PONG's POUTINE - Stittsville ON

 Sometimes the stars align and everything just works out the way you want. A few years ago I heard about a little chip truck in Stittsville called Pong's Poutine that has always gotten rave reviews. Not only do they seem to have killer fries and poutine, but every week they have a different special and sometimes that's General Tso chicken. And I love General Tso chicken. I don't get out there often, and when I've been in the area and down for some fries, they've been closed ...

Then one day I was out in the west end of Kanata when I saw a post about Pong's special for the day: Bacon Cheeseburger with Poutine & a drink for $10, but the weekly poutine was General Tso ... I mean, I had to go!

Pong's is located just off the 417 on Carp Road in the parking lot of Ritchie's Feed & Seed, next to a flea market. It's a standard chip wagon but they've carved out area for seating (when COVID is not going on) with trash cans and their set up. I love their giant mascot on the wagon of a fry guy weilding a spatula like a sword!

The menu itself is pretty standard chip truck fare: fries, poutine, burgers, pogos etc. What sets them apart is the daily and weekly specials, often with an Asian flare, like Pad Thai or sping rolls, or in the case of this trip, General Tso chicken. 

There was already a crowd outside, which I had tried to bypass by calling ahead, but they were busy and didn't answer the phone. Despite being busy, they were friendly at the window. It's clear they have regulars who know them well, asking about their kids, business etc. 

I ordered the bacon cheeseburger combo, but asked if I could upgrade the poutine to the General Tso. They said yes. With taxes and tip it came to $16. They gave me a number and I waited for about 15 minutes. It felt like forever on this sunny and hot day!

The combo was packaged up in a cardboard box and I was given the option of a bag to take it in, in which they put in a fork and several napkins. I went back to the a/c of the car and opened up lunch.

 

Wow what a box! It was jammed pack with poutine goodness and a big burger! Even if this wasn't the upgraded poutine this was a great deal.

I went for the burger first. The burger was not what I expected at all, in a good way. I expected the standard chip truck frozen burger patty and cheap utilitarian bun. Instead, I got a handmade patty and a fresh kaiser bun! The bun to meat ratio was a bit off - while the burger is thick, it's not a wide burger while the bun is quite wide.

I was asked what I wanted on the burger and for some reason I said just mayo. I wasn't looking for a ton of toppings, but why I just said mayo I don't know. So my burger was super basic, but it was good. The bun was fresh and very soft. The burger patty was from ground beef and tasted so much better than the frozen pucks most places serve. The bacon was crisp with a little chew and the cheese I believe was processed as a good burger should have. Meaty, bacon-y, cheesy goodness!

Then there was the poutine. It was a big serving - much bigger than I expected. Half the box was loaded down thick with ingredients and I ended up eating this portion size for a few times after!

This General Tso Poutine has your classic fresh cut fries, layered with squeeky cheese curds and gravy, which is topped with fried chicken chunks with Pong's version of General Tso sauce and sesame seeds for garnish. A-mazing. 

Evaluating just the poutine - I loved it. The fries are skinnier than a lot of places, skin on, crispy. The cheese curds are generous, large, and squeaky. The gravy is good but it got a bit lost with the General Tso sauce. This poutine was aces in my book.

The rest of this dish was topped with deep fried battered chicken chunks. There were about 7 or so pieces which were crispy, but also tender on the inside. Then Pong's topped it with the sauce. It didn't taste like any General Tso sauce I've had before, and I wouldn't say my favourite. The dominant flavour was sesame oil with something very very sweet. It was good, but General Tso sauce to me is a balance of sweet and spicy. This was mostly sesame oil. 

Overall I was very happy with my meal. The combo deal was great, the food was fresh, reasonably priced and just made me very happy. That burger was homemade with crispy bacon and cheese and that kaiser bun changes the burger game up. The poutine is spot on, and while I wasn't crazy about the General Tso sauce, the chicken chunks were pretty good. I'm sad I've only gotten it after so long, and I look forward to going back!

Pong's Poutine

2079 Carp Road, Stittsville ON

facebook.com/pongspoutine

THE GLEN SCOTTISH RESTAURANT & PUB Stittsville ON 2013 - LOST REVIEW

It's time from another #tbt and #lostreview

I've gone through all my Lost Reviews from 2015 and I'm just going all over the place. Instead of going forward to 2016, I'm going back to 2013 where the start of most of my found reviews are waiting. 

It was 2013, I was living in Toronto, but I came to Ottawa to visit LJ. But my good friend Julianna (you may remember Julianna from such reviews as The Cheshire Cat Pub,  Lou Dawg's, and even way back in 2007 at Pogue Mahone's among others) had been living in the Ottawa area for a bit and I took the opportunity to have lunch together.  

NOTE: I don't have any notes about this visit so this is purely on my vague memory and the photos.

She recommended a place that had great wings. Just outside of Kanata is Stittsville, and in Stittsville is a pub called The Glen Scottish Restaurant & Pub. Originally this pub was in Kanata and moved to this new building, and according to Julianna, this was a huge improvement.

I'm not quite sure when this location opened, but in 2013 it was still new looking. But the inside still had a classic pub look. Modern yet classic. It was crazy busy inside, and seeing the food go by one plates, I could understand why.

The menu is full of traditional pub fare such as fish and chips, Sheppard's Pie, and Scotch Eggs. They even have haggis! Of course, I was there for the wings. The wings come by the pound, and back then 1 pound was $10. There were a bunch of flavours which was also impressive:

• Honey Garlic/Hot 'n' Honey
• Medium/Hot/Suicide
• Rickard's Dark BBQ/Sweet BBQ
• Sweet Thai
• Cajun/Salt & Pepper
• Buffalo Ranch

If you look up the menu today (Summer 2020), they are on a modified take-out menu for Covid where they just have Hot, BBQ, and Honey Garlic).

