GREEK TO GO ~ Ottawa

When you're relatively new to a city, how do you pick new restaurants to try? You can open up a phone book and look for 'Chinese Restaurant' and you get a dozen places that all have the same name, serve pretty much the same dishes and charge relatively the same prices. Or you can rely on friends and co-workers, but you may not have the same tastes.

Now in the 21st century we have the internet and many peoples reviews (hey hey, look, that's what this blog is doing!!!), but on sites like Restaurantica.com, yelp.ca, or restaurantthing.com everyone gives their opinion, and I find half the people like and the other half dislike the place that it almost voids the whole process. So unpredictable. So what do you do? Well, since I'm on the search for the Holy Grail of Wings, I've got to experiment and try any place. I've got to take chances and just pick and place and go.



So, the search for good wings brought us into a search for good Greek food hopefully form Greek To Go (GTG). Actually, wings were an afterthought when I saw it on their menu. The plan was just to get their Souvlaki Platters for 2 (which is $18.99 if you do pick up).

GTG was not as close as I originally thought, in an area I'm not familiar with, and it isn't well marked. In fact, its part of another restaurant called Christopher's. At night, the sign is not really lit up (for Christopher's, as the bulbs are almost burnt out) but the GTG sign is just a banner really. GTG is mainly just a counter at the front of the restaurant. The rest is Christopher's, which is clearly a tavern. It was after 9pm, all the lights were off, aside from the GTG counter, and a bar at the back with 6-8 guys, all sitting at the bar. I saw 2 young guys who had just finished their wings, and their bones looked like the wings could be decent, even if the tavern from the 1970's didn't.

Drove home and opened up the platter first: chicken souvlaki, roasted Greek potato, rice pilaf, Greek salad, 1 pita break and tzatziki sauce. Well, that's what your supposed to get. The 'potatoes' were two slices of potato. There was only 1 skewer of chicken (but it was plump chicken). The pita bread was really 1/4 of a pita bread, and the tzatziki was the smallest possible container (about a spoonful) - good thing we ordered an extra.

The chicken was meaty and plump. But, there was no flavour to it. No spice, no zest, no flavour what so ever. So was the tzatziki. So was the rice.

The salad was definitely a step up. It was bountiful with its bell peppers, tomato, olives, feta dressing and one of my favourites, peperoncini peppers (they were huge).

The pita quarter was toasted (ie hard). It was not helpful in making a wrap, or mopping up the dressing or tzatziki. I tried to eat half but it was just too much like cardboard. Well, the main dinner wasn't pleasing the palate, but maybe the after-thought chicken wings would fare better.

2008 THE SCORE 3.0: Greek To Go ~ Ottawa

STYLE:	Breaded, deep fried
PRICE:	$7.10 for 1lb (appox 9 wings) $0.40 @ Christopher’s
SAUCES:	Mild/Medium/Hot Suicide Honey Garlic	0/1
HEAT:	Meh, there was a tingle
SIZE:	Small to medium	1/3
WETNAP FACTOR:	Not saucy, more of a moist wing	1/3
CRISPINESS:	Chewy – not quite mushy but not quite crisp	1.5/3
FLAVOUR:	Ok – nothing special	1.5/3
SIDES:		n/a
CLEAN UP:		n/a
WING NIGHT:		n/a
OTHER:	Greek food was mediocre – attached to the restaurant Christophers, which is an interesting tavern
TOTAL:	Not the best, but it is a Greek take-out place. But the Greek wasn’t that great either.	5/13*

The chicken was breaded, than deep fried. The sauce was suicide, but the wings were not wet. If there was a sauce, it was absorbed into the breading of the wing. Having travelled for at least 10 minutes (and it sat at least 10 minutes at GTG as well), the wings were not crisp. The skin was a bit chewy, but I can't slight them for that - fresh wings out of the frier is always better than ones delivered or picked up. It was a meaty wing, but they were not very big at all. One-bite chicken.




I ordered a suicide sauce. There was a very mild tingle. I would really put it into a medium-hot sauce, but more medium. The flavour was pretty straightforward hot sauce. With a slight vinegary smell.

