Happy #Fryday - Remembering AYCE Wings @ Ding-A-Lings

The onion rings, the carrot coins, the blue cheese dip. Those wings! I'm drooling and missing Dingaling's wings, but also AYCE. So hot, crispy, good.

What do you miss???

THE SPORTS TAP & GRILL - Kingston ON

Back in February I had just over an hour give-or-take to kill in downtown Kingston. I decided to use that time to eat wings, as a Lord of the Wings does. I've had a few places in my wing research log and I re-referenced Wingston, a local chicken wing review blog, and based on their review and my proximity, I ended up at The Sports Tap & Grill. 

Wingston (love that title), looked very favourably at The Sports Tap in their review from 2015:

“The staff here are friendly, and fun. The Wings are solid, and they offer a couple flavours that you don’t typically see anywhere else. Always an enjoyable spot!” “Great flavour, great size, slightly dry outside but quality meat. Overall well above average. Special shout out for the excellent service, personable, witty and very prompt.”  “My personal favourite, and the only restaurant where I always have to get a second pound. So good!” “These were easily the sauciest and messiest wings I’ve had in a long time and I loved every minute of it. I want to bathe in the Guinness sauce.”

I just glanced at these reviews when I was picking that day, but reflecting back after having been there, this review is almost 4 years old and things clearly have changed.

The Sports Tap is one of two pubs inside the Queen's Inn, a historic hotel built before 1880. The other restaurant on site is Copper's Pub, but they share the same menu. I didn't see Copper's, but Sports Tap is a modernized historic pub with a loose sports theme, which is essentially sports on TV. This day it was golf, so I was even less interested in sports than usual.

It was the middle of the afternoon, so too early for a dinner crowd and too late for lunch. There were a bunch of regulars at the bar and only one other patron at a table. There is lots of seating, the place was clean, and a little dark (in a good way). I was greeted from the back at the bar by Kerry, the bartender/server who was taking care of everything. He told me to sit where I wanted, asked if I wanted a menu, which he brought and took my drink order. He seems like he's been working the bar for decades, and was a pretty funny guy through his friendly but gruff demeanor. He seems the perfect character for the place and he was great at his job.

 I checked out the menu and found wings. They state they are "Voted Kingston's Best Wings" but I've searched online and can't find that vote. I did find that on their website they state "Rated Kingston's #1 Chicken Wings by Wingston!" but that's not the same thing.

I saw on the menu "Regular or Welsh Style" so I had to ask Kerry about this. He said that the Welsh style wings were baked with the sauce on, making them less saucy and popular with the 'suits' (business guys in suits), but he said they were more dried out. I asked 'if these are baked then the Regular ones were deep fried?' and Kerry said no they were both deep fried, just the Welsh ones were then tossed in sauce and baked. Got it. Well I really wanted saucy wings so I went with an order of Regular.

While I was waiting, Kerry dropped off some napkins and generic moist towlettes for clean up. I did not receive any bone bowl or plate though for disposal.

It wasn't long before my wings came out. Kerry couldn't get over how big they were. 

The wings only come in one order - 1 pound, which is about 8 wings, for $14.95. I rarely get wings at full price, and a pound at $15 is not a price I would normally pay, but they had been rated fairly high, and they were big. I did ask Kerry if there was a wing night, but he said no. "Does anyone have a wing night anymore?" he asked, kinda scoffing. Actually yes, but I wasn't going to point that out.

The wings don't come with any sides, but they did come with blue cheese dip. The dip was nice and creamy and there were little chunks of blue cheese. It was needed with the wings.

Kerry was right, these were large wings. While 8 wings aren't a lot when you order a pound, they are when they are this size. While they weren't super long, the were very very meaty.

While meaty wings can be a good thing, they were really tough and dried out. The skin wasn't crispy either, and on top of that, the wings weren't very saucy at all. Texture wise I was not really happy with these wings.

I started to wonder if these wings were in fact, the Welsh style wings? They weren't crispy or saucy. If they weren't, I couldn't imagine what they would be like.

