Toronto Star Reports on the Wing Wars

Yes the Wing Wars are heating up here in Ontario. Indianguy sent me this article last week (thanks Indianguy) from the Toronto Star. Their article, "Wing War: Chicken-Wing Chain Sues U.S. Counterpart."

Let me break it down for you:

• Rick Smiciklas is the founder & owner of the Canadian company Wild Wings which opened in 1999.
• In 2003 he trademarked the name 'Wild Wing' in Canada.
• The American company Buffalo Wild Wings (founded in 1981) recently started construction of its first restaurant in Canada in 2011.
• Smiciklas prepares to sue Buffalo Wild Wings for copy write infringement due to his trademarking of the name 'Wild Wing'.

There are a lot of issues being brought up in the early stages of the war. There is concern about an American chain wiping out the Canadian chain and some want to argue to protectionism. My thoughts? I've eaten at Wild Wing and I've eaten at Buffalo Wild Wing, and I'll be honest, BWW was not very good. Some are worried that people will get confused as to which restaurant is which with just one word difference. I'd like to give Ontarians more credit to not only see a difference in a word, the icon, the fonts but also that Wild Wing has a Western theme, while BWW has an industrial sports bar feel. 

My question is, what about Wild Wings on the Danforth in Toronto which had the name in Ontario years and years ago?

MAMMA'S PIZZA ~ Toronto ON

First Wings of 2011!

I felt like grabbing some take-out. Chicken Wing take-out. There weren't any wing nights this night in my area and I didn't feel like delivery. So I hit the streets, looking for somewhere I never had been to before. Block after block, I couldn't find a place to eat. I was about to give up at a burger chain, when I saw a Canadian pizza chain I have never eaten from before.

Mamma's story starts in 1957 when Mamma, or Lidia Danesi, who immigrated to Canada and opened the first Italian restaurant in Toronto. People started to call her "Mamma, Queen of the Pizza's" and eventually the chain became Mamma`s Pizza. On thier website it has part of the menu listing of a medium Deluxe pizza costing $1.75. A whole pizza. Over 50 years later and many more pizza types later, and a Mamma's medium pizza ranges from $13.45-$19.75.

It was a Sunday night, and the streets were empty when I went in to this location. There was table seating, a counter that wrapped around the outside edges with big picture windows looking out to sit at, and a mini-bar area that looks like a classy pub. The staff were hanging out in the pub area, while one patron seemingly just hanging out, looking out the window, who I later overheard was satisfied with his food.

The guy I delt with at the counter was seemingly not happy to be there. I think it might have been having to deal with another customer at the end of the night. I scanned over the big board above the counter for wings. Nothing. I was surprised that there were no wings. Oh well I guess. I pointed to a slice of pepperoni pizza in the display case, paid my bill and waited while it was put in the oven to reheat. While I waited, I leafed through their take-out menu, and there it was, wings. Why would they not have that up on the board? Huh? Why? So I got an order of wings too.

It didn't take long for my pizza to come out. It was one slice cut into two length wise. It was cheesy, very light on sauce, and about 4 full pepperoni slices on top. It was a very mild flavoured pizza, so I went and doctored it up with chili flakes and hot sauce.

It was an incredibly long slice, and incredibly thin. It was so long and thin, you really needed two hands to eat. While I like thin pizza, I was not overly impressed with the pie. Crispy crust = good; super mild sauce/pepperoni/cheese = not impressive. This wasn't a bad slice of pizza, but it did not wow me.

When I asked about the wings, my Mamma's Pizza representative did not look enthused to make them. I mean he did it, and effeciently, he just didn't seem want to. I saw him get my wings from a plastic tub that went into the oven, and in 10 minutes I had a plate of wings.

Mamma's wings are pre-marinated in a bbq sauce, baked, and then tossed in your sauce of choice. The wings come in orders of 10 or 20 wings. Since I was dining in, they brought my 10 wings on a disposable plate right to my seat.

Those wings were quite small. A bit longer than my thumb, they were not impressive in length, but they were quite meaty. Also, very tender meat. It fell off the bone quite easily. But, they were not crispy at all. At all. Tender but no texture.

