Big Bone BBQ & Wicked Wings - Kanata ON

Still doing #lotwsummercatchup

Picture it, Ontario, July, National Chicken Wing Day 2019. I had a lunch feast of wings at St Louis, but wanted to celebrate with more wings someplace different. I was also going to be celebrating with LJ. There's a BBQ joint out in Kanata I've been wanting to check out for a while, and it being a Monday and all I knew they had a Monday Madness special that involved wings. So off we went!

Big Bone BBQ and Wicked Wings is a chain of 9 BBQ joints that exists mainly around Toronto (not in Toronto mind you) with this location being the farthest away. When I was last living in Toronto I had wanted to go check them out, but never did. So this was the perfect opportunity. I mean, the place is a BBQ joint (love BBQ) AND they are about wings! How could you go wrong?

This place is located in a strip mall, surrounded by businesses like an Asian take-away and a music store. Inside it very much has a BBQ feel. There's the smell of BBQ smoke. There's all sorts of kitschy BBQ stuff on the walls and some good blues and rock and roll on the stereo. We got there sometime after 5pm, but the place was pretty busy and continued to be busy the whole time, which is pretty good for a Monday night.

There's a big ordering counter, and we weren't sure if you order and sit, or just sit and someone takes your order. The waitress came out (she was the only one, and it seemed like there was just one guy in the back cooking as far as I could tell) and she told us to find a seat since we were dining in, and she brought us our menus.

Now Big Bone's wasn't celebrating National Wing Day, but I was aware of their Monday Mania special. It's the closest thing they have for a wing night. It's $28.25 (taxes in) for 1 rack of ribs, 1lb of wings, with a large fries or salad. It sounded good, but we didn't go this route after all. We decided to get 2lb's of wings so that we could try more wings. But to get some more BBQ in there, we took a look at one of their other specials:

They were highlighting their homemade sausages, and that just sounded good to both of us. We went for the Sausage Dinner with 3 links and sides.

When it came to the wings, we had a lot more decisions to make. First, Big Bone does wings 2 different ways. Smoked, and fried. Fried is my fave, but I do love a smoked wing. Since were were getting two pounds, we figured we'd get one order fried and the other smoked. But then, you have to choose the sauce, and that's not easy because there are 23 flavours. How do you choose?!

So here's what went down. The waitress, who was friendly, but also no-nonsense, stopped us before we started to order the wings to explain the wings. She explained that the Smoked wings are marinated, then smoked, then thrown on the grill in their Signature BBQ sauce, so any sauce you order for them is on the side. So we ordered 1lb Smoked wings with their Alabama Slamma on the side (she said she likes it because it has a kick, but isn't too spicy) and an order of Fried wings in Wicked Hot.

We didn't wait long at all and our two platters arrived. The feast looked really good, but when she brought them, she put the wings down first stating "Here are your smoked wings, and fried wings with the Alabama Slamma". LJ and I looked at each other and were a bit confused, because that's not what we ordered, or at least, not the right combination of what we ordered.

But I'll come back to that.

On the Sausage Dinner, there were three very nice looking links waiting for us. I liked them, but LJ wasn't a fan. The texture was great - they had that crispy snapping skin when you bit into them, and the pork itself was tender and ground well. The flavour was, well, kind of mute, but then you got hit with this like maple syrupy sweet flavour. It tasted ok, but I'd much prefer a spicier sausage. They were ok, not bad, but we both would order them again.

The beans that came with them were pretty good. They taste like they are just canned beans with a bit of smoke and maybe bbq sauce, but mostly cold beans. The coleslaw came warm, which is not cool, especially since it's a creamy coleslaw. It was much better as leftovers the next day once it had sat in the fridge. Again it tasted creamy, but I think it had some apple cider vinegar in it for a sweet-tart kick. The fries that came with both of our orders are battered and crispy. Good texture but not much flavour. They came out hot at least. Finally, the platter came with a slice of corn bread, which was literally a slice from a corn bread loaf. It was ok - it wasn't sweet or really corn flavoured either. There was a hint of like granular sugar actually but it goes away quick. It was a really nice texture to it though.

So the other food was kind of hit or miss, but would the wing-mix up end up being ok?

So the wings come by the pound, with about 8-9 wings in that pound. Each order does come with fries but no other sides. We were brought a bone bowl, lots of napkins, and I'm pretty sure there was some wetnaps also included.

