Nothing special.

There were also wings in the platter, so lets go do a wing review.

Correction: I found they do have a wing night - Monday AYCE $14.99. So wings are 7/10.

Crazy Horse calls them Cowboy Wings. They say they are "Country-Style chicken wings deep fried to perfection." There are 9 wings in an order, which is decent, but they are very pricey at $12.

On the side are carrot and celery sticks. It also comes with a homemade Dill Ranch dip (more ranch than dill but good). You can upgrade to a homemade Blue cheese dip for $1 more. I was happy with Dill.

Above is a plate of 9 Cowboy wings tossed in Tucker's Suicide Sauce and a side of Jalapeno Molasses. The wings from the combo platter are also coming.

Lengthwise these were not big wings. Small to maybe small-medium. However, these were very meaty wings. The above picture is short, but you can see the plumpness of the chicken. And they were very tender. They were dusted in what seemed like cornmeal. It added a nice texture to the wing and this coating created a good barrier for the sauce. There was lots of sauce for the wings - they were slippery but this is how I like my wings.

RED HOT BBQ

I went with the Red Hot BBQ as a wing that LJ could try that should have a nice kick, but also flavour.

Well, there wasn't a lot of heat, but these were good wings. It was described like a BBQ sauce mixed with hot sauce, and while there was some sweetness, it was more hot than BBQ. Either way it made for a tasty wing that I really enjoyed.

TUCKER's SUICIDE

I don't know who Tucker is, nor is it explained anywhere, but they make a decent suicide sauce. There was a good bite. In fact I was caught off guard by the heat. It didn't kill me, but it did have bite.

There was one major drawback to this sauce - it increased in saltiness with each bite. By the end I needed to dip to cut the puckering power of the salt. Too bad, this was a sauce with potential.

JALAPENO MOLASSES

Well this just sounded unique enough to try, but not take a chance on for a whole order. So I got it on the side. Which I think was a good choice. Don't get me wrong, this was a good sauce, but I wouldn't want a whole order. The sauce is very thin and runny, and very sweet from the molasses, with a hint of heat from the jalapeno. I would want a lot more jalapeno flavour and heat. But I think a lot of people would enjoy this.

THE SCORE: I like the decor of Crazy Horse. I liked the cowboy theme and all the props. The menu has so many things I want to try (steaks, burgers etc) but I was happy with the wings. Yes, they should be bigger, but they were meaty and tender. The crispy coating held up well with the sauces, and the sauces were quality. Each one tasted homemade - not just bottled sauces splashed together. While I would tweak some of the sauces for my personal tastes, I was impressed with their unique tastes. Pricey, but the wings are have a craft element to them. 7/10

Crazy Horse: Stonegrill Steakhouse & Saloon

115 Roland Michener Drive, Kanata ON

thecrazyhorse.ca (but this is currently blocked by an ad, so go to http://www.thecrazyhorse.ca/home.aspx)

Where's Lord of the Wings?

2011-09-07T11:42:00.000-04:00

What has been going on? Where is LOTW now?

Well I'm still here. For the past 3-4 weeks have been CRAZY busy (this is the busy period in my profession . . . no not wing eating, my other profession). I thought I would have time to update the blog along the way, but low on energy, low on time, I didn't. I don't have a smart device (I don't even have a cell phone), so updates only happen when I'm at home on the computer, and I haven't been home long enough to write.

But things are quieting down and in the coming days and weeks should be a whole slurry of reviews and posts. I'm really stoked to get back to writing, tweeting, commenting etc.

Hope you are all well and have been eating good wings. If so, tell me about them!

Thanks

WK

PUCK 'N WINGS ~ Toronto ON

2011-08-19T21:00:00.000-04:00

The past several years has seen a rise in wing joints all over the Greater Toronto Area. I have to say, I'm enjoying the wing boom. One of these locations has been on my radar for a while, but whenever visiting, its been pretty busy. Like very very busy.

Fortunately on this Monday, I had my pick of seats at Puck 'N Wings. And Monday is wing night to boot.

When I walk down any street, this is the most beautiful kind of sign to see.