The sauces are pretty standard, but I was happy to see they had a suicide. And when they came I was very impressed with the heat levels. I mean the wings were right out of the oven, so they hurt to touch, but they also gave my mouth a little blister from spice heat. I thought their mix of bbq basting and suicide made for a unique tasting wing, but I was taken aback by the heat. I asked my unsmiling counter buddy what they made their suicide with; "Frank's X-Tra Hot" he said. I was a little embarrased that I got a good sting from Frank's, but hey, it worked. Clearly I need to get back to eating spicier foods.

FINAL SCORE: While meaty, these were tiny wings. While tender, they were not at all crispy. They were spicy and I did enjoy the flavour, but I don't see myself ordering these any time soon. I liked the size and thinness of the pizza, but the sauce wasn't right and the pepperoni could be kicked up a few notches. I wonder what Mamma's used to be like . . .  3/9

Mamma's Pizza

118 Yonge Street, Toronto ON (and other locations)

mammaspizza.com

Top Shelf Interviews LOTW

Top Shelf is a new 'Manzine' - an online resource for men - based here in Toronto who's tagline is "Stay Fresh, Stay Tight, Stay Satisfied."

Recently writer Josef Jacobson interviewed Lord of the Wings in his chicken wing article "The Glory of Chicken Wings". Check it out!

What is Going On?

Seriously, what is going on?

How hard is it to post eh? Well stick with me - as I said to a friend tonight "This is a busy time for wings . . . no seriously". And it is. Life is busy again, but I have been reviewing, I have been podcasting, I have been prepping for judging . . . so stay with me.

Stay Saucy Wing Nation

From Wing King, with Love.

WWWWWW #36 - Coq Punch

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:

Coq Punch!

My friend Amanda works at a video game company called Big Blue Bubble, and in the late fall they had an internal competition to come up with some games for iDevices and casual game players. Her team came up with the idea for Coq Punch!

You can hear Amanda - she is the rooster crowing at the start of the video!

 .


So what is it all about? Well:

"Help Farmer Jacque, a former heavyweight boxing champion turned farmer, wrangle a rabble of rowdy roosters running rampant in the barnyard."

" Coq Punch is a shooting gallery-esque game with a difference. You must pound your feathered friends into submission with your championship winning gloves."

I haven't played it, but it looks like a lot of fun! And while there isn't any specific chicken wings in the game, I can only imagine that the punched chickens lead to a delicious plate of Buffalo wings.

Check out Coq Punch on Facebook & Twitter too. Way to go Amanda and company ~ this looks eggciting!

BLOGIVERSARY YEAR 5: The BEST & WORST of 2010

I don't have an exact Blogiversary I follow - just usually the end of December begining of January where I review the previous year and all my wing experience. I like to highlight my favorite places I ate at, the products I reviewed, the recipes I tried, the events I went to. I want to point out what places did well and why. It is important to realize that when I say the best of 2010, it is the best of these review that I did in that year, not total. Got it?

2010. What can I say, a good food year for Wing King, but not such a great wing year. I didn't get very many reviews in of anything; Wing snacks or sauces or even restaurants for that matter. And the one's that I did were mostly meh. Because of this I don't have as many categories as in past years. It was a busy year over all - with various commitments, getting a new job, moving cities etc. I have a feeling 2011 is going to be different.

BEST OTTAWA WINGS
BEST TORONTO WINGS
BEST ONTARIO WINGS
WORST WINGS

BEST NON WING PLACE
BEST WING RECIPE by WING KING
BEST WING RECIPE not by WK
BEST NON-WING RECIPE by WK
BEST WING RELATED BUT NON-WING RECIPE by WK
BEST FEST
BEST EVENT

BEST WINGS OTTAWA REVIEWED IN 2010















#1 Mr Mozzarella - I was impressed for a pizza joint. Big and lots of flavours.
#2 Moon Dog Pub - Classic Buffalo.
#3 The Prescott - Big and crispy pieces of meat.
#4 Cheese Lover's Pizza & Greek -Another decent pizza joint wings.
#5 Wedges Plus - Crispy crispy wings.