I went with hot, and these wings vaguely tasted hot. There was no heat to the sauce, but then there was very little sauce. That's not to say the wings tasted bad - they were decent wings - but with the texture fail and the lack of sauce, lets just say it was a good thing there was blue cheese dip on the side.

I was pretty full after eating all the wings. When Kerry came to take away my platter, he asked if I wanted more. I said I was stuffed, and he said something to the effect of they have a deal where if you eat 5lbs you get the wings for free. I said 'oh really?' and he laughed and said no, but he should be careful because one day someone was going to take him up on that.

He asked if I wanted another refill on my drink, but I said I just wanted the bill. He said I was welcome to stay and keep working as long as I liked, but I thanked him as I had to get going. When I was leaving, he said to make sure to come back for their wings, 'unless I guess you find a wing night somewhere'. Then he reiterated that they had the 'biggest wings in town'.

FINAL SCORE:

I really liked the atmosphere at the Sports Tap. Really friendly service from barkeep Kerry, clean, updated yet historic sports bar. I was not impressed with the wings. Yes they were big and meaty, but they were so dried out, tough and un-sauced. Clearly the wings had changed since the Wingston crew had reviewed them. Maybe I had an off day. Maybe I got the Welsh style instead of the regular wings. Either way, I didn't hate the wings, but they didn't do much to win my love either. 6.5/15

The Sports Tap & Grill
The Queen's Inn
125 Brock Street, Kingston ON
www.queensinn.ca/eat-drink

YEAR IN REVIEW - 2018

I'm back baby!

2018 was the year of The Return of the Lord of the Wings. This blog was back in action. How so? I had the highest number of posts EVER in the blog's history at 330. The next closest was 179 and that was in 2009, and the worst (aside from the 2 posts of the first year) was 2014 with 16 posts. That's almost a single post every single day.

It was also The Return because so many of the reviews were returning to pubs and restaurants I had reviewed 10 years ago. Some got better, some got worse.

Now in my return I haven't accomplished everything I wanted to do. I want more recipes, more reviews, more videos. I'm getting there, but 2018 was getting back to basics.

So I've broken the YIR down to 8 categories:

BEST OTTAWA WINGS of 2018
BEST NON-OTTAWA WINGS
BEST TAKE-OUT WINGS
BEST NON-WINGS
BEST HOMEMADE WINGS
MISC FROZEN WINGS, WING-SNACKS, SAUCE REVIEW
EVENTS
INSTAGRAM

As always, these aren't listed necessarily in any particular order, and are the best of what I reviewed, not necessarily the best EVER. Let's go take a look at some of the best of what I encountered and reviewed in 2018:

BEST OTTAWA WINGS of 2018

I struggled with sticking to my 2017 YIR method of best wings of all that I reviewed, but I decided to break everything down into categories more like the old days of what I inaccurately called the blogiversary reviews. Since I live in Ottawa Ontario, I sampled eateries in Ottawa the most, so by shear number, this needed it's own category.

PATTY BOLAND'S

Not only do the wings rock at Patty Boland's - fried crispy, awesome sauces, but they have probably the best wing night in Ottawa: Monday night $0.35 & $0.55 wings!!! Plus the Carolina Reaper challenge is wicked wicked hot!

Return to WHISPER's PUB - October

Whipser's Pub, the "friendliest little pub in Westboro" is both friendly and a great spot for wings. The wings are crispy, the sauces are good, and that Chef's Challenge suicide isn't the hottest, but it's peppery goodness. 

HOMETOWN SPORTS BAR

Dusted, crispy wings form a great base. Hot is good, 40 Creek BBQ is great. Suicide is 3rd Degree. Also they have wing night all day long on Tuesdays. If you like sports and you like wings, this is your place.

SUMMERHAYS GRILL

This place has wing night basically all the time, and that's awesome. These breaded wings are crunchy, but they also have all these unique sauces that don't taste like your same old pub wings.

