Dear Negative Anonymous Posters . . .

Dear Negative Anonymous Posters,


Why do you gotta be a hater? I mean, I appreciate you checking out the blog. But maybe you could give some real feedback?


To my loyal readers out there, this might be a little confusing. Back in May of 2008 I reviewed a pizzeria that didn't have the best subs or wings. They weren't terrible, they weren't great either. I didn't even trash them in the review. Then I went to the movies. Then I went on with my life. Since then, I've had 2 (or I suspect the same) people write negative comments about that review armed only with negativity and immaturity.

Now when I say negative, I don't mean constructive criticism, or even a disagreement about the food. No, there was no intelligent conversation at all.

Fawzi: "ur an idoit"

Wow, thanks, I can use that. In what way were you referring to me being an idiot? Perhaps your Anonymous friend can answer that. At least you left some sort of a name. But Anonymous at least left some important info for me:

"listen i think your waisting your time with trying to bring down restaurants, maybe you should go into taking pictures intsead of eating so much, as well what grown man goes to the movies by himself, who would take advise from a dork like yourself, eating alone, then proclaim so much about the food. Lets be honest you probably devoured it in like 5 min because you obviously love food, see your problem was not that the food was bad that after eating such a large meal you were still hungry, don't take you insecurities out on innocent business owner and while your at it find a lady to take out to the movies maybe you will not be so angry with your food. Wow bud you have no life really im a chef and stubbled over your sight your making your self look like an ass if i were you i would find something more productive to do with your time hahahhahahahh"

I have some free time, so lets break this all down.



ANONYMOUS:
"i think your waisting your time with trying to bring down restaurants"
WK:
um, my goal isn't to bring down restaurants. Just critique in an open and honest way. I'm looking for the best wings out there, not some crazy coup d'etat of the restaurant industry.


ANONYMOUS:
"what grown man goes to the movies by himself"
WK:
One comfortable enough with themselves? One with self confidence?


ANONYMOUS:
"who would take advise from a dork like yourself, eating alone, then proclaim so much about the food"
WK:
My loyal readers? Yes I am a dork (this is a blog about chicken wings!!!) I'll be honest, I don't get the part about 'then proclaim so much about the food'? So by eating by myself do you think I'm not qualified to write about food? Ok then . . .


ANONYMOUS:
"you probably devoured it in like 5 min because you obviously love food, see your problem was not that the food was bad that after eating such a large meal you were still hungry"
WK:
Is that a fat joke? Seriously, that's the best you got? So, I ate a large meal, was still hungry, and attacked the restaurant because I was still hungry. Right. That makes a lot of sense.

ANONYMOUS:
"don't take you insecurities out on innocent business owner"
WK:
Innocent business owner? Again, I barely criticized this restaurant. But I evaluated them with my pseudo-scientific point system, and the pictures tell the rest. A good restaurant can proudly stand behind their food. If they can't, they need to re-evaluate their product. If you like the subs and wings, say so Anonymous. Why do you think the food is so great? Did I stumble upon a bad day? It's possible, it happens. But as a customer I don't think I got the best product I could have, and I would think an 'innocent business owner' would want to always give their best all the time. I would rather support a small business, that's why I review so many of them, but they have to serve a good product for me to tell others to go to an establishment.


ANONYMOUS:
"Wow bud you have no life "
WK:
Apparently I'm not the only one.


ANONYMOUS:
"really im a chef and stubbled over your sight"
WK:
Over my sight? Do you mean site? As in website? And you are a chef? Really? Really really? Then I would think you would appreciate improving food, not just settling for so-so cuisine.

ANONYMOUS:
"your making your self look like an ass if i were you i would find something more productive to do with your time hahahhahahahh"
WK:
I'm making myself look like an ass. Well, I guess its possible, I mean, I'm a guy who eats chicken wings and writes about it. And you . . . well, I don't know what you do in your spare time. I know almost nothing about you (other than your grammer sucks - it's you're or you are, not your). You weren't brave enough to e-mail me, or even leave a name. I don't post all my info because I have to worry about the kooks and crazies out there. But at least I have an e-mail address for someone to contact me by. What have you got?


