JOEY's EATON CENTRE ~ Toronto ON

AUGUST 2012

August is a busy prep period for us at work leading into September. To do some planning and some team bonding, we went out for lunch. 

Not far from our office is Joey's (Eaton Centre location). I had never been but was very curious since they opened.

The place has a unique look to the place: a little chic, a little modern. I mean, the chandeliers are a unique statement.

The inside is huge, with a giant open front window. There's even an upstairs. And it was needed because the place was packed. Lots of office types. Our server (name forgotten) was very friendly and professional, going so far to make sure no one had any allergies (there were) and having what seem like a manager come out and confirm the dishes were safe for the allergies or had been substituted.

Here is the crew: me, Naeem, Sarah and Kat. We had a nice big booth at a big table.

On top is Naeem's Bombay Butter Chicken (good he said). In the middle is Sarah's Ahi Tuna Club. On bottom is Kat's Yam Fries and Caesar salad. My order of wings also arrived, and one thing really stood out for me:

A very dramatic presentation - the pyramid of wings. But I couldn't help but notice the stark and giant plate made my order look really puny, don't you think? They are small wings to begin with, but a pyramid should be majestic, not pygmie. 

There are no options when it comes to wings at Joey's. Only one size of order (about 12) and only one sauce: "Blazing."

OK, with the right camera angle, this pyramid presentation can look impressive. I do love the colour contrasts of the red, the white and the green.

The only other thing on the plate was a side of blue cheese dip. It was thicker than I prefer in both consistency and flavour, but at least there was blue cheese. But not veggies to dip, suggesting that the 'blazing' wings are really hot, right?

Size wise, I was really not impressed. Pigeon sized wings. Little meat, little everything. What makes me angry that these wings cost $12 - at about a dollar a wing I expect something more impressive.

That being said, these wings were cooked well. The skin was crispy and the meat was tender. They were what I consider perfectly sauced too. Now the sauce was a great Buffalo sauce - cayenne and butter - but not at all "Blazing". They are using that word as a marketing gimmick, not as a descriptor.

FINAL SCORE:
I'm torn. Almost perfectly cooked and sauced wings with a fun presentation, marred by minimum standards of size and inflated price. They are good, but if you care about value, the wings at Joey's aren't for you. But all the other food looked tasty, so if I do go back, I'll be sampling something else. 5/10

Joey's Eaton Centre Grill/Lounge
1 Dundas Street West, Toronto ON
joeyrestaurants.com/eaton-crentre

London Ribfest 2012

AUGUST 2012

The August long weekend is bitter sweet for me. It's sad because it's the last long weekend of the summer for me (I have to work through Labour Day Weekend ironically), but it's always exciting because it's Ribfest long weekend in London Ontario.

It was a beautiful day to wander around Victoria park, taking in the sights, the people and the food.

There had been rain earlier that had kept crowds away, but soon the sun was out, and the lineups for smokey meat did not take long to form.

Ribfest is part fair, part food fest, part BBQ junkie meet up.

Originally it was just me and LJ at Ribfest, with Ricky unable to make it. Originally Amanda and Brad couldn't come, but then they showed up and surprised me. Amanda got these panzarottis. As a non-meat eater, she asked the vendor if the sauce was meatless. They said yes. They failed to mention that there was meat in the panzarotti. Amanda should have asked I guess . . . but she enjoyed her first few bites!

I love that for blocks away you can smell the smoke from the ribs. What a wonderful smell.

If ribs aren't your thing, theres chip trucks and corn, fudge and wings, sandwiches and lemonade - I shared a deep fried mars bar with LJ - so good.

Then there were the 10 BBQ Vendors. Mostly familiar setups like Jack the Ribber, Fire Island BBQ, Pistol Pete and of course Boss Hogg BBQ. So many others too.

I love just watching the ribbers grill, smoke and sauce the food. It's so carnal and primitive. Cue Tim 'Tool man' Taylors grunts.

Brad, looking a little creepy and hipsterish went with a pulled pork sandwich.

