SEAWAY ROADHOUSE - Cornwall ON

In November I was back in Cornwall. It was a Tuesday and I had been researching Tuesday wing nights in Cornwall to grab some lunch. Now Cornwall's not that big, so I thought I knew all the places available. But a new place caught my eye; Seaway Roadhouse.

When I hear the term Roadhouse, I can't help but think of that Family Guy episode "Brian's Got a Brand New Bag" (S8e4):



I feel like round-housing my way around town! Anyways, this roadhouse is on the west part of town that seems to be a mix of industrial and residential area. The building has been around for a long time I'm sure, and I'm willing to bet it's been all sorts of businesses over the years. Seaway Roadhouse was just open this past summer, so they had only been open about 4 months.

Social media told me that Tuesday all day was wing 'night' and when I drove by and saw the big sign advertising it as so, I was pleased. I parked, but felt a little trepidation going in. When I think roadhouse, I think wood decor, a big bar, and dudes hanging out playing pool looking for trouble. I dine alone often and I'm cool with it, but a lot of people find it odd or couldn't do it themselves, so that puts me on edge sometimes.

As I walked around I wasn't sure if I had to go in the front door or the side door that leads into the covered porch. There were 3 guys smoking around the door. I felt weird to go in between them, but one guy opened the door and they all said hello to me. Ok, friendly place. Inside was exactly what I expected the roadhouse to look. Well I wasn't expecting all the x-mas decorations, but other than that it was. They were even playing country music.

The bar was packed in the middle of the afternoon; I seemingly was the only one not at the bar. I took a seat by the window and Brennah was my server, who was also the bartender, and after some research is the daughter of the owners of Seaway Roadhouse. She was very friendly, and clearly everyone at the bar knows her as I overheard some teasing and others joking with her. She brought me the menu, which is quite small (half is food and half is drink). My seat had a sign above saying $0.50 wings, so I told her I wanted the wings - I asked how that works and she said I could order as many as I wanted. So I ordered 10 hot. A few moments later she came back with a bone basket and napkins and wetnaps, but she had a question for me:

"Have you been here for wing night before?" I said no. "Ok well the supplier brought the wrong wings. They are really small. I'm really sorry, they are not our usual wings."  I really appreciated that. Clearly there was pride in the wings that they serve that they not only warned me even as a non-regular, but that they wanted my business again to apologize and have me back. A few minutes later, Brennah brought me the wings, apologized again because they were small, and then said that because they were so small they were only charging $0.30 a wing. SWEET DEAL. 10 wings with a drink came to $5. My drink