FINAL SCORE: The Greek food was just not worth ordering again. I don't think I would dine at the tavern. The wings were ok, but there are better take-out wings out there. The best bet is dine in at Christopher's, but like I said, I don't think that is happening any time soon. You win some, you lose some. 5/13*

(please note, this is not my photo, it comes from here. I couldn't get a photo in the dark of the place. Can you see the GTG sign? Me either.)

Greek To Go/ Christopher's
680 Brookfield Road (and other location) Ottawa,

greektogo.net

GTG Menu HERE

PAESANO's PIZZERIA ~ Ottawa

PAESANO's is NOW CLOSED - RIP


George
You know my last name is Costanza . That's Italian. So you and I are
like country men . Pisano's !

Worker

$6.50 your change.

George

And I always take care of my Pisano's

Seinfeld "The Calzone"

1. paesano

n. means countryman, brother, or pal in Italian. The equivalent of "homie" to Italians and Italian-Americans. Sometimes shortened to paesan. Occasionally misspelled as "paisano" or "paisan"

The Urban Dictionary


Brother is a term that definitely fits to Paesano's Pizzeria (PP).

Somehow, I don't know, I came across Paesano's and read that the wings were pretty good, so I had to find out. I travelled to the East side of Ottawa to see how they were. PP's is on a small, hidden, little side street, in what I can only describe as a reverse strip mall. Why reverse? Because the parking is all in the back, and the front has a fenced in court. There's a high school across the street, and the Chinese embassy is across from that. Walking into PP's it looked like a real high school hang out. Old benches for seating at the tables, an arcade game, and cheap grub (burgers, hot dogs, chips, fries etc) that clearly caters to the kids across the way. Two guys came in, one going straight into the back talking with a bunch of staff, the other, clearly a regular, talking it up with the 'paesano' behind the counter, who ordered, then sat down.

I was looking at their chalk board menu and couldn't find the wings. Hell, even pizza was barely on the menu (just slices). Had I gone to the wrong place? Was I mistaken about the location? Had the restaurant changed? I could see pizza dipping sauces for sale, and in the back were pizza boxes and pizza ovens, so I decided to press on. The 'paesano' behind the counter asked for my order:

Paesano

What can I get you?

WK

(with confused look, pointing, questioningly, to the menu)

I was told you have good wings . . .

Paesano

We have the best wings.

Well, I had to get wings now (like there was ever any doubt). One of the things that attracted me here in the first place was their advertised 18 flavours of wings. Wow, 18 is quite a lot for a take-out pizzeria. I went with a split order of Hotter (their hottest flavour) and Hot Honey BBQ.


The guy that had ordered up before me started chatting with me, asking where I was from, why I had come all the way over to PP ('Wings' I said) etc. I asked him if he lived in the area. He said no, but that he had been coming to PP's for over 4 years. Loyalty. Another guy came in, who knew both the pizzeria dude, and the customer I was chatting with. Paesanos for sure. But would the wings and I be friends?

2008 THE SCORE 3.0: Paesano’s Pizzeria, Ottawa

STYLE:	Breaded, deep fried (maybe baked)
PRICE:	$6.90 for 10 $12.90 for 20 $17.90 for 30 $27.90 for 50 $52.90 for 100 $9.25 for 10 wings, fries & coleslaw
SAUCES:	BBQ Mild/medium/hot/hotter Honey Garlic / Honey Garlic BBQ Hot Honey BBQ / Hot Honey Garlic Teriyaki / Honey Teriyaki/Hot Honey Teriyaki Cajun / Cajun Teriyaki Caribbean Jerk Lemon Garlic Garlic Parmesan Pesto	1/1
HEAT:	Hotter barely had a tingle, HHB had a bit more of a tingle.
SIZE:	Large	2/3
WETNAP FACTOR:	Hotter was a dry wing, HHB was wet	2/3
CRISPINESS:	Chewy – this might have been due to take-out and the steam created from the container	1.5/3
FLAVOUR:	Good – tasty wings	2/3
SIDES:	n/a
CLEAN UP:	n/a
WING NIGHT:	n/a
OTHER:
TOTAL:	A good, local pizza joint	8.5/13*

The wings were wrapped up pretty well, in a container, in tinfoil. They were a good size wing, about a large, but some were a medium I would say. They were pretty meaty, with a breaded/dusted wing. The skin wasn't very crispy, but I suspect that was due to the 'steamed' effect from them being wrapped in the tin foil.



