ROCHESTER PUB & EATERY ~ Ottawa, On

RIP - ROCHESTER is NOW CLOSED

I'm still catching up on last week with Dude visiting (having been in China for the past two years), and the night before wet his appetite for wings, so more were in order. He was excited for us to keep exploring places and going off the wing path for some poultry treats that neither him nor I had been to before.


We hopped on a bus, and we headed down to Rochester street, to the Rochester Pub & Eatery. I had never been there before, and I had actually tried to go on Labour Day Weekend, but they were closed. Surrounded by government buildings, I get the impression it would be quiet enough location to justify closing for a weekend. But this was a Wednesday, so our hopes were high that they would be open.


I should mention we were going for wings, but I had no evidence they even had wings. No online menu, no comments online, no menu in their window. Just a guess, but it was a highly rated little pub, so I was sure something good would be on the menu.




The Rochester is an old house remodeled into a pub. The moment I saw the place I knew I was going to like it. One online comment on restaurantica.ca said "This would be a great pub to hole up in during a Zombie attack." I agree. Images of the Winchester from Shaun of the Dead definitely came to mind.



The inside is nothing special - fading paint with nothing updated in years. But instead of looking like crap, it was part of the atmosphere here. It felt homey. We were the first ones in for the day, and our waitress Ashley was enjoying a novel at the bar. When people did start arriving (and the place filled up quick) it was office drones and older locals. Customers were obviously repeats as Ashley walked up to two young government guys and predicted their orders to a T. She was great, friendly service, but let us be at the same time.

Once again, wings were on order for us. Medium for Dude, and Hot with a side of BBQ for me.

We didn't wait long, and I was happy again at a big plate of wings that smelled so good.

The wings come in one pound, but a Rochester pound had about 12 decent sized wings, making me question how other places measure a pound.

The wings were dusted and then deep fried. They came out hot and crispy. Dude's medium were very saucy while mine had the sauce soaked up into the wings.

The wings were medium to large and fairly meaty. Actually, while they could have been bigger, they were close to perfectly cooked wings.

I have to say Dude's wings rocked. Most places mild/medium/hot is just degrees of hot sauce with the heat varying due to the amount of butter added. But here, Medium and Hot were two completely different sauces.

Medium was more like a BBQ sauce, but dang it was good. I have to admit, I snuck several of these wings off of Dude's plate. And they were really saucy too, which I like.

I went with my standard hot. Hot they were not. The spice was as hot as Frank's Hot Sauce gets.

They were pub classic. The sauce had entrenched itself into the skin, but it wasn't soggy. I prefer the wings to be saucy, and I did find a hidden deposit of pooled sauce under the bottom wings, but it was too late.

I also got a side of BBQ sauce for sampling. The sauce tasted like Diana's. It was good, but bottled.

The sauce was cold, which was a contrast to my hot wings that is not my favourite way to go. I think mixing of Hot and BBQ would make some outstanding sauce though. Actually, Medium and Hot would be even better.

FINAL SCORE: What a wonderful little pub. Whether your going for a pint or for wings or fighting zombies, this pub is a great place. The wings were hot, meaty and tasty. I asked Ashley about wing night and she reported sadly no, but Fridays there was 25% off all appetizers, and wings are under appetizers . . . so it looks like I might have to go back on a Friday. Although the price is right in general for the generous wing portion. 6/10

The Rochester Pub & Eatery
502 Rochester Street, Ottawa, On

CLOCKTOWER BREW PUB ~ Ottawa, On (Bank Street Location)

After 2 years, Dude is finally home in Canada! Teaching English in China and eating Chinese chicken wings, we decided that it was time to reacquaint him with Canadian wing fare. Dude came to Ottawa for a week long visit, and LJ was occupied this night and unable to join us, so a boys night out it was. For a long time people in Ottawa have asked/told me to go to the Clocktower Brew Pub, and it was wing night, so it was a good time to try it.

The place was busy. Our waitress Laurie stated that it wasn't as bad as most Tuesdays, where a line up out the door usually exists. We were fortunate to get a table, but it was near the door to go to the patio/basement/bathroom/pool room and a cold breeze came upon us often. The good thing was that the waitress computer station was also right behind us, so it meant we were going to have access to Laurie whether she wanted to see us or not.