BEST WINGS TORONTO REVIEWED IN 2010

#1 The Wing Company - Stepping up the take-out wing business with  good sized tasty wings.

#2 The Big Slice - Bigger, breaded, saucy.

#3 Johnny Rockets -Plump and crispy.

#4 Wing Shop 366 - Unique homemade sauces.

#5 Chick'n Deli -Standard pub wings.

BEST WINGS ONTARIO REVIEWED IN 2010















#1 Muir's, Burford ON ~ Wow. Probably the best wings I had all year.
#2 Cheshire Cat Pub, Kanata/Carp ON ~ Buffalo wing heaven.
#3 Bojangles Sports Bar & Grill Cornwall ON ~ Crispy large wings.

WORST WINGS REVIEWED IN 2010

#1 Tucson's Ottawa ON ~ I just felt lied to. The wings did not seem fresh and the sauces could be so much better. 

#2 3 Brewers Toronto ON ~    Meh. MEH! 

#3 Iwing Toronto ON ~ Smallest wings of 2010. Of possibly the decade.  Lots of room for improvement.

HONOURABLE WING MENTION 2010

Not open to the public and thus I didn't SCORE them. They are always good. Meaty wings, and different styles depending on the rotation, these wings are aces over most restaurants.

BEST NON-WING PLACES REVIEWED IN 2010

#1 New Ho King, Toronto ON ~  My favourite for awesome Shanghai Noodles & General Tao chicken.

#2 Hintonburger, Ottawa ON ~ Great fresh burgers from a cool local burger shack.

#3 The Piggy Market, Ottawa ON ~ Awesome little Butchery/Breads/Ice Cream place. Mouth watering lunch time sandwich for sure!

FAVOURITE WING KING RECIPE OF 2010

#1 Skillet Wings  ~ I didn't do enough recipes, but I really like using a cast iron skillet to fry then bake wings.

BEST NON-WK RECIPE OF 2010

#1 DivaQ Sweet & Sassy Chicken Lollipops ~ She made these on the Today Show!

BEST WING-RELATED WK RECIPE OF 2010

#1 Hot Wing Chicken Burger  ~  This  had all the great flavours of hot wings: sauce,

chicken, blue cheese - soo good.

BEST FEST 2010

#1 London Ribfest / Backyard Ribfest BBQ  ~ Once again, it was awesome to be a judge, at the official London Ribfest! And this year our Backyard Ribfest was also cool. I love that long weekend.

BEST EVENT 2010

#1 Chestnut'S Battle of the Wings  ~ 4 Chef's battling it out for my Wing love? How could this not rock?

#2 Wing Eating Contest @ PJ Quigleys ~   Coming  back again and being a judge was stellar. 

#3 Boston Pizza Tweet Meetup ~ Great meeting up with the Ottawa Foodie community was

 great and menu sampling was a bonus.

We've come a long way here at Lord of the Wings. 5 years of writing about chicken wings. People don't believe me that you can have a blog dedicated to wings. But I never have nothing to report regarding chicken wings - often I have too much and no time to report it all. I started this blog for me to keep track of where to go for wings, but its become so much more. Of course, I've eaten a lot of good food. But I've learned a lot about food along the way. Most importantly, I've met a lot of great people who cook, who eat, who like talking about food. I want to say thank you to all of you who read, who write, and who put up with my sickness . . . and will continue to for another 5 years. 

Thanks.

The Wing King/Lord of the Wings

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

Best & Worst of 2006

Best & Worst of 2007

Best & Worst of 2008

Best & Worst of 2009

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

Good Bye 2010 - Hello 2011 and a New Wing Decade!

MUIR's ~ Burford ON

RIP - MUIR's is NOW CLOSED

Huzzah! I was finally done work for 2010 and was traveling back home with my father who picked me up and we finished sine last minute shopping. On the way home we stopped in the little town of Burford, home to many members of my family.

On the main street is a restaurant called Muir`s. It`s a storefront that opens up into what looks to be a house. Their catch line is "Eat. Drink. Chill" and I have heard that they do some pretty good grub.