I don't remember where he got it from, but it was chalk full of pork. He said it was too saucy for his liking. It looked right to me!

 Ribfest 2012 Judging

London Ribfest 2012 ~ Rib & Sauce Judging

August 2012

First off I want to say this was grossley over-due. The August long weekend is long past.

After wandering around London Ribfest 2012 for a bit, I came across a welcome sight - my call as a 'celebrity' judge!

The event was moved to near the band-shell this year, and even security was there waiting for me!

I was also greeted by fellow blogger and rib judge Wilfred Reinke aka The Oshawa Ogre. Well, it was a banner of his anyway - but I finally did get to meet him in person!

The set up: Paper towel, moist towlettes, name tag, bottle of water, Coke (others got alcohol, but for someone like me, this was awesome), paper plates and cutlery.

We also got a binder with the official rib judge badge sticker. The rules and the score are the same as last year.

What would Ribfest be if it wasn't opened with Bill Paul, London Town Crier?

Part of the judging panel. Some familiar faces that I've gotten to know a bit for the past few years. Barry Orr sat beside me again, Councilor Harold Usher and Queen's Council Lawyer Murray Neilson were there too. This year I sat beside Jim Reyno of Metro London paper (see his article on judging HERE).  Also there was Joe Santore, Heather Jackson - Mayor of St Thomas, MPP Teresa Armstrong,  John Winston of Tourism London, Dale Carruthers of the London Free Press. Police Chief Brad Duncan was there too.

Our MC for the event was Toni Ross from Fresh FM radio. There were a lot of mildly inappropriate jokes from the largely male panel towards Toni about eating and ribs, but she was able to keep the guys in check. We all had a good time eating ribs and chatting with one another.


SAUCE JUDGING

First on the judging agenda was sauces. Each rib vendor sent the sauce they thought would win best sauce. We were supplied with bread sticks to consume the sauce.

Each judge got a tray of sauces. I was behind everyone because I not only was judging, but I was also taking pictures, and taking notes.

To start with, I was so busy I forgot to photograph #1 completely. Sorry. Here are my notes as I wrote them down:

1. 'sweet/savory, chunks of pepper, slight fruity flavour. good - 8'
2. 'brown sauce, little heat - 7'
3. 'thick, spice, ketchup taste - 5'
4. 'brown sauce - little spice - 5'
5. 'paste sauce - 5'

When I say 'brown sauce' I mean something like an HP sauce.

6.   'chunky, growing heat, -5'

7.   'plam - bold - 4'  (I don't know what plam is supposed to read - plain? plum?)

8.   'plain - 4'

9.   'Oregano? No _____ -5'

10. 'Thick, bitter - 3'

For me, the first was the best.

RIB JUDGING

It wasn't long before the ribs were on their way out. This is the exciting part.

1.  'Tender and tough, soft no crispiness to bark. Plain sauce, no smoke flavour'
2.  'Big, thick rib - not crispy, little tough. Nice smoke rub, super meaty'
3.  'Crispy bark, saucy - sweet like ketchup - sticky, good texture'

4.  'saucy but rub comes out (no tug), more about rib than sauce. bark - salty, little tug'
5.  'tender/tough - sauce is blah but some herb, not so great'
6.  'Smokey, bark, tender, salty, more rub than sauce, sauce is mild'

7.  'Smokey - but gas smokey not wood smokey. Sweet but 'bold', but a mild bold. Rib good but sauce gas smokey'.
8.  'Sweet sauce, grissely rib - tough. Fruity sauce.'
9.  'Huge - super tender - has boozey taste? but mile mild sauce.'
10. 'Dark, slightly sour. Tender - but no real flavour.'

My highlights were #6 and #4 whoever they were. Overall I was actually disappointed in the ribs this year - so many were tough, or weak in flavour. It was clear some ribbers went to a lot of effort in the presentation of their ribs, and others not.

No matter what, it was fun, filling and I can't thank Cecil Hillier and the folks at Family Shows Canada for having me as judge!