As we sat, we caught up on old times, new times, and took in the very mixed crowd: young urban professionals, uni & college students, eavesdropping families (our discussions of Chinese politics and culture must have been interesting because we heard them discussing us) etc. The decor of the places is wood and brick, and we, well I had a great view of the brewing vats of their homemade beer. I also noticed everyone was having wings.

When in Rome, right? So we got wings too. Despite the crowds, Laurie served us up our orders in a decent amount of time.

There's nothing I like more than having a big old plate of wings put in front of me.

The Clocktower have a wide variety of flavours compared to most pubs, and I was in a sampling mood, so I got an order of Hot, an order of Malaysian and a side of Hot & Honey. Dude went with Spicy Maple BBQ.

The wings were about a medium to large in size, dusted, then deep fried. The skin was crunchy, tossed in generous amounts of sauce. My big complaint about the wings was the chicken itself. They were tough and labour-us to chew. My theory is that the wings were cooked up earlier in the day and are flash fried/reheated just before serving.

SPICY MAPLE BBQ

Dude's wings. They were very unique - but they didn't really taste like BBQ, nor did they taste like maple. Actually there was no maple at all. They did taste like an Asian sweet sauce with a hint of BBQ. Very unique and while I wouldn't eat a whole order of it, I would sample it from a wing platter.

Hot was a classic pepper hot sauce with butter. It wasn't what I would describe as hot, but I'm sure there are those that couldn't eat what I would say is medium. Dude and I swapped several wings and hot seemed to be his fave.

One reader of the blog Matt C, recommended the Clocktower a while back, and suggested the Honey Szechuan and the Sweet Chili, but he also recommended the Malaysian for its heat. I asked Laurie about it and she said it was their version of suicide (next time I'll have to try his other suggestions). "Is it just a spicier version of hot or is it a completely different sauce?" I asked. "Different sauce" she replied. Malaysian it was.

I was intrigued and couldn't wait to try them; one bite and I was back with an old friend - 3rd Degree sauce. But not just simple 3rd Degree, no this sauce had some Asian flavours in there which gave this a really unique flavour. I liked it, but 3rd Degree can have a slight chemical/additive taste. As Dude said, "It tastes like hospital, and you can quote me on that."

I also asked for the Hot and Honey on the side, but it never came, and with all the flavours at our table, I didn't need it.

FINAL SCORE: The wings had a lot of potential. Our chicken was tough and I'm pretty sure was just reheated - I hope it was just a flaw in our order and not a regular thing. But the crispy skin and variety of jazzed up sauces were good. I wanted to give them more points, but I've had bigger and better quality chicken. But the place was packed with wing lovers and people line up, so either ours were a blip, or the people don't mind. I guess I'll just have to go back to find out. 6/10.

Welcome Home Champ

Clocktower Brew Pub

575 Bank Street, Ottawa (and 2 other locations)

clocktower.ca

Busy Busy Busy in September

Sorry for not posting, commenting or visiting other blogs in a while - but I've been very busy:

• Back home to the Burg for a wedding of some close high school friends. Good times.
• Dude is back from China and came to visit for a week (wing reviews will come)
• Dude & I travelled to Algonquin Park (meeting Ricky & newbie Jon) for a camping bachelor party for the Groom to be, Brad. I nearly die hiking to the top of a mountain (I exaggerate, but only slightly).
• Preparing for Brad & Amanda's wedding and other errands.

I'm hoping to get at least one review done tonight, but there is a lot on my plate these days. Please stick with me, and I will be back to reading about all your adventures soon too!

MAYFLOWER RESTAURANT & PUB ~ Ottawa, On

Adventuring on a few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon brought me to Elgin Street, and I was in the mood for wings. I was also in a mood to take advantage of the wonderful weather (not hot, slightly cool, sunny) and sit on a patio. There aren't a lot of patio's on this strip, and one establishment I had planned on going to the only seats available were uncomfortably close together. Then I walked past The Mayflower, an establishment that from the outside, looks like it has been around for a long time and hasn't changed. I meandered onto the patio, took a table, and scanned the menu for wings.