The main reason for that is my cousin Steve (pictured above from Muir's Facebook page) is the head chef there. I don't get to spend a lot of time with my family, so I haven't had a chance to try his cooking, but this was the perfect chance for me to stop in and try his wings.

Now some are going to accuse me of playing favourites. It's my cousin, so I am going to write positive things about his cooking and the pub. But I approached this review like any other - analyzing all the details and removing any bias I could.

Inside the place was busy with a couple of end of year parties. The place has a very warm feeling, like a Cheers pub, where everybody knows your name. In fact, we ran into more family while there! I didn't catch our waitress's name, but she was very friendly and helpful. We looked over the menu which was full of  tasty looking dishes. A lot of Buffalo themed dishes, appetizers and pub grub in general. They even have a food challenge - The Belly Buster: 24oz Black Angus Beef with Cheddar & Swiss, Smoked Bacon, Peameal Bacon & Ham, veggies, fries, gravey, no cutlery in 25 minutes and its free. But if you don't finish, it's $25!

Dad and I both got wings, but we split an order of Coney Island Poutine. Crispy seasoned fries with cheese sauce, bacon, green onions. So good.

While it may not have been traditional poutine, the cheese sauce and bacon really made the dish. This monster dish was more than we could handle on our own. Actually we had to take most of it home and ate it over two more meals. It was a lot to eat, especially once our wings arrived.

Muir's is clearly a place where wings are important, not just an afterthought thrown on a menu. They are "Fresh . . . Never Frozen" which is very important in good wings. They also say they are the "Best Wings in Brant County!"

The wings come in an order of 1lb, or about 8 wings, with a side of dip (blue cheese in our case) and lots of celery and carrot sticks.

These wings were big. Very big. Not super meaty, but just right. The wings are dusted before deep frying, and were very crispy. But the meat remained tender inside. Aces in my book. There are 15 sauces on the menu, so it was hard to pick. I asked many questions to our waitress and she was helpful in navigating my wing selection.

CAJUN

Not too long ago my Dad was introduced to dry Cajun wings and really liked them. So he decided to try them here. I don't think he was disappointed.

The crispy skin was coated in Cajun seasoning giving a nice texture that lent itself to a crunchy bite. The taste of the chicken was highlighted to the seasoning on the wings, which was a nice blend of spices. Not too spicy, but a nice fried piece of chicken with the hint of chili and garlic that is the signature of Cajun cuisine.

BUFFALO

I debated between getting Hot and Buffalo, but something said go with Buffalo. Boy did I make the right choice.

The Buffalo sauce was rich and buttery but had a nice spicy tang from the hot sauce. This was a medium level of heat and was really a great wing. And they were nice and saucy too!

RIDICULOUS

I also wanted to sample their hottest sauce, ridiculous, so I got it as a side.

This sauce was ridiculous. It really burned my mouth. I'm pretty sure its a spice extract mixed in some sauce. My lips and tongue were definitely stinging. Sharp pins and needles that packed a wallop. Not a lot of flavour, but a lot of pain!

STEVIE B's

We also brought an order of wings back for my mother and grandmother. Steve's own signature sauce, Stevie B's seemed to be the way to go. A mix of Sweet Thai and Honey Garlic, they were, well sweet and spicy. I'm not a honey garlic fan, but I could eat these. Grandma and mom liked them too.

FINAL SCORE: I swear without bias that these were some of the best wings I've had in a long time. Big, crispy, saucy, fresh. Simply, kick-ass wings. The sauces are not just bottled sauces but made in house. Steve clearly puts a lot of effort into his wings and it shows. The Coney Island Poutine was also really good and I can imagine how the rest of the menu taste. I didn't get a chance to talk to him and tell him that I thought they were excellent. Clearly I need to visit family more often. 9.5/10

Muir's: Eat. Drink. Chill.

131 King Street, Burford ON

LET's WING IT! ~ Toronto ON

=Let's Wing It is now close, but has returned to being a Wild Wing as it once was =

So after one guest left over the weekend, I had another come and visit. Julianna was in town from Ottawa and crashed with me for a few days. We decided we had to do a wing review together and wanted to go someplace that wasn't too far away. I had passed a place just a few blocks away, and so it was decided we would be going to Let's Wing It!