HOT HONEY BBQ:

My first choice in wing flavour is some sort of hot. Hot suicide etc. But my second favourite wing taste is BBQ. But I could not resist getting a Hot/Honey/BBQ combo. These were the first wings I opened up, and the fragrance of sweet and spicy came to me. They were wet, and clearly sticky.




My first bite had a lot of things going on. A little kick from the hot, sweet from the honey, and a hint of the savoury bbq.

I liked the level of wetness that came on these wings. More sauce and it would be too much. Less and it wouldn't be enough. It was just right. I had several and remembered I still have another order and a different flavour.

HOTTER:

These came as a drier wing. I'm not sure if its just a seasoning, or if the 'sauce' was absorbed into the wing itself (due to the steaming in the tinfoil wrap). Either way I wasn't going to need a wetnap.

Hotter was not hot. A medium by my standards. I could detect the heat, but I wasn't even tingling really from them. That being said, they were still a tasty wing. The chicken meat was tasty and the hot enhanced the flavour of the overall wing. But I don't think I would go for the hotter again, not without an extra side of sauce anyway.

FINAL SCORE: Paesano's Pizzeria does a pretty good wing. They were meaty, had a nice coating, and had a really interesting selection of flavours. Above and beyond your average pizzeria. The heat was really lacking, but there was a good taste. And it was a good size wing too. They aren't in my neighborhood, but clearly Paesano's looks after their friends and customers. 8.5/13


PS: I didn't have the pizza, so I can't comment. Sorry!

Paesano's Pizzeria
500 Old St. Patrick Street, Unit 2
paesanospizzeria.ca (website seems down)

PP's on FaceBook
Menu DB

KFC Wicked Duo

I'm a sucker for chicken wings. I find it VERY hard to resist their temptation. And for some reason KFC keeps sucking me in. I mean, I've never been a huge fan, and I've gone for them twice this past year (Wicked Crunch Combo and just wings - if you could call them that). Well, on a recent road trip, with KFC one of the only stops, I was lured by another Wicked campaign. This time, it was the Wicked Duo: half wings, half spicy popcorn chicken.



I was first alerted to this by Julianna - mentioning the commercial that goes with it. I have searched the internet and I cannot find the add for the life of me. Basically, it starts as a close up shot of a woman who appears to be in labour and is doing lamaze. As the camera pulls out, you see her and her male friend are actually just eating KFC chicken wings and its two hot for them.

I liked that they called them a two-alarm blaze. They certainly are not a traditional 5 alarm, although I realize that they are refering to the two items, not the heat levels.

What a container!? I'll be honest, I liked it.

And look at the dividing wall, keeping the chicken morsels seperated.

I was surprised at how big the wings were. They weren't hot at all, but this trip

to the Colonel provided jumbo juicy and crunchy wings.

And the pop corn chicken was nothing to sneeze at either. And, they were actually a little spicy.

The bucket is $8.99 for about 7 wings and a ton of popcorn chicken. Biggest complaints included the less than spicy wings, and I think some sort of dipping sauce (hot, bbq etc). The highlight was the jumbo wings and the popcorn chicken.

If someone ever uploads the commercial to youtube, I'll post it if I can.

WK Fake Philly Cheesesteak ~ R-NW

Can you believe that when I was on a high school trip to Philadelphia that I didn't have a Philly cheesesteak? I did run up the art gallery stairs ala Rocky, but no cheesesteak.

One day, I got right into making it. I did research on the internet, first for recipes and to watch them being made. Then I got caught up in all the youtube videos about one of the greatest rivalries in modern culinary history: Pat's vs Geno's. The first video shows the food being made better but try to ignore the guy in the black jacket.



or there's these guys that also interviewed the two owners. I love Rhett & Link:





So I was all jazzed to make my own. Granted, it wasn't going to be completely traditional, but it would be close.

