LOU DAWG's (Ryerson Location) ~ Toronto ON

JUNE 2012

So at the same time my buddy Jason was down, I also had some other guest come and visit, my friend Julianna and her (at the time fiancee, but as of November husband) also named Jason came down to visit. It was a bit of a full house.

For thanking me for having them over, Julianna and Jason took me out for dinner, but they told me to pick. BBQ sounded good for all, and I had remembered Teena @ Teena in Toronto going to Lou Dawgs BBQ. A second location had opened near the Ryerson campus, so we decided to go and check it out.

It was really quiet for dinner time on a Saturday. Our waiter (forgotten his name) said it was quiet now, but hopefully once school was back in they would get larger crowds. The atmosphere is a mix of brick and wood. Our table was a high one with high chairs - not super comfortable, but not terrible either.

Our waiter was very engaging and gave us great service. He told us all about their specials - they always have some sort of deal on, and if you follow on their twitter account they often will say "first customer that comes in and sings gets free ______".

On the left is Julianna who went with a Rib special that also came with wings as an add on (which I had as my meal). Jason went with the 2 Meats and two sides - I think it was the pulled and pulled chicken? They both said they enjoyed their meals.

Brought to the table were different sauces to add to your 'que. Or in my case, wings. There was:

• Original Southern BBQ Sauce: Kansas style sauce
• Genuine Smokehouse BBQ Sauce: "Southern sweetness, tangy & smokeyness"
• Smokin' Southern Hot Sauce: "smokey, sweet & tangy"

So I had the wings from Julianna's special, which I added to by having one of their Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Bread Muffins.

This thing was huge - like a softball. It had a nice crispy top, with a fluffy interior. And the centre was like a ball of cheese with jalapeno. I really enjoyed this.

The description on the menu says the wings are smoked, then dry rubbed. They are also deep fried after, but they don't say that. Chicken skin does not get crispy like the above and below from smoking alone.

The wings are also not jumbo as described on the menu, but they do come as a whole wing: flat, drummy and tip, which I think is cool. But if you break the individual pieces up, they are a medium at best. But because they are smoked, there is, well a smoked flavour to the chicken.

The rub that comes after and the deep frying means the skin is perfectly crispy - when you bite in you get that crispy snap on the skin. Actually the wings are good with just the dry rub, but you can get them sauced if you want.

ORIGINAL SOUTHERN BBQ

This Kansas City style bbq sauce (molasses and tomato sauce that is thick) was a nice, slightly sweet sauce. It was good, but was a base sauce.

GENUINE SMOKEHOUSE BBQ

Now this was a sauce I liked. A little smokey, but still had that savoury sweet taste. This was my go to sauce for the wings.

SMOKIN' SOUTHERN HOT SAUCE

This sauce was close to a standard hot wing sauce. Cayenne based, this also worked well on these wings. It was more of a medium than a hot, but it was a good sauce.

FINAL SCORE: My cornbread was great. The wings were awesome. Crispy skin but smokey meat. Great homemade sauces. I think Lou's was definitely a thumbs up all around and I will be back. 7.5/10

Thanks Julianna and Jason - good times, great food!

Lou Dawg's 
76 Gerard Street East, Toronto ON (Ryersn Pub Location)
loudawgs.com

THE GREEN DRAGON PUB ~ Toronto ON

JUNE 2012

My buddy Jason came down to visit me in the summer, and when we get together we often go on quite the adventures. On this occasion, we headed into the far East of Scarborough. I have spent little time in Scarborough, so we checked out The Bluffs, St Augustine Seminary, Pine Hills Cemetery, and the Guildwood Park. It was a good day, and then it was time for supper.

On the drive back, we stopped into the Beaches area and passed by a pub I had heard had good wings. I had even attempted to stop in once last summer, but it was crazy busy and I went elsewhere. Today, Jason and I went it.

The first thing that was overwhelmingly noticeable was the amount of families. It was all baby strollers and kids running around in the front section, the back section . . . I've never seen so many families in a pub before.

The actual decor of the pub was old British style pub. It was dark inside (I apologize for the photos - the darkness meant my camera worked as good as a cell phone camera). Our waitress was Jenn, who was friendly and helpful, but busy looking after the back of the pub.

We ordered, and soon had our meals. Above, Jason went with the Quesadilla, which was like a baked pie - full of cheese and chicken.

I went with the wings with a side of fries.

The Dragon Wings come in orders of 10 or 20. It comes with veggies and dip, and coleslaw.

I added a side of fries for $2.49. The fries were just like chip truck fries - crispy but soft inside.

The veggies (carrot sticks and celery) come with your choice of dip - ranch or blue cheese. I went with the blue cheese, which was standard creamy and chunky dip. There was also coleslaw (a surprise), which was vinegar based with cabbage and carrot, but I didn't really care for it, or eat it.

The wings are dusted, then deep fried. The size was medium (almost small) on both the length and width. They came out tossed in their sauce meaning they just right in wetness.

HOT

Hot was classic pub hot - not really hot, but a good hot wing sauce.

SUICIDE

OK, suicide isn't one of the flavours on their menu - it either extra hot, inferno or dragon's breath. And I can't find my notes, so I don't remember which one I picked or what each tastes like. This is very unprofessional of me I know. What I do remember was that it had a good kick and a good flavour.