RIP - The MAYFLOWER is NOW CLOSED but has become a food truck

The patio is nothing special, but the tables and chairs are better than plastic deck fare you find at many places. I never went inside, so I don't know what the interior is like. I looked around the patio and studied the crowd. Couples, friends, the elderly. And everyone was eating brunch. When I looked at the menu, it was a special weekend brunch menu. Crap. Was there wings to be had?

Yes, yes there were. I like breakfast, but moderately so. Most mornings food early in the morning can make me feel like puking. Growing up, weekend breakfast was always filled with bacon, sausage, eggs etc. Eggs Benny is my fave, but I can pass on waffles or pancakes, not that I don't like them, but they lend to the sweet side, and I'm more savoury. So while I do enjoy breakfast dishes, I will gladly skip breakfast foods for a good lunch. I'm quirky like that. I was happy to have more options.

There was a section of munchy and main course dishes, mainly burgers, clubs and other sandwiches. I was here for wings, but the price tag on them was pricey. So I reconsidered going with a nice club sandwich or something. But it just wasn't working for me. Eggs Benedict that went to one table looked great, but it was well after lunch, and I was far from a breakfast mood.

So I ordered an order of wings, which comes with a side of fries, 3 carrot sticks. No dip. Veggie sticks should come with dip. Not happy about that. Oh well.

I was happy that the fries were fresh cut. Not frozen. Crispy and delicious. Plain, but I can salt and vinegar fries the way I like them, with a side of ketchup for dipping. Although the vinegar came in packets rather than a bottle, which was odd and a bit wasteful, but oh well.

There were 12 wings in my order. They were medium sized wing with the chicken itself being a not overly meaty wing.

The chicken was naked (no breading or dusting) and deep fried well. The skin was nice and very crispy.

I ordered my wings hot with a side of BBQ sauce for sampling. The hot was straight Frank's Hot Sauce - no Buffalo butter here. This was ok but nothing exciting.

The BBQ sauce looked like ketchup, but was not quite as sweet. A little smokey, but just barely. It was definitely a bottled sauce as opposed to homemade. Good for dippin my fries into more than the wings.

FINAL SCORE: Decent wings. Good fries. More expensive than I would like to enjoy and I found no evidence of a wing night, so I doubt I would have them over say a club sandwich or eggs Benny. Stick to what they probably do better. Again, the wings were not bad at all, just not that much love in them. 5/10

Mayflower Restaurant & Pub
247 Elgin Street, Ottawa

Hot Wing Poutine

There are many great side dishes to have with wings (yes wings are a main dish, not just an appetizer). Potato skins, nachos, deep fried pickles, or even just onion rings or fries.

But I was inspired recently to look locally for a wonderful side dish: poutine. Fries, Curds and Gravy.

I grew up in South-Western Ontario, where poutine was 'poo-teen' and was any fries covered in cheese and gravy. But having moved to Ottawa and so very close to the Quebec border, I have come to understand that poutine, good traditional poutine is much more specific, simple and guarded dish that means a lot to many people.

Poutine has been around since the 50's, and you can finds versions of it at chip wagon stands, restaurants, and even KFC, McDonald's, Harvey's and Burger King. But there has been an explosion of things poutine in the print and social media West of the nation's capital. The Toronto Star, Blog T.O. debates, the opening of two poutine establishments (Smokies & Poutini's)in Toronto, even a blog "Curdsade" devoted to finding good 'tine'. Real poutine is being discovered there, but the people of Quebec have been there done that. Or here in Ottawa @ Foodieprints.

But now, for the first time, I wanted to recreate this wonderful dish. As authentic as possible, but adding the Wing King flare. Poutine is awesome, but can it be, super-awesome?

Click on the picture below to go to WKTV video
(I seem to have a copyright battle with YouTube constantly now. I cannot put the video on Blogger because "Embedding disabled by request" but I didn't request it. Who did? I don't know. I want to scream. Sorry for the inconvenience and please take the time to check it out)

WK's HOT WING POUTINE
(personal serving)


INGREDIENTS:

• potato (2),


• poutine sauce (chicken gravy)


• cheese curd (fresh! squeaky!)