THEN - Anonymous left another comment attached with a homophobic comment. I won't repeat the homophobic comment, because it's just vile. So far we have seen you are angry, misinformed, immature, a coward, and a bigot. But anyways, lets get back to your last comment:

ANONYMOUS:
"i know who you are from you picture @#!$%"
WK:
You are a genius! You know who I am because you have my picture! From a blog about me eating chicken wings! I guess that's why I am not afraid of hiding and making a critique, and you are a coward and hide in anonymity. Are you that upset about me saying "While "Joe" was friendly, I wasn't a fan of his subs or his wings. The sub was blah and the wings had no love in them. Maybe the pizza was different, but I doubt I will ever know." OR is this your way of threatening me? Should I be contacting the police and tracing you IP address?

This is what I think: Anonymous, you are somehow connected to the pizzeria. I wrote a mildly negative critique of either your restaurant or one you frequent. And you can't take it that someone said something bad about it. And you reacted with emotion. Instead of analysing what I said, thinking about it and coming up with an intelligent retort, you went with your gut which led us to your immature rant.

I can deal with someone constructively criticising me. People disagree with me over wings and sauces and restaurants and all sorts of things and that's ok. That is because it's done with the idea of having a dialogue. You need to grow up, be responsible enough to take credit for your actions and comments, and get over your bigoted ways.

-----------------------

So why did I give this person the time of day? Why publish his/her comments or even bother to respond to them when I have the power to not publish them? Why even allow anonymous users to comment?

I believe in freedom of speech. Ok, I did censor the homophobic comments, but I don't believe in spreading hate. I bothered because people who spread hate from the shadows need to have a little light shown on them once in a while. Homophobia and bigotry is never ok.

I put my image and my opinions out there for fun, for information and for trying to make a better wing world. I expect criticism. No one is above honest, intelligent criticism. I understand people will feel strong emotions over criticism - and there is nothing wrong with loyalty or even a little pride when you feel like something is under attack. But I didn't attack the establishment, and Anonymous looked like the ass in my humble opinion.

Calm down and have some wings. I know I will.





-Here is the review that incited the revolt.

Dead or Alive, your chicken is coming with me

This has been going around the web recently . . . man, Robocop really sold out. I mean, what kind of an advertising mascot is a man that is more machine, and eats baby food in the movie? And what is the deal with the city slickers theme in there too? And why is Robocop so damn shiny?

Can anyone translate what is being said in the commercial?


Robocop Fried Chicken Commercial 1980's

HOOLEY'S PUB ~ Ottawa

- RIP - Hooley's is NOW CLOSED

Sometimes I make decisions on trying new wings based purely on economics. Times are tough, I didn't have lunch, and I wanted a lot of food. Therefore I needed to try some place with a wing night.


There aren't a lot of Wednesday wing nights in Ottawa, and the one's I did find were not really exciting to me. Then I came across one place that has the entire menu 1/2 price on Wednesday nights, and, well, I was there.




Hooley's is a Pub/Club. The front half is a pub if for food with a slight Maritime theme to it. The back half is a club on weekends for dancing and drinking. When I came in I just had the overwhelming feeling of student pub. Elgin Street is full of clubs and bars and right from when I entered that's what I guessed would take shape for the weekend.

The customers were definitely a mix - 40 somethings, 20 somethings, an elderly lady by herself, and a few students. The 'hostess' gave me the option of a big dark booth at the front, or a bright high table in the back. Normally I would hate the high table, but the booth was really really dark. I took the bright area to do photos, but I have to warn you, the photos turned out terrible. I didn't want to use the flash, especially with all the staff right beside me.





Speaking of staff, my waitress Allison was friendly and helpful. She got me a refill on my pop without asking, and in the end didn't even charge me for the drink!




The menu is mainly pub classics. What really intrigued me was the Maritime flare of Halifax Donairs, Donair pizza and Garlic Fingers (pizza dough with garlic, mozzarella and donair sauce). I love Donair sauce and Halifax Donairs, remember? So while I was there I had to get the garlic fingers. Hey, they were 1/2 price - how could I resist?

The garlic fingers came out and they looked good. Doughy, cheesy, and garlicky. It might look like a pizza in the photo, but think really good garlic sticks or bread in wedge form. The best part was their donair sauce. So sweet. Allison (who also loves this dish) told me it was homemade. I guess I can't buy it at a store, so I will have to come back to get my fix. But I didn't come for Halifax bar food, I came for the wings.