HOOLEY'S PUB

You want to see busy, come to Hooley's on Monday for wing night. The place will be packed for these breaded wings. But what puts this place on the map is that they have over 30 different sauces! I went with simple sauces like Hot Honey Mustard and Creamy Dill, but they have Pepperoni Pizza wings, Butter Chicken or Maple Bacon Dry Rub.

BEST NON-OTTAWA WINGS

It's pretty self-explanatory, these are wings I got anywhere outside of Ottawa in 2018. 

MEATINGS BBQ - Orleans ON

I can't tell you how happily surprised I was when I came across the wings at this BBQ Joint. They were huge. They were smokey, they were tender. Finding tender smoked jumbo wings is VERY difficult. The BBQ sauces are awesome. Check them out on Wednesdays for $10 for 1lb. Oh, and get the free smoked popcorn too!

DINGALING`s - Kingston ON

I'm on the road driving past Kingston frequently so when I get a chance I love to stop in at Dingaling's. This mostly take-out wing place serves up meaty, crispy wings. I cannot get enough of their Butter Face wings - they're hot, buttery, and soo very good.

ZE KITCHEN - Cumberland ON

I took a chance one night by taking a trip to the little town of Cumberland on the possibility of good wings on Thursday wing night at Ze Kitchen, and I'm glad I did. Super breaded crunchy seasoned wings are what I found. Salt and Pepper and Hot were simple, but very tasty wing experiences.

BEST TAKE-OUT WINGS

These are wings that specifically came from take-out wing or pizza joints. In actuality, some of these would have been in the runner for best wings overall.

COMINO`s PIZZA & WINGS - Whitby ON

I found this place online looking for a different pizza place than our usual chain go-to's in Whitby, and yes I found good pizza, but I found great wings. This family run pizza joint makes all their wing sauces and serves them up on large crispy wings. Suicide has a BIG BITE to it, and the Buffalo Style Hot, while there`s nothing Buffalo about it, is freaking good.

THE WING FACTORY - Mississauga ON

Wow. That`s what I said when I had The Wing Factory Wings, These were HUGE wings. Massively meaty wings covered in breading and deep fried. The meat was almost too much, but fortunately they were able to fry the wing to make sure all the meat was cooked, without overcooking the breading. Also, the sauces were great - LOVED Gutter Butter (Buffalo-style sauce) and Smokey BBQ was spot on. One of the highest rated wings of the year!

PALERMO`s PIZZA - Ottawa ON

I came across this pizza joint by accident and I'm glad I did. These take-out wings are classically crispy fried wings that are a decent size. Buffalo didn't taste like Buffalo at all (I couldn't tell which sauce was which at first) but it was good and not like your regular commercial hot sauce, but the Suicide, this sauce was super flavourful and had a nice spice to it. Great take-out wings!

FAMOUS MOE`s - Ottawa ON

I keep coming back for these take-out wings. They are large and very meaty wings, but the meat can be tough. Also I'm not sure why, but they can sometimes taste burnt. That being said, the sauces on these wings are unlike all the other joints. I've liked what they serve, but I now always get my favourite - Suicide and BBQ mixed together. So good!

HOLLY`S HOT CHICKEN - Ottawa ON

This is unique because Holly's Nashville Hot Chicken is a pop-up shop so you never know for sure where she will pop up. At the time I did the review, it was out of Bar Lupulus on Friday & Saturday nights, but as of this posting she isn't doing the chicken thing right now but desserts at other locations. But when I did have it, these Nashville Hot Wings were medium but meaty wings, dredged in spices and fried, served on top of white bread and pickles on top. Oily and dry spiced, you are going to need a napkin. It's a peppery kick that will kick you hard!

BEST NON-WING REVIEWS

I don`t just review wing you know (#itsnotjustaboutwings). - Here are some of the best non-wing food items (that might be wing related) from fingers to burgers and sandwiches!