The size of most of the wings was medium to medium-small. This was both in length and width, and applied to the meatiness of each wing.

The fried wings were saucy, but they also came out cold and soggy. The lack of crispy skin was sad. The meat on the wings were also tough. After biting into them they seem to come from frozen stock, which is strange considering that they state the smoked wings are from fresh.

The smoked wings were a bit more tender. I find most smoked wings are tough and leathery but these were not thankfully.

So as stated before, I don't know if we got the right sauces or not. But the waitress said the fried wings had Alabama Slamma, and then there were just Smoked wings and no Wicked Hot was actually applied? I don't know for sure.

SMOKED & GRILLED

So the wings came out and they looked like they should with little bits of char coming from the smoking process. I'm not crazy about the texture of smoked wings on their own, so whether you deep fry them after or grill, they need something.

Now the wings as described to us both on the menu and in person was that the smoked wings are finished off with their Signature BBQ sauce. I don't know if that was what was on here, but it was clearly there was a residue of sauce leftover. It was not killer in heat. The flavour of the wings was overwhelmingly smokey, but it wasn't a nice Hickory smoke, more like some sort of fake smoke that tasted more like campfire. It was ok, I guess. I could look past them and found them ok but LJ did not like them.

FRIED with ALABAMA SLAMMA

So we ordered the Fried with the Wicked Hot. I don't know that this was the Wicked Hot or the Alabama Slamma for sure. It could have been the Wicked Hot because it was 3rd Degree sauce with a bit of sweetness, but then that's how our waitress described the Slamma. If it was Alabama Slamma, I was expecting a spicier Alabama BBQ sauce, a more creamy, white sauce. This was not that. The sauce was good, and I rubbed the smoked wings in it to boost their flavour. But since these wings came cold and soggy, I wasn't impressed. At least they were saucy?

FINAL SCORE:

By the end of the meal, neither LJ or I was full or satisfied. The place kept getting busier and busier and so waiting for the only waitress to get a bill and pay took forever. Not her fault, she's waitress, bartender, dealing with tables, take-out orders, and delivery orders. I don't know if it was an off night but it wasn't a great experience. Ok BBQ food, soggy cold fried wings, less than tasty smoked wings with sauces that we had no idea what was what. Here's the thing, I'd go back to try the wings again. I would like to sample more but I'm not in a rush to do so anytime soon, but I have faith they could be better. 6/15

Big Bone BBQ & Wicked Wings
701 Eagleson Rd, Kanata ON (and other locations)
bigbonebbq.ca

MOE's BBQ - Ottawa ON

I love me some BBQ. It's not always easy to get good American Southern BBQ in Canada, and rarely is it authentic. That's ok because sometimes you find something new that tastes good. So when I heard a new BBQ place opened up in Ottawa, I was excited to try it. 

 When Moe's BBQ opened, I was intrigued that they advertise as the only Halal certified BBQ joint in the city. So that means no pork - no pork ribs, no pulled pork. But there's lots of beef and chicken. I was excited to see on the menu that they had Smoked Hot Wings. I was ready to go, and then I saw the price - $21 for 1lb of wings. Yes it came with 2 sides, but that was too steep for me, so going went on the back burners.

I started following them on social media, and one day they announced a special for wings. It was great, but by the time I read it was in the evening long after dinner. It wasn't a regular wing night special, and I was kinda bummed. I had seen other people post photos on social media of their wings and I was really jealous. Then one day it all came together - they posted another wing special, I was hungry and free for dinner, so off to Moe's I went!

Moe's sits in a little sad strip mall. Driving in you don't notice it, but when you are right out front you can't miss the pictures of brisket and BBQ sandwiches. Inside has a nice BBQ joint feel, with lots of wood themed decorations. I went in May during Ramadan and the place was pretty quiet - in fact the only sound in the place was the fireplace playing on a tv with the sounds of crackling and snaps you get with fire. There was only one other guy eating at the time. By the time I left, I had seen plenty of delivery service pick ups and people in for take-out and was told that once sundown happened the place would be jammed.

You mosey on up to the counter and order from there. The menu is up on big screens but they also have a physical menu to hold and check out. There were only two guys working and one came from the back. He was friendly, but when I mentioned the wing special on Instagram, he didn't know anything about it. He asked me to show it to him, and then he was like "Awesome!" as in I found a good deal. There are no sauce choices for the wings, but he did ask what sides I wanted pointing out 3 new ones to the menu. I picked my sides, and he asked what table I was going to sit at, so he could deliver the wings when they were ready.