2009 THE SCORE 3.2: Hooley’s Pub~ Ottawa

STYLE:	Dusted, deep fried
PRICE:	$11.99 for 1lb (approx 10 wings) - EXPENSIVE
SAUCES:	Mild/medium/hot Honey Garlic Caribbean Jerk Cajun Lemon Pepper Smokey BBQ Red Thai Suicide
HEAT:	Suicide: tingle-burnging. There was some heat, but dissapointing for ‘Iron Stomachs Only’
WETNAP FACTOR:	Suicide=mushy – some visible sauce Smokey BBQ=wet , lots of sauce
SIZE:	Medium-large and a medium meaty factor	2/3
CRISPINESS:	Crisp and crispy	2.5/3
FLAVOUR:	Suicide was decent BBQ was great	2/3
SIDES:	Celery, shredded carrot on cabbage leaf with sour cream
CLEAN UP:
WING NIGHT:	Monday $4.75 wings Wednesday 1/2 price menu (wings are $5.99)	1/1
OTHER:	Patio (in alley), dance club (basement), Coke (free refills . .. actually I got my coke for free).
TOTAL:	Good wings – good size, good bbq sauce	7.5/10

I got a feast of wings - two orders of ten to do some sampling. Suicide and Smokey BBQ. They came on long white rectangular plates, with a side of celery, shaved carrot on a cabbage leaf. With the Ottawa standard, sour cream. Allison said she was going to bring me a wing plate, but the small table was already filled with wings and garlic sticks, pop and my books.

The wings were dusted in flour and spices, then deep fried. The sizes of the wings ranged from medium to quite large, and they were about a medium meatiness. They were slightly on the chewy side, but more than edible. The chicken was spiced well, and would have been relatively tasty on its own without sauce.

SUICIDE

The menu had a small warning about the suicide. It wasn't flashy like some places, but a simple message: "Suicide Warning from chef: 'Iron Stomachs only, no refunds for wimps.'" Well, that spells challenge to me. My first look at the suicide and my first thought was 'suicide salsa'.

This is what I personally refer to sauces that look like a salsa because its full of chopped peppers and sometimes other bits (onion, garlic etc). I'm not a big fan of 'suicide salsa' as it becomes more about the peppers than the flavour of the sauce. Sure it can have a kick, but I'm often not a fan of the flavour. Hooley's suicide was like this, but fortunately they were only lightly drizzled in sauce. I was very disappointed in the heat - as it was barely a hot on my scale.

BBQ
This is was a big winner for me. First they were really wet, thick and sticky, the way I like bbq wing sauce. The sauce was a 'dark' bold flavour, similar to a Bullseye type sauce. I wouldn't mind a little spice for heat, but I like the sweetness it provided.

I actually sped though eating most of the suicide first, so I could savour the bbq last. I haven't had a bbq wing sauce this good in a while.

FINAL SCORE: Before I left, I hadn't read much about Hooley's or their food. When I got there and saw the 'student bar' feel, and a 1/2 price menu, I didn't expect much. And when I got home I found an article from an Ottawa local magazine that trashed their food when they first opened in 2006.

Well, the food might have been bad back then, but I was happy with my meal. Good wings, great Halifax import cuisine. I don't think I would ever come on a weekend, but Wednesday was a good night. Not too busy, and not too young, if you know what I mean. 7.5/10

Hooley's Pub

292 Elgin St, Ottawahooleyspub.com

PS: really sorry about the photos once again.

Updates coming for 2009

Hopefully I will be getting some updates soon to the blog. I've been neglecting some general maintenance and some things for the future:

1] A New Score

Ya, it seems like every year we get a new score. Well its true. I keep tweaking it to fix the bugs. Here's what got changed and why:

• I've removed points from the Wetnap Factor, Sides and Clean Up. Because I wanted to streamline the points. One wing joint may have crappy wings, but give all the amenities of wing bowls and french fries, and a good wing may get low marks for not having those things. The important thing is the wings. Are they big? Are they crispy? Are they great?
  