Julianna wen't with the fish and chips, and wow, is that a huge piece of fish.

Like that thing is massive! It also had a really crunchy batter like I have never seen before. It came with fries (fresh cut) and not really a salad but kind of a garnish?!  Unfortunately I don't remember if she like it or not, but I think she did. Julianna, if you are reading this, let me know!

Of course I got the wings and wow, what a presentation! First you've got a pyramid of wings that just looks awesome. Then you've got the redoubt fortification of carrot sticks near some foliage, protecting an inner container of blue cheese dip. The Glen does not mess around!

b

That dip looks mighty thick and creamy! The carrot sticks fresh and crunchy. The lettuce ... I don't know what to do with that.

In one pound The Glen serves up 8 wings. They were breaded and sauced really well. It seems like it was pretty equal drum-to-flat ratio.

The wings weren't long in terms of size, but they were a good size wing. They were also pretty meaty.
That breading that is on there was still crispy and held up to a good thick coating of sauce.

Each wing was coated in sauce and they came out wet, but there wasn't any extra on the plate. Now I only got one flavour, so I'm assuming it was Hot. But I'm curious what suicide, or the Rickard's Dark BBQ is like. I can't remember what these wings were like for sure, but they look so darn good in the photos!

I'd like to blame Covid, but I haven't seen a lot of good friends, like Julianna, in a long time. I miss our hang outs and hope we can get back to going out and having wings soon! I haven't been back to The Glen since this visit, but I'm pretty sure it's worth going back in the future.

The Glen - Scottish Restaurant & Pub
1681 Hazeldean Road, Stittsville ON
theglen.ca

MAIN ST. PUB - Stittsville ON

#lotwsummercatchup continues ...

Years ago a friend mentioned to me we should go check out this pub in Stittsville that has good wings, The Main St. Pub. I was like, sounds good, and for some reason we didn't go there. Then years went by, and this summer I was in Stittsville around lunch time and figured I'd finally check it out.

Located in a strip mall with like a pot store and a pizza place, Main St. Pub is nestled in the middle. It doesn't look like a pub, or at least that it was supposed to be a pub. I don't know how old it is, the signs are kind of fading and it seems pretty clear you are going into a dive bar.

And you are. It's dark (despite the high vaulted window at the front), the place feels like it hasn't been updated in ages. As I went in, the place was empty, except for one guy setting up the pool table. I thought he was staff as it was just him and I in the place, but it turned out he was just a customer playing pool by himself the whole time. There were a lot of long, group tables spread about, but I took a smaller table in the back corner (which turned out to be next to the ladies loo, but there were like no ladies, so no worries).

Eventually more people came, mostly older men, what seemed to be regulars, the old day time drinkers who are there everyday. The waitress had come out - she was the only one working out front so she was waitress, bartender, and I guess hostess. She wasn't very warm, but she wasn't rude or anything either.

She took my drink order, I asked for a Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, and she said "ok," not confirming which brand it was. I looked over the menu and found wings right at the top. A little pricey for a pub appetizer in a dive bar, but just about everything on the menu is about $15. I was there on a Tuesday and I had read on the net that it was wing night, but nothing on the menu corroborated this, until I saw the waitress writing it on the chalk board ($9.45 and it's Sunday-Wed, wow!). She came back with my drink and took my order.

My drink tasted a little off. It was a bit warm (despite enough floating ice cubes). It had almost a creamy froth, but not much syrup. It didn't taste like Coke or Pepsi, and later on the bill I saw that it said "Diet Cola". I didn't complain, but now I know it was shite generic cola brand.

I didn't have to wait long, and my wings arrived.

Before the food arrived, my waitress brought out a bone bowl, extra napkins, and wetnaps, so that was appreciated. The wings come in one size order of about 9-10 wings, so that's what I got, and you get an even split of flats and drums.

The wings come with carrot and sour cream, but any self respecting wing connoisseur poo-poo's such a dip. So I asked if I could switch it out, and I went with blue cheese. The blue cheese looked like it was full of blue cheese chunks, and it had some, but not a lot. It also tasted ... wrong. Not bad, just not like blue cheese dip. I tried it again, and I'm pretty sure it's just ranch with chunks of blue cheese thrown in.

The wings that came out surprised me because they were pretty big. I mean round, meaty wings. They are also dusted in flour and fried, but they are still a hefty wing. They weren't very tender, but they weren't that tough either. Pulling apart the bones was not easy, but not super hard.

The wings were probably crispy when they were first sauced, and they were sauced well, but by the time I had my wings they had lost that crispness. But there was a decent amount of sauce for extra dipping.

For my wings I went with their Hot, with a side of Suicide. The hot was just typical cayenne based hot sauce. Probably just Frank's sauced and tossed.

The Suicide on the side, served in a closed plastic cup, was 3rd Degree I'm pretty sure. Good, but nothing special here again. Hot was ok, but this was good to bump things up.

FINAL SCORE:

The wings were ok. Carrot and blue cheese dip was ok. The service was ok. The atmosphere was ok. The cola sucked. I was happy that the wings were large at least, but they weren't as crispy as they should be, nor tender, nor as flavourful as they should be. I mean I'd eat them again on wing night because they are pricey, but this is not somewhere I need to rush back for wings anytime soon. 8.5/15

Main St. Pub
1408 Stittsville Main Street, Stittsville ON
facebook.com/Main-Street-Pub-159397160758641/