This place was a Wild Wing location that closed and reopened as an independent place. It's got the same basic concept of a saloon-like atmosphere with a ton of flavours of wings.

The place was decorated for the holiday season . . . I think. Maybe the X-mas lights are normal, I don't know. There was hockey on all the screens. The crowd was mostly 20-30ish range, although there were two guys sitting beside us, dressed identically, drinking beer - but Julianna and I were sure they were like 16. Our waitress was Emily, who was very friendly and answered a lot of questions.

It wasn't wing night, but there were two specials on that night. The first was a 33 oz domestic beer for $7! But   when Julianna tried to order Keith's, it wasn't considered domestic. But Coors and Budweiser (American Beers) were. Anyways, it was a monster glass of beer. Look at it! And Julianna being the champ she is, drank it all.

The other special on was Deep Fried Pickles for $5. These were nice and crispy, but juicy and tangy inside. And ranch for dipping. How can you not like DFP's?! They did take close to 45 minutes to come out though, so we were starved by the time they came out.

When it came to ordering the wings, Emily was able to answer a lot of questions. Julianna was feeling like veggies and dip and noticed that they could be ordered separately at an extra cost. She asked Emily if the wings come with veggies and dip, and Emily said you get one of each, but that she would hook us up. And she did, and we had them with standard commercial blue cheese dip. Oh, we also ate some wings.

It was a long wait for the wings (we were told there was only one cook on duty) but when they came, we tore into them pretty good. Well I did anyway.

The wings at Let's Wing It! come in orders of 10 - with each wing costing $1. Not too cheap. The wings are pre-breaded, frozen, then deep fried on site.

The size of the wings weren't that big, about a medium in length. Almost small, but they were super meaty. Plus the breading added to the girth of the wing. The wings weren't very crispy - the breading becomes a textured wrapping that doesn't do well with the freezing.

When you have a ton of sauces, you want to go sampling, but wing joints like this don't make it easy to switch up sauces. So Julianna went with one flavour, I went with two separate orders and a side of sauce to see what they had to offer.

#61 Medium & Maple

This was Julianna's selection. She was a bit worried that the medium was too spicy for her, and it was. But I didn't notice the heat. This was a medium sauce with a hint of maple.

 It was sweet and hot. An interesting taste, but not something I would order on my own. But I think Julianna liked them. They certainly were saucy wings!

#4 Hot

The main flavour of any wing joint, this hot was like many, not. Most of the sauce had absorbed into the breading, so there wasn't any substantial flavour.

It was ok, but I didn't really taste much. The breading was stronger than the sauce, and that isn't a good thing.

#5 Kamikaze

This was the hottest sauce listed on the menu, but several dishes were rated the 5 for hottest. It was mostly an extract of heat put in with some hot sauce.

While it didn't really have a taste, it did have a good kick. Burning mouth, stinging tongue - it was one dimensional, but at least it hurt. I've certainly had hotter, but not in a long time.

#48 Smokey BBQ & Extra Hot

I was feeling like some BBQ sauced wings - and while they have regular BBQ, the Smokey BBQ sounded more alluring. Add in some extra sauce and you've got a tasty concept on your hands.

These wings came saucy. Even though they were supposed to be smokey, this was a pretty sweet BBQ sauce. There was a hint of the Extra Hot, but they were predominately sweet. Like a smokey ketchup.

After a while, I was not enjoying any of the flavours. So I mixed all the wings and sauces together. This made for a spciy but sweet mix of wings. But it wasn't the sauces I wasn't digging so much, but the breaded wings themselves.

THE SCORE: The wings started off well enough, but after a while the breading coating from the frozen wings made it so I just didn't want to eat more, even if I wanted more. The sauces were well enough. The deep fried pickles were the best part of the meal. No, hanging out with Julianna was the best part of the meal. 4.5/10 

Let's Wing It!

431 Yonge Street, Toronto ON

letswingit.ca