WK FAKE PHILLY CHEESESTEAK

INGREDIENTS

• thin sliced deli roast beef (should be rib eye thin sliced steak but I'm cheap)
• onion (diced)
• peppers (sliced) (green is traditional, I had red)
• cheese (provolone, cheeze whiz)
• hoagie loaf (toasted optional)
• oil
• S&P

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add onion and pepper to a hot skillet or frying pan with oil and cook until pepper is still crisp, and onion slightly golden
2. Cut up roast beef strips into smaller pieces, then add to frying pan. Season with S&P.
3. When roast beef is heated, add provolone (if using this cheese. If not, add cheese whiz to hoagie at this point)
4. When cheese is melted, scoop mixture into hoagie
5. Enjoy!
   

Peppers, onion and roast beef cooking. I have two fry pans going because I'm cooking for 2.

Provolone melting for one sandwich.

Doesn't that look all melty and soo good?

This one has Cheeze Whiz - I wanted to cover my bases.

WHAT COULD I HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY?: Well, it was a little blah for my liking. I ended up adding hot sauce to jazz it up. I liked the two cheeses equally so I would keep that. Green pepper might have given it a bit more bite than the sweet red. The bun was good. The biggest change I would make would be using actual thin sliced rib eye steak instead of roast beef. That's what really makes a cheesesteak - steak.

That's why I have to call this a Fake cheesesteak.

THE KING EDWARD PUB & RESTAURANT ~ Ilderton On

The London Gang (Bramanda, Ricky) were out on a crisp November day after celebrating scaring children the night before and consuming lots of candy. The day was a slow start, and not much was accomplished while there was still daylight, but by dinner, we were ready for a good meal. Ricky had been exposed to an advertisement for an interesting little pub in Ilderton Ontario (just North/West of London) and we decided we should definitely check it out. Ilderton was easy to navigate, and in no time we were parked outside this quaint little establishment.


Walking inside, one felt like you were walking back in time to an old fashion general store or saloon. I really expected to hear the sounds of spurs and a cowboy walking in through the front door.

We were a bit early for the supper crowd, so we had our pick of seats, but it didn't take long to fill up. One of the owners was walking around talking to everyone, and she mentioned that the next time if we came on a Friday or a Saturday again we should make reservations as it fills up quick, and she would hate for us to drive so far and have to wait.

I want to point out the great service in this place. Not only was our server Sarah friendly and attentive (if not a little overwhelmed with my wing questions) but the owners (I'm pretty sure she was the owner, because she teased me about 'stealing her recipes' when I was taking photos ) were walking around, checking on customers and being generally friendly. There are three elements to a great restaurant: food, comfort and service. So far, TKE was hitting all the right notes.

As for the food, Brad started everyone off with their 'curry bite' appetizer. I can't remember it's real name, but basically it was small chicken curry chunks with lettuce in a tortilla wrap, with ranch dipping sauce. It was certainly an interesting nibble.

Rick went with a pub classic 'bangers and mash'. When prompted how it was, I was given the indication that it was good. Everything looked a little blah to me (it looked like frozen peas and corn) but I didn't try and I didn't follow up with Rick like I should have.

Amanda went with the cheese cannelloni. And she would not stop talking about how good it was. The best she had ever had. One of the best meals she ever had. Amazing. And on and on and on. So it was good. Light but tomatoey sauce, cheese was goey and good and the pasta was cooked well. So she was VERY happy with her meal. Trust me.

Brad went for the lamb, which was one of the specials of the evening. It came with sauteed veggies and a 3 potato mash (3 different potatoes mixed in). He was very content with his meal and that's all I have to say about that.

Why, because I went for the wings. And I had lots to choose from. I scanned the menu and found wings pretty quick. There was lots to choose from, and I made my choices. Then I re-examined a flat screen tv that had an advert for their wings that Rick had pointed out earlier. I hadn't really read it and saw that there was a seperate wing menu. Sarah brought it over, and it was simply more detailed than the main one, with over 20 wing flavours. But we were informed that a new wing menu with over 40 flavours was coming out in a week or two (dang, just missed it).
But I had lots to choose from already and I went with the two most interesting offers on the menu.