• hot wings, sauced, bones removed, shredded

Instructions:

1. Cut cleaned potatoes into fries (not too thin, not too thick), place into ice water, then dry.


2. Blanch potato by deep frying at approx 340 for about 2 mins. Remove, towel oil off, place in fridge for approx 1 hour.


3. Bring poutine sauce/gravy to a simmer.


4. Crank deep fryer up to 375 (highest on the fryer). Return fries and cook until golden and crispy (approx 4-8 minutes).


5. When frites are done, towel off oil again, then liberally salt and toss.


6. Plate fries. Add cheese curds. Pour gravy over top.
   
   STOP HERE IF MAKING CLASSIC POUTINE. CONTINUE IF MAKING HOT WING POUTINE
   
   


7. Take hot wings (Buffalo style, or just hot or any kind of wing that is already cooked), remove bones and shred. (Note: one could use chicken thighs or other cuts, but it won't be the same).


8. Add wings to top of poutine and enjoy!
   
   

The players. It's oh so simple.


Cheese curd. This is cheddar and yellow - classic curd is white (like mozzarella). The store only had cheddar. Around Ottawa, St. Albert's is THE curd for poutine. Remember, fresh and squeaky!


Store bought poutine sauce. I did not want to make my own, so I went with the experts: St Hubert rotisserie chicken used to be all over Ontario when I was young, then they pretty much disappeared except for Quebec.




While this is simply a chicken gravy, the ingredients on the back was not the same as 'chicken gravy.' It's damn good too!

Cutting the potato. That's right, fresh cut fries (FCF). Just like a chip truck. I was also using old oil in the deep fryer, just like a chip truck.

Keeping the cut potato in ice cold water. Keeps potato from turning colour and helps remove starch. I guess.

Frites - the final stage. Golden, crispy with a pillow soft interior. I used table salt, but I should have Kosher or sea salt.

Good enough to eat as is. I've tried making FCF before to poor results, but the blanching/double fry method is the way to go.

Classic Poutine.

Hot Wing Poutine.

Fantastique! Crispy french fries, salty cheese curds, chickeny poutine gravy and spicy chicken and skin. It was heaven. Just before I took my first bite, I inhaled deeply and enjoyed the aroma of this dish. This is true Canadian comfort food.

What Would I Do Differently Next Time? As a straight poutine, this was right on. Nothing to improve other than fresher cheese curds and Kosher/Sea Salting of the fries maybe. As for making it a better Hot Wing Poutine, I would make the wings more wet with sauce, and maybe crumble bleu cheese on top.

A lot of people have gotten very gourmet with poutine (foie gras, Beer braised beef ) but I like it classic, or just the Buffalo chicken, or maybe bacon? Actually pulled pork poutine sounds good. Ok, there are lots of ways to go. Just remember that it's gotta be the Trinity ingredients: mozzarella makes this New Jersey Disco Fries. Stick to the Quebec stuff. Bon Appetit!

Check out this A&P (remember A&P?) commercial from the mid to early 2000's which was the inspiration for the begining of my WKTV episode. One of my all time favourites.

Wing Master: X-Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce

On one of my parents travels to the United States early this year, they were very kind to bring me back a bottle of hot sauce for wings. Ya, they know me.

I had not heard of Wing Master before as it is not a brand found in my local supermarket. Of course that doesn't mean one couldn't find it in a hot sauce specialty store. For now, it was an exciting import.

The bottle has sat on my shelf for a few months, waiting for the opportune time to sample. Tonight was that time.

The sauce is made by Pepper Palace, which is based out of Gatlinburg, Tennessee (Hey Chris, that's not too far from you!). I don't think this is where my parents picked it up though, but I think they picked it up in Florida (I don't quite remember). But hey, what a logo. They mean business.

What endured me to the sauce was the cute photoshop of the buffalo head on a chicken. But one glance at the ingredient list and you know it's not really a Buffalo sauce.