FINAL SCORE: These were good pub wings. Crispy, saucy. Not huge, and sad that there is no wing night. The food was good, but it was not the wing destination I had heard about. If I was in the area, sure I'd go back, but I wouldn't make a trip out of it. 5.5/10

The Green Dragon Pub
1032 Kingston Road, Toronto ON
thegreendragonpub.com (although it doesn't have info on it)

SLOPPY JOE'S ~ Etobicoke ON

JUNE 2012

In the summer I had the fortune of moving to a bigger space. My new suite was mostly furnished, but I wanted to get a few things and a trip to IKEA seemed in order. But I live downtown and IKEA is not. So I rented a car for the day and thought I might try some wings at somewhere I usually can't get to.

photo courtesy of google street view

I had heard about Sloppy Joe's on the internet as a place to get wings for a while. The last time I was in Etobicoke I tried one wing joint, but didn't get to Sloppy's due to geography. Well, this seemed like the perfect time to fix that.

This was another place where I felt weird walking in. It was late afternoon and it only seemed like regulars at the bar. It was seat yourself, so I picked the empty dining room so I could eat in privacy and take photos.

The place looks like nothing has changed in while. Its a sports bar and isn't trying to be anything else. I found the mural in the photo above a little odd - here's this glutton patron who looks lecherous, and a tired waitress who is not impressed. What is the message you get from this?

My waitress was ok, but a bit awkward. She didn't check in too much on me, and conversation was strained. I ordered, and soon I had a wing bowl, napkin and wetnap. This was a good sign as it suggested they take wings seriously here.

So did the steaming pile of freshly fried wings and veggies and dip . . .

Served in a classic red basket on brown paper, my order of 10 wings looked really good with the big stack of veggies and dip. The wings are breaded, then deep fried, then tossed in sauce.

Lots of carrots and celery sticks came with these wings (a once required accompaniment with dip, but more often a pleasantry now a days). The dip was pub classic blue cheese - creamy, tangy, good.

The size of the wing was large - very meaty. Length, also large. These were an excellent sized wing. Yes they are breaded, and the chicken is like a good piece of fried chicken.

HOT

The wings were not super saucy, which was ok. The hot was not that hot, but it was tasty.

SUICIDE

This was an interesting sauce. I thought I was getting a bowl of chili with my wings, not a giant bowl of suicide sauce. This sauce had some good heat. Lots of flavours going on. I just couldn't get over the amount they gave.

FINAL SCORE: Sloppy Joe's is a bit out of the way for me. I wasn't crazy about the atmosphere, but they do know their wings. There isn't much choice in flavour, but what they have they do well. Hot was good. Suicide was good. The wings are big and came out steaming hot. 7.5/10

Sloppy Joe's
3527 Lake Shore Boulevard West, Etobicoke ON
sloppyjoes.ca

JIMMY BUFFETT's MARGARITAVILLE ~ Niagara Falls ON

Picture it: Niagara Region. June 2012. 

I was at a conference for work at Brock University and Niagara College. After a long day of sessions and seminars, the culinary school and brewery/wine at Niagara College gave us some wonderful tasting and creations. We then had some free time down at the Falls, and Heather and Kristen and I decided to grab a snack, a drink, and a drop in to the Casino.

We made our way up Fallsview Boulevard toward the casino, and Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville was right across from the casino. The ladies thought margaritas sounded good, and I was sure I could get wings.

Jimmy Buffett sure soaked one song for as much as he possibly could. I mean, it's a restaurant based on a song. If your looking to have a party atmosphere in a chain bar, this is the place to go. Live bands, hockey games, airplanes inside a bar, surfboards and tiki lounges. There was a dude on stilts walking around the place. Crazy. Loud. Fun.

Our waitress was Tamar, who was friendly and over the top in character for the restaruant. She was quick to refill my Pepsi and check in on our needs.

Heather and Kristen enjoyed their margaritas. They also shared some Volacano Nachos ($16.95). Nachos that were pilled higher than their heats. I have never seen a place give a plate of nachos that large.  "Topped with chili, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, jalapenos, tomatoes and scallions."

I found wings on the menu. Huzzah!

I went with the "Chicken Wing Cornucopia" and I don't know why it's called a cornucopia, which Wikipedia describes as "from Latin cornu copiae) or horn of plenty is a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, nuts, other edibles, or wealth in some form." I didn't feel this was a horn of plenty, with 8 wings and some celery sticks for $13.

It came with a side of blue cheese. This was a massive cup of blue cheese, but I was put off by the muffin-top baked greasy look it had. It wasn't cold. It tasted like blue cheese dip, but like it had been baked, and it was overpoweringly pungent. Did not enjoy.

 The wings looked really good. In length they were not generous, about a medium. In meatiness it was a medium. The wings were slightly crispy, and they were sauced nicely.

HOT

Actually, Hot Buffalo. This was a lie. It was Medium Buffalo, but as wings are always a challenge, no one would order medium, so they just renamed medium hot. This was a good flavoured sauce, but unfortunately was extremely salty. I finished the wings, but the salty factor was a big problem.

HAWAIIAN CHILI

Hawaiian chili sounds unique and a bit mysterious. I've had Thai chili, or sweet chili, but Hawaiian? I imagined some spicy pineapple flavour. Nope, just plain sweet Thai chili. Sweet, minor kick, but nothing original or pineapplely about it.

FINAL SCORE:
This place is tourist trap restaurant in all it's glory. Its fun and over the top. Lots of Margaritas that are big and I'm told enjoyable. Nachos are ginormous. Wings were ok, a little deceptive in descriptions, and very salty. But a good meal was had by all, and this was a fun place to hang while away on business. 4.5/10

Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville
6300 Fallsview Boulevard  Niagara Falls, ON
margaritavilleniagara.ca