• Points were removed from the Wetnap Factor because, well wings are different nowadays. Back in the day there was just Buffalo and hot wings. Now you have Cajun or Dry Ketchup - wings that aren't sauced and aren't supposed to be. Why should they be penalized. Also, some wing sauces are good, but in small quantities. Other wings need to be drowning in sauce. So no need to score, just inform.

2009 THE SCORE 3.2:

STYLE:	buffalo style, gourmet, frozen, pizza, Chinese, experimental, Colonel (kfc like)
PRICE:	$__ for ___# of wings
SAUCES:
HEAT:	Nothing/Tingle/Burning/PAIN* *(relative to Wing King’s tolerance) Scoville Units where available
WETNAP FACTOR:	· Dry · Drizzle · Wet · Drowning
SIZE:	· Pidgeon/Small= -1/0.5 · Medium= 1 · Large= 2 · Jumbo = 3	/3
CRISPINESS:	· Mushy/Rock Hard= -1/1 · Crisp= 2 · Crispy/Crunchy= 3	/3
FLAVOUR:	· Bad= 0 · OK/Decent= 1 · Good= 2 · Great= 3	/3
SIDES:	Veggies Dip Fries Other
CLEAN UP:	Napkin Wetnap Wing Bowl/Plate Warm towel
WING NIGHT:	½ price AYCE 2-4-1	/1
OTHER:	Patio, pop refills
TOTAL:	0-2=Not worth it 3-5=ok 6-8=good 9+=GREAT	/10

2] Wing Night Guide

This thing is sorely in need of an overhaul. Every time I look at it, I hate it. Its hard to read. It looks fine when I first type it up in Word, but transferred to Blogger, its pretty terrible. Its not ready yet but hopefully soon it will be up. You and I deserve better when trying to find out what places have what wing nights. Its just common decency.

3] The Review Guides

Same as above. I need to update and organize so that its easier to see what has been done.

So the Score 3.2 starts tonight, but the rest are things to be done in the near future. Please Stand By!!!!

First Wings of 2009 ~ More Wild Wing

There is nothing more exciting than the first wings of the season. Fresh out of the fryer, spices filling the nose, and hunger hitting the stomach. I love wings.

I've been a bit nostalgic for the first wings of the year. In 2006 and 2007 my first wings of the year involved going to Dangerous Dan's Diner - 2006 (Here & Here) because my crew were in Toronto for New Years, and 2007 because we were on the way back from Peterborough.

In 2008 I visited Ottawa with Costco wings with LJ while the others were in London. This year was Ottawa again. I miss our visit to the Triple D, but times move on and so do we, how we do it is no mystery. One by one (one by one), we fill the days, We find a thousand different ways. Remember Empty Nest? I do.

This past weekend LJ and I were out running errands and lunch time came around and we just happened to be near Wild Wings. LJ suggested it not me. I was surprised as much as anyone that my first wings of 2009 were almost 2 weeks since NYE! I've done the whole Wild Wing review before, so I'm just going to give you some quick points on these wings.



I had heard about a secret sauce at WW called "The Managers Special" that is the absolute hottest sauce that is not on the menu, and can only be ordered when the manager is in. This intrigues me a lot, but I just wanted a tasty wing. I went with Hot Dill Pickle - which is hot sauced wings that are then tossed in Come Get Some (or creamy buttermilk dill). And as you can see above, they were generous with the sauce.


The wings are super meaty, and I heard two guys beside our table who ordered 2 10 orders each wow themselves because the wings were bigger than they expected and they had probably over ordered. But you can never over order on wings.



The hot sauce is just Franks, but its tasty, and the creamy dill makes for an interesting yet dill-licious paring. There was almost too much dill, but I'm not really complaining.

LJ went for the chicken fingers tossed in hot sauce. It was real chicken fillets, not ground chicken, in a light dusting. She liked them, and I thought they were a decent alternative to wings.

Her tenders came with fries, and she upgraded to the popular gar-par fries. A creamy garlic and Parmesan mixture, that was extremely generous with their sauce as well. These are a pretty big indulgence and I couldn't imagine eating a whole order on my own.

Overall, this was a good first wings of the year. And I can't complain about this new tradition - the company was excellent.