The sauce has a very interesting ingredient listing. First thing is hot sauce. This seems a little redundant, but they put in a hot sauce first into their sauce. This seems like some sort of time/paradox dealie that I'm not ready to get into. There are lots of peppers/spices (cayenne, habanero, red chile peppers and spices . . . ooh spices). Water is halfway on the list, which you know will make this both hot and thick.

Well it may not be a Buffalo sauce, but it looked like a quality hot sauce. But don't be mistaken, these are meant to be for wings. Not added to ribs or pasta or anything else. This is a chicken wing sauce, so I made wings in which to sample them.

The sauce is a very dark red, with flecks of what looks like pepper or some other spice. I knew it would have a 'dark' flavour just by the look of it. Yes I describe flavours with colour.

The smell was a mix of garlic and butter and spice heat. The nostrils didn't flare from the spice, but I was aware of it. The garlic/butter smell was not the most appealing smell from a bottle as I would hope. When I make homemade Buffalo sauce, and refrigerate the leftover sauce, the smell of the congealed butter and vinegar and cayenne sauce makes the same kind of smell.

I dusted my wings in flour/cornstarch, deep fried, then immediately tossed with 1/3 of my bottle of sauce. The dusting gave the sauce something to cling to. This sauce was made for wings.

The first taste of the sauce presented a lot of flavours; I could taste the butter flavour, the garlic, the spices. The heat was there from the start - it didn't overpower the flavour or knock me down in heat, but it never let me forget it was there either.

FINAL SCORE: This is a good hot sauce for wings. Not only does it have a lot of flavour but it also has some heat. I would label it as 'hot' rather than x-hot, but hey, that is me. I enjoyed my wings, but it isn't a sauce I would want to have on a regular basis. But hey, the wings were skinned and the bowl was licked clean. Thanks mom & dad. 3.5/6.

Wing Master: X-Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce

pepperpalace.com

pepperpalaceblog.com

Taste T.O. does Chicken Wing Tastings

I like Taste T.O. - a blog about all things food in the Provincial Capital. They have lots of great info, up to date buzz, and well food. Plus, they have mentioned Lord of the Wings on many occasions.

Well not only do they have a new look, but this week they did an article on chicken wings in the city "When The Wing’s The Thing" by Porsha Perreault.

There are several interesting tid-bits about the article:

• Porsha is not a "true-winger" - so the POV is someone who casually enjoys wings. How do I know this? Because she said this "I began questioning the intelligence of this experiment; after all, woman cannot live on wings alone." But I love that she did this. But she also went with wimpy medium, so I again question her expertise (just joking). Actually, I respect her final conclusions: "everything written here must be taken with a grain of salt because opinions on wings are varied, prolific and personal."
• I liked that most of the restaurants are not big name places and there are no chains. Most of the places (if I have heard of them) are not the 'biggies' in terms of wings in the city, but they sound intersting enough to try the next time I go back to TO.
• I have reviewed two of her choices: The Wheat Sheaf, & Allens.
• I want wings from Toronto again.

Labour Day Weekend Wings 2009

Last year I was on my own for Labour Day and I filled it with wings.

Looks like 2009 will be the same. And I'm excited.

In short, I have a few plans:

• Some Urban Exploration of Ottawa
• Chicken Wing Review of some pub-like establishment
• Creating a sriracha sauce (inspired by this guy)
• Making a Buffalo-Chicken Poutine (inspired by her)
• Another (more authentic) attempt at General Tao wings (after this fake one)
• Major apartment clean-up
• A WKTV episode

I don't know if I will get to do it all. Or any of it. But I'm excited to try anyway.

Have a great long weekend and remember those who struggled for our working freedoms.

Great Concept & Recipe: Buffalo Curds for Buffalo-Style Poutine

Searching the world wide web, I came across the blog "Glutin-Free in the Shaolin" and she had two amazing items in one post:

1) Buffalo Wing Cheddar Cheese Curds.

2) Using said Buffalo Wing Cheddar Cheese Curds to make a poutine.

In one word: awesome.

Go there now. Now I say. Check it out. Go NOW!

(I'm having some problems going to the direct post, so go HERE to see it)