I grabbed a drink from the fridge and took my seat. I didn't have to wait long, and soon I had an awesome looking platter of BBQ before me. I was pumped.

The two sides I went with were Smoked Beans and Cornbread. The smoked beans looked really good and smelt good, but I quickly noticed it wasn't the usual BBQ bean fare of pinto beans, but instead kidney beans. The flavour had a nice smokiness to them, and almost a meaty quality (hopefully with BBQ drippings) but as much as I liked the sauce flavour, an entire bowl of kidney beans was just too much for me. The cornbread was fairly thick, dense, but a balance between dry and moist. It wasn't too sweet, nice corn flavour.

There were two side sauces in tiny little cups. The dark sauce was their Signature BBQ Sauce, which was quite sweet. I liked it, but wouldn't want my wings completely covered in it. In the other cup was what looked like an Alabama White Sauce, as it was creamy, but also had a lot of bite. I would love a big tub of this sauce to dip my dry wings in. It was awesome.

The wings come in orders by the pound, but the wings are served whole. You get 7 whole wings, which breaks down to about 14 individual wings. I don't mind getting the whole wings because you still get the tips and while not everyone cares for them, I love the crispy little pieces with a little bit of extra skin and crunchy cartilage.

However you get an idea how small these wings are when you think about getting 14 in one pound. They are average meatiness relative to their size. At least you get a whole wing and that feels bigger.

The texture on the skin is mostly crispy due to the charring from the grill, but it's not uniform. The meat is SUPER tender though. The wings just pull apart easily and the chicken inside is most and tender. Most smoked wings are tough and dried out, but not these.

The wings don't come with a sauce, but they are rubbed in a seasoning blend. It isn't strongly flavoured, but there is what I think was fennel, of which I am not a fan on it's own, but it worked with the chicken.

Sadly, there was almost no smoked flavour to the wings. I even questioned if they were smoked because they weren't tough texture-wise nor had that distinct flavour. But because they were fire grilled, they did have that slight fire kissed taste. 

Overall I was expecting a much bolder flavour. These wings had great texture, and they tasted good don't get me wrong. I just expected more. More seasoning or at least more smoke.

 FINALS SCORE:

I definitely enjoyed my BBQ wings at Moe's. The wings were so tender, had some nice char and a good flavour - I just expected a bigger punch in seasoning or spice. The white sauce that came with it was soo good. Cornbread was good and the beans, while in a tasty sauce, was just too much as they were just kidney beans. I'd go back to try other fare, and I would have the wings again, but only when on special personally. 9.5/15

Moe's BBQ
2446 Bank Street, Ottawa ON
moesbbq.ca

Meatings BBQ - Rootbeer BBQ Wings

Way back in early October I made a very very good lunch decision; I went back to Meatings BBQ.

If you remember, I went to Meatings back in June and had some totally awesome smoked wings. I also went on a Wednesday which is their wing day ($10 for a pound when normally its $13) which made it even better. It was such a good lunch, and I had been jonesing for those smoked wonders.

Flash forward to late September and I see on their social media a post about "Spicy Smoked Root Beer" sauced wings. I love every word in that menu description. I couldn't go that week, or even the next, but the NEXT Wednesday I could ... but I had no idea if they would still have that sauce. Spoiler alert: they did and I got them.

I was the only patron there (it was after the lunch crowd) so I walked right up and ordered.  I grabbed a free sampling of bbq rubbed popcorn (salty good) and grabbed a seat at the big table, which was good seating but in hindsight was terrible for photo taking. I also got a Pop Shoppe Black Cherry soda which was awesome. Before long, I had my metal tray of wings.

This order was 9 wings stacked like a log pile making up a pound. They smelled smokey and BBQ-ey.

The wings were not pretty. They look like they had been in a fight. That's ok, they were huge and meaty. Not super tender this time, and not crispy either. There wasn't a lot of sauce, but the wings were sticky.

I dropped everything and dove into these wings. When I eat on my own I often write, or do work or figure out tasks, but I couldn't focus on anything but the wings. They had a slight heat, but they weren't overly spicy. The spice balanced out the sweet root beer bbq sauce. Now the root beer was not strong, more of a hint. But these wings were very balanced in their flavour.