DQ - various locations - HONEY HOT TOSSED & SAUCED FINGERS

I'm not crazy about the hot food at Dairy Queen, but my curiosity for these Honey Hot fingers got the best of me. These were actually, really good. The chicken strips are lightly breaded and fried nicely, and are good fingers on their own. Then they add the sauce which is a very high fructose honey syrup mixed with Frank's Red Hot, creating a runny, sticky, slightly spicy experience. So good. And they give a LOT of sauce.

HINTONBURGER - Ottawa ON - HINTONBURGER

I went for their Free Fry Day, but I couldn't pass up the signature Hintonburger at Hintonburger. One of my favourite burgers in the city, the Hintonburger is a 6oz homemade burger, cheese, bacon, and their signature smokey BBQ sauce. Made with the toppings I want, this is a great tasting burger. The fries are fresh cut and also very good. It's a pricey meal, but it's locally sourced, locally made, and is very very good.

SHERWOOD DELI - Ottawa ON - BBQ Chicken Bacon Sandwich

When a convenience store has a line-up almost out the door for sandwiches, they must be doing something right. I love their BBQ Chicken Bacon Sandwich (the most popular is the BBQ Chicken Avacado though) - egg bread, great deli chicken, fresh veggies, and the Sherwood Sauce is just so good. The sandwich is just so fresh and tasty. A must try.

REUBEN`s RESTAURANT DELI- Montreal QC - SMOKED MEAT SANDWICH

In Montreal you can find a lot of Smoked Meat Sandwiches, and so far I don't think I've had a bad one yet. Reuban's has been around for a long time, and they do a great Smoked Meat Sandwich special with the sandwich, fries, coleslaw, pickle and pop for $14. I upgraded my fries to a poutine, because well, Montreal. The sandwich was sliced thin, was juicy, and just melted in the mouth. Fatty is the way to go.

So not big enough for their own categories, this is a miscellaneous grouping of some topics that need shout outs:

• FROZEN WINGS 
• BEST SNACKS 
• BEST HOMEMADE 
• SAUCES REVIEWED 

BEST FROZEN WINGS REVIEWED - PC SMOKED

I sampled a number of frozen wings this past year, and most were a pass, but the PC Dry-Rubbed, Hardwood-Smoked Chicken Wings were pretty awesome. Not big, not crispy, but the meat was pretty tender, and the flavour of smoked wings was so there. The Maple BBQ sauce that came with it was not my thing, but the actually smoked wings were. If you don't have a smoker or a BBQ, this is the next best thing.

BEST SNACK REVIEWED - DUNN`s DILL PICKLE CHIPS

I love dill pickle chips. So when I saw Dunn's Deli's Dill Pickle Chips at Costco, I knew I needed to try them. This giant bag (like everything at Costco), releases that pungent, sour, dill smell that I could get high of off. The chips are wavy ruffled type that are very stiff and crunchy. They are sour, salty and dilly. They are ideally suited for dipping. Unfortunately I haven't seen them at Costco anymore, so you may never get to try these if you didn't already.

BEST #LOTWTESTKITCHEN WING RECIPE - BACON WRAPPED INJECTED WINGS

Now technically, technically, I made these wings before 2018, but I didn't post the recipe until 2018. I have to say, this is one of my favourite things to come out of the #lotwtestkitchen. Bacon wrapped wings that are fried, dusted, then sauced via injector, ON THE INSIDE. Not only is it an experience, it's also delicious.

HONOURABLE MENTION  #LOTWTESTKITCHEN WING RECIPE - GRIL-FRIED KETCHUP DRY RUBBED WINGS

I didn't post a lot of wing experiments I did, but this one was super unique, and turned out pretty fantastic. I grill-fried seasoned wings, then tossed them in ketchup pop-corn seasoning. It may sound weird but it turned out really good. It does not taste like actual ketchup, but more of a sweet BBQ sauce. Mixed with the smell of the charcoal, it was aces.