2008 THE SCORE 3.0: KING EDWARD PUB ~ Ilderton On

STYLE:	Deep fried, some dusted
PRICE:	$8.50 for 1lb (approx 8 wings) $14.50 for 2lb $6.95 for 6 wings (Chef’s Revenge)
SAUCES:	Over 40 – but a sample: Wuss/mild/medium/hot BBQ Cajun Salt Honey Garlic Urban (bbq & Cajun) Curry Thai Suicide Voodoo Ice (horseradish) Chef’s Revenge	1/1
HEAT:	Chef’s Revenge had a great kick
SIZE:	Medium to large	1.5/3
WETNAP FACTOR:	wet – a nice amount of sauce on both	2.5/3
CRISPINESS:	Crispy/crunchy – just right	3/3
FLAVOUR:	Good-great: both were interesting flavours	2.5/3
SIDES:	Add veggies and dip for $1.25	0/3
CLEAN UP:	Napkins, wetnaps, wing plate	3/3
WING NIGHT:	Tuesdays (approx $.35 ) the wing night was changing as were the sauces, so this might change as well.	1/1
OTHER:	Great ‘general store/saloon’ pub feel. Very friendly service! Free refills on Pepsi.
TOTAL:	Good food, good service – what more can you want?	14.5/20

The chicken wings themselves were a good size, not super big, but deep fried well. The skin was perfectly crispy, with a hot meaty interior.

CHEF's REVENGE:

As I scanned the initial menu, the hottest sauce listed was suicide. Then, lower on the menu was Chef's Revenge listed seperately from the rest of the wings. They only come out in 6 wings, in theory, because they are so hot. Brad took a little finger dab of the sauce: he was reaching for his beer in seconds. Amanda was feeling brave and took not even a full drop on her finger to taste - but she was out of pop, so she waited with her finger in the air until another arrived. She took her taste . . . and her eyes lit up with immense pain.

Rick and I, both able to handle heat took our tastes and came to relatively the same conclusions. The flavour was definitely 3rd Degree (which is what I assume their suicide must be) but there was certainly more heat, with a slight chemical after taste. This suggests that they add a pure capsicum/heat that has no taste of its own, but a lot of burn. Now this isn't the hottest sauce I've had, but there was a good burn there. It made you aware of your mouth, and I liked the taste.

URBAN:

There were a couple of flavours on the main menu I wasn't sure what they were. One was 'ICE', which could be combined with a number of sauces. I asked Sarah about Ice, and she informed us it was horseradish. An interesting flavour and heat to add in, but I personally hate horseradish, so I passed. Another sauce that caught my attention was Urban. This turned out to be a popular mix of BBQ and Cajun. Well I was thinking of going with BBQ, and I usually like dry Cajun salt, so this was a must mix for me.

The top wings were more dry and you could clearly see the Cajun seasoning on the crispy skin. But underneath was a hidden bbq sauce deposit. My first sauce taste I thought I was having a wing dunked in ketchup. I was disappointed. But I went in for another wing and waited to evaluate the flavours more clearly. It wasn't ketchup, but it was sweet - not smokey or bold - but sugary, in a good way. The more I had it, the more I enjoyed it.

Another big bonus was the suckers. No not Bramanda and Ricky, but the confection on a stick handed out with the bill. Lots of places give mints, or little candies, and even suckers, but TKE handed out quality lollipops. Rick and I went for the cherry red, and man it was allllright. A thick lollipop with that sweet cough syrup cherry that tastes just so good.

FINAL SCORE: What a great pub. Everyone enjoyed their meal (especially Amanda). My wings were a good size, nice and crispy, and while the Chef's Revenge was not the hottest I've had, they certainly seem to care about their wings. I can't wait to come back to London and try out their new wing menu! Sometimes you have to go off the beaten path to get really good grub. Good find Rick. 14.5/20

The King Edward Restaurant & Pub
13239 Ilderton Road, Ilderton, Ontario

thekingedward.com