WK Multi-rib Tasting PART II ~ RNW

Oooooh weeee we're cooking up a storm of ribs! The weather outside is frightful, so no bbq, but that didn't stop me from cooking ribs on and in the stove.







In Part I we covered Pot Boiled and Suicide style, and in this segment, we are checking out the Memphis Style BBQ Sauce, Apple Juiced Rib, and the BBQ Rubbed. Lets get down to it.






I wanted to do a different kind of bbq sauce then I usually make. I checked out a number of recipes, and while I didn't follow any in particular, I did take recipes from here and there. When I looked up to try and identify my sauce, the closest seemed to be Memphis Style. Although I need to point out -DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NOT HAD AUTHENTIC MEMPHIS STYLE BBQ SAUCE AND THIS MAY BE FAR FROM TRADITIONAL MEMPHIS STYLE SAUCE.








INGREDIENTS:

• apple juice (3/4s of a large can)
• chili sauce (whole bottle)
• Worcestershire sauce
• sirachi sauce
• vinegar
• brown sugar
• s&p
• garlic powder

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add wet ingredients, stir
2. Add dry ingredients, stir
3. Bring to a slight boil, stir
4. Cook for about an hour, stirring.
   

The ingredients. I originally was going to use ketchup, but the chili sauce was so close to ketchup I didn't bother.


Everything ready to be mixed up

Whisking everything together. It smelled wonderful. Sweet, spicy - a good mix.

Without a smoker and apple wood chips, I turned to apple juice to infuse my ribs with some fruity flavour. And man did I use the juice!

INGREDIENTS
Dry Rub

• brown sugar
• cayenne pepper
• s&p
• garlic powder

Other

• side ribs
• apple juice
• Memphis Style BBQ Sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Boil ribs in apple juice - about 1/2 a litre, the rest water
2. Rub ribs with dry mixture.
3. Preheat oven to about 350
4. Place on a rack over a pan. In pan underneath ribs, add enough apple juice to fill pan about a cm
5. Bake ribs. Keep checking every 20 mins and adding more apple juice to pan.
6. Baking for about 1 1/2- 2 hours (approx).
7. For last 20 minutes, baste ribs with bbq sauce. When finished, liberally brush on sauce.
8. Enjoy.
   

A very sweet yet a hint of spicy dry rub. I love brown sugar.

And the ribs rubbed. Ready to be caramelized.

Ribs on a rack, over a pan, pouring in apple juice. A hint, place the pan/rack in the oven before adding juice to avoid having to carry and try and not spill. See the apple juice keeps the ribs moist and infuses the apple flavour instead of plain water.

The final product baked and basted. It just looks soo good. To me anyway.

Nice and tender, flavour throughout - what a good rib.

Nothing special here. These were the ribs I made LJ, who liked what I had done in the past.

The ribs rubbed in the generic bbq seasoning mixture I got at Bulk Barn.

The final product - LJ ate these with the idea of having the Memphis Style BBQ Sauce as table dipping sauce, but it was a little too sweet for her.

=======================================================

MEMPHIS STYLE BBQ SAUCE
WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY: I don't think anything. I really really liked this sauce. It was hitting all areas of my flavour receptors. I was disappointed that I only had a little left for bottling for later. The highlights of the sauce were the apple juice, brown sugar and chili sauce. Oh and the sirachi. Its a good sauce and would be as great for a table sauce as much as a basting one.

APPLE JUICED RIBS
WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY: I was pretty happy with these too. Despite the apple bath, steaming and sauce, the apple was not dominating the flavour - but certainly enhanced it. It was a lot of work but it was worth it. I think this would be awesome if done on a bbq.

DRY BBQ RUBBED RIBS
WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY: I didn't eat these, and I am not a fan of that pre-made bbq rub - its way too salty for my liking. But LJ was happy - but agreed these were better on the charcoal grill.

==========================================

CONCLUSIONS

What a personal ribfest! And way cheaper too. I would have preferred all of these on the bbq (the pot boiled could be done on the bbq too and get the smokey flavour) but this was a good alternative. Its hard to say what my favourite was, as they were each very different. I love the tenderness of the pot boiled. The apple-Memphis ribs were a great traditional rib flavour, while the suicide was just bang on. The Suicide was probably my choice - different, but tasty. And easy.

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Multi Rib Tasting Part I