BEST SAUCE REVIEWED - OUT OF THE BOX GOURMET HOT SAUCES

Out of the Box sent me their signature sauces for me to try. I was house/dog sitting at the time and took advantage of the BBQ, grill-fried some wings, and went to town. These are gourmet hot sauces and some really unique flavours. Cucumber Habanero? Pina Colada? Yes there is a traditional Scotch Bonnet Hot, but they also had Pineapple Mango. These were all really fresh, really tasty sauces and they were truly, out of the box!

BEST WING SAUCE REVIEWED - PC CAYENNE & SCOTCH BONNET WING SAUCE

I also didn't do a lot of sauce reviews in 2018, but I really wanted to highlight this President's Choice Cayenne & Scotch Bonnet Wing Sauce. Wow - this sauce had some serious heat, and serious flavour. I grill-fried some seasoned wings, then I melted butter in a cast iron pot on the grill, and made a buttery-suicide wing sauce, both brushing the grilled wings and tossing them after. The charred and smokey wings went very well with the sauce that has good flavour, but also a really nice bite. 

EVENTS

2018 wasn't the best year for big events, only 2 wing related ones and I didn't even really post about them. The other two were big life events.

WINGSANITY @ St Louis Bar & Grill

So I'm a bit embarrassed. I went to Wingsanity, St Louis' all you can eat wing event. I had lots of wings, I took photos, and I never posted this review. $20 for AYCE may not sound great, but considering  1lb of wings is nearly $15, if you have two orders you are doing well. I did a bunch of flavours and I want to tell you all about it, but I've lost the info. I will try not to let this happen again!

KELSEY'S HOT WING CHALLENGE

So I'm embarrassed again. See back in March I went to Kelsey's event where you could win free wings for a year - a hot wing eating challenge where if you won at your local Kelseys, you would win free wings for a year. I was totally on board, however the rules, times and events were very different at the 3 Kelsey's I contacted. I went with the one I had the best chance of winning. I went and went up against about 8 other folks. I gotta say I was impressed because while I didn't win, I was impressed everyone stayed to the end in the competition. They did 9 rounds with different heated wings. It was fun, a little awkward, and I got to eat a lot of wings. I actually slowed down not because of the heat, but the actual eating of wings. I'm getting old. Anyways, I did have the event video taped and I was going to do a full video and posting, but it was around this time my laptop died, along with my editing software. One day maybe ...

GRAM PASSING

Two major life events happened towards the end of 2018, one sad and one happy. The sad one was that my Gramma passed away. Doreen Brown was a wonderful gram, always looking out for me, always kind, always making something delicious. The photo above is from wing night (she didn't know I was taking a photo). I really miss her, a lot.

NEW #LOTWTESTKITCHEN

The other major event was my wife and I bought a house. Yes, after searching for almost 2 years, we moved out of our tiny apartment into a very spacious place to put down our roots. And more excitingly, a new #lotwtestkitchen. Functioning oven, place to deep fry, eventual BBQ set up, and hopefully I can get WingKingTV back up and running. As for now, we are still drowning in boxes, but it's so good to have the home we've always wanted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

INSTAGRAM

One thing has has changed everything about my Lord of the Wing experiences has been Instagram. I love it. It's simple, easy to use, and can really expose my food photography to a much large audience. And I have connected with so many other wing lovers, or Wingstagramers as well. It changed how I post to the blog and how often I post. I love it.


To end everything off, here is my #2018bestofnine from Instagram, the most liked photos that I produced over the year. I'm always shocked at the most popular photos because, well they weren't even necessarily wing photos. My top Instagram post of all time was re-posting Low Cost Cosplays Street Fighter Chicken Wing post. Also really big is my wing memes. Yes I am the top Chicken Wing Memer on Instagram, for whatever that's worth.

That's it, that was 2018. It was a good year for me and a good year to be a wing blogger. I know things are going to be even better in 2019. Although I am late on this post once again (I was so close to having this done on New Years eve!!!) and I'm behind by 3 posts for 2019 already, I'm excited. I love writing reviews, seeing new places, meeting new people. I love it.

So happy new years, and happy new wing adventures to you. Oh, and I hope you like the new Lord of the Wing logos!