I was also very excited because they had the Alabama White dipping sauce which was missing on my first visit. Alabama white sauce is almost a ranch-type dipping sauce. It's mayo based and it goes well with BBQ in general, but especially well with the wings. I had a hard time deciding between eating the wings as is with their Spicy Root Beer BBQ sauce and dipping those wings in the white sauce. Friggin good.

I know I'm gushing but these wings were just so good. Meaty and smokey on their own, better with the root beer BBQ, and even better with the Alabama white sauce. And with $3 off, they were even better. It's probably good this place isn't near my home, because I would be there way too often.

President's Choice CAYENNE & SCOTCH BONNET WING SAUCE

When I'm at the grocery store, I always wonder down the condiment aisle just to see if a) any hot sauce is on sale b) there are any new hot sauce. Most times, neither is the case. 

But earlier this summer I was pleasantly surprised that there was a new sauce! President's Choice Cayenne & Scotch Bonnet Wing Sauce.

In general I'm not a big fan of scotch bonnet pepper sauces; I like the white hot blistering heat, but not the more fruity flavour of the pepper flesh. But with the cayenne in there, and it marketed as a 'wing sauce' and not just a hot sauce, I had to try it.

 I mean the bottle even says it is "Scorching" in the PC heat rating scale! And the fact that Hot Sauce and the Scotch Bonnet Peppers are listed near the top of the ingredients, it seemed pretty promising. When you open the jar, the smell is slightly sour, slightly vinegary, and slightly fruity. The look of the sauce is light orange.

Taking a taste, the sauce attacked the tip of my tongue. The heat was white, quick and stinging. I was shocked and surprised - this was actually a hot hot sauce after all! I used it on a few food products and the taste was kind of a watered down cayenne based hot sauce, with a big bite. I immediately knew this sauce would be great on a grilled wing.

At the moment we live in a condo/apartment building and have to use a communal BBQ grill. I got some charcoal on fire, and I was excited to get to use my cast iron sauce pot. I lobbed in some butter, and then added the hot sauce.

Once the sauce was heated thoroughly and mixed, I put it off to the side of the charcoals to keep it warm while the wings cooked.

For the wings, I brined them in water, vinegar, salt, and spices. Once the brine was done, I seasoned them with Frank's Dry Seasoning, paprika, salt, pepper, roasted garlic and spices. Once the coals were flaming hot, I put down my BBQ mat and let them cook.

This grilling pit is really hard to control the temperature so a few wings got a little more scorched through the mat than I had planned. The fire was HOT. In the above photo at the bottom you can see the fat and seasoning is bubbling (there is no sauce on those wings). I tried one just as it was (Level 1) and they were good. I could only imagine how with the sauce it would be.

I transferred the wings to cook directly on the grill and started to baste them up with the sauce. If this grill pit had a lid I wouldn't have bothered, but I wanted that skin to get direct smoke, as well as some flame kisses. But it was so hot and my basting brush was very small, my hand had a hard time reaching those back wings.

I took the wings off the grill after flipping and basting a few times. I tried them as they were (Level 2) ooh wow they were good. I could have just eaten them at this stage as is, but I wanted to go to Level 3 with these wings.

Level 3? Yes, lets sauce these wings up! Also keep in mind that at this point the sauce was picking up the smoke from the lump charcoal and growing that flavour as well.

The photo above is one of my favourite moments of wing eatery. It just looks so beautiful.

I sat outside at the picnic table and took it all in. The grilled, charred rubbed wings, basted in butter hot sauce, and slathered in more butter Cayenne & Scotch Bonnet sauce. This was a perfect summer moment.

Wow. Wow were these good. The flavour was ON POINT. Charred and smokey wings, buttery and spicy sauce - it was a match made in heaven. As mentioned before, the PC sauce is a bit watery on it's own, but you mix it in with butter and you've got a kicked up Buffalo Sauce. A worthy suicide for the average spice lover.

The only downside was the wings themselves. Despite brining them they were still tough and a bit chewy for my liking. I can't seem to get tender wings on this outdoor pit.

Would I get this sauce again? You bet. It has a nice flavour, but it also has a lot of heat. Good heat. This isn't a sauce I would use all the time; I'm not crazy about scotch bonnet sauce but the added cayenne makes it a more full flavoured sauce. What elevated this hot sauce was the addition of butter. And grilled smokey wings. So good. Well done President's Choice, well done.

PC Cayenne & Scotch Bonnet Wing Sauce
Presidentschoice.ca