This is a hockey themed restaurant with a pretty clear mission statement: "Our game plan is unique: 50 wing flavours and 50 salad toppings on a menu designed to attract large groups of fans and foodies. With an emphasis on top quality service and fresh food, the spirit of hockey and the love of the game make PUCK'N WINGS the place to be any day of the week." Well I may not care a lot about hockey (I know, I feel like a bad Canadian saying that) but I do love my wings.

I was in at around 5pm and the crowd was small, and extremely varied. High school students, seniors, soloists. Whenever I have been by, it's usually filled with UofT students, but school's not back in yet. There was lots of sports on tv and some decent music playing overhead.

There are 50 flavours, so choosing can be difficult. My server was Chiara, and she was friendly and able to answer wing questions I had.

Puck 'N Wings says right on their menus that they prepare their wings fresh to order and ask for patience. Well the wings did take a while to come out, but a freshly deep fried wing should take 15-20 minutes. But I don't mind waiting if the quality is good.

I went with two orders of wings to meet my spicy and creamy mood. Two baskets came out and my stomach started growling in hunger when I saw the wings. Normally they come with a side of veggies and choice of dip, but on wing night ya gotta pay extra. The menu also says 1 free refill on Coke, but I guess on wing nights there are no freebies. It is a business I guess.

The wings themselves slightly ranged from a medium-large to large. These were also very meaty, but still tender wings. You have the choice of them coming out what they call a dusting, but I call a breading, or naked, but I went with breaded. The wings were nice and crispy, but also super saucy. In fact, they were in a lake of sauce. I like a lot of sauce, and visually I find it very enticing (I want to gorge!) but it runs the risk of losing structural integrity. But these wings held up pretty well.

LOUISIANA HOT

When I asked about their heat levels, Chiara explained that the different levels of heat were different sauces. I wasn't looking for the hottest sauce on the menu (this day anyway) and while it was on the milder heat level, when she said Louisiana Hot was a mix of Hot and Buffalo, something about that just sounded delicious.

And it was. It tasted like a good Louisiana cayene sauce with a buttery accompaniment. So a little savoury, a little spicy. This was a great sauce combo and I would love to try it in something hotter.

DILL

There was a more creative name to this, but I didn't write it down because I remembered seeing a menu on their website from a while ago. Unfortunately the website hasn't been updated in years and the new menu has flavours that aren't on the net.

The dill wings were very creamy (and wet, they looked like they've been dipped in a tasty-looking white glue!). And there was even chopped dill pickle mixed in. The dill flavour was pretty mild, but it tasted fresh. The sauce went well with the dusted wings.

At the end I started mixing the two together - hot and dill is a good mix!

FINAL SCORE: I get nervous with wing chains, especially if they serve a ton of flavours. But Puck 'N Wings wings were pretty good. They were a good size, meaty, crispy and had sauce to spare. The flavours I had were good, fresh and did not just taste like bottled sauces. I can safely say "He Shoots, he scores!"
6.5/10

Puck 'N Wings
362 Bloor Street West, Toronto ON
pucknwings.com

WWWWWW #47 - Tattoo Now

2011-08-17T10:53:00.000-04:00

Tattoo Now

I love my chicken wings. Love them. So do a lot of people. And what better way to show your love than to get a tattoo of chicken wings. Tattoo Now might be able to help you with that.

The website is simple: "Fifteen years ago Gabe Ripley began designing websites for tattooers.He did this because he is a self proclaimed computer geek, and didn't have the extra cash to pay for tattoos.In 2001 this simple barter lead Gabe to create one of the most recognized websites out there." And in looking at different tattoo artists, one had a tasty bit of inking:

This piece, by Tim Pangburn, has some classic Buffalo wings with celery and blue cheese. My favourite part is the sauce flowing off the plate and onto the skin.

Not from TattooNow.com, but if your looking for another chicken wing tattoo, check out Kapten Hanna.

I'm not getting a Tattoo anytime soon, and if I did, I'd probably go for my logo.
Do you have a tattoo? What is it? What would you get?