THE WINNERS:

1.       Mystery Judge’s Awards – these judges wandered around Ribber Row during the festival and observed the Ribbers in action. They have 2 awards.

Best Ribber Rig Display  is  Kentucky Smokehouse   

2.       Celebrity Judge’s Awards -  the celebrity judges did a magnificent job at selecting the winners of their awards. Their first 2 awards are:

Celebrity Judges 2^nd Place, Best Sauce  is  Boss Hoggs     

3.       Celebrity Judge’s 1^st Place Best  Sauce  is  Ribs Royale             

4.       The Best Ribber Cooking Showmanship award this year is sponsored by the

Metro London newspaper.  Jim Reyno from Metro London will now present the award. The award includes a picture and article in their newspaper.

The mystery judges decision:

        

Metro London - Best Ribber Cooking Showmanship  is   Fire Island  

5.       People’s Choice Panel

During the festival. Patrons deposited a ballot to get a chance to represent the people at large. The lucky folks who won the draw became the People’s Choice panel. They got the privilege to taste all 10 delectable ribs and determine the London People’s Choice awards for 2012. Their decisions are:

Peoples Choice 2^nd Place Best Ribs in London  is Texas Rangers

                            Judges Rib # 9

6.       People’s Choice Overall Best Ribs in London is  Ribs Royale

                                      Judges Rib # 7                       

        

7.       These are the big awards from the Celebrity Judge’s ,

Their Choice for 2^nd Place Best Ribs in London  is Jack the Ribber

                                                    Judges Rib # 3

8.       Their choice for Overall Best Ribs in London is  Boss Hoggs
                           Judges Rib # 1

2012 London Ribfest

HOT WINGS GRILL & RIB HOUSE ~ Toronto ON

RIP - HOT WINGS is now CLOSED

JULY 22 2012

It was a hot summer day. I had a Zip Car and was running errands. I happened to be down in the Queen West area, and decided I would stop for lunch and have some wings. I mention the rental car because I was going to do take-out, and I would be speeding (faster than walking, not actually speeding) home to eat.

I went to Hot Wings Grill and Rib House. To be perfectly honest with you, this wasn't my first time. I had been about a year before, tried to do a review, but it was so dark and I wasn't in a good mood, I ended up not. So I figured this was the time to do a proper review.

The place was a bit dead this weekend. The decor is simple brick and wood, and the highlight (at least for the summer) is the garage door front that opens. I'm torn because fresh air is great, but I also love my A/C in the summer.

My order was taken by Allison, and normally I wouldn't mention the server's name in a take-out order, but not only was she friendly and informative, but she offered me cold water while I waited. Nice.

I waited about 15 minutes for my order and then I was off. I got home and the first thing I did when I got in the door was open my lunch bag.

My pound of wings came with fries. The fries were shoestring style. They were pretty limp, which might have been from the polyurethane container that steams things in travel though. My guess is that they aren't prepared on site but from a bag. They were ok - I just wished they were more crisp.

Wings also came with a dip - dill dip. It's tasty - creamy ranch with dill. You can't go wrong.

Of course you can't forget the wings.

I went with an order of wings which is a pound a wings or about 8 wings. As you saw above, they come with fries and dip for $9.99.

Looking at the length, these wings were medium tipping to large, but in terms of being meaty, they were meaty. Super meaty.

They say the wings are grilled, but they seemed more baked. The skin wasn't crispy so much as being dried out. The meat was a bit tough too.

I went with Suicide as my sauce. This was not a suicide wing. Really, it starts out as a medium, but eventually some heat kicked into a hot. The wings are not that saucy, but you can tell the chicken is marinated and the seasoning and spices do come through.

FINAL SCORE: These were ok wings. That's really sad, considering wings are supposed to be their thing. I expect a lot more from my wings from a wing joint. Dried out, and not that spicy. They were big and their marination gives them a good flavour. They say grilled, but I would never be able to tell. 5/10.

Hot Wings Grill & Rib House
563 Queen Street West, Toronto ON
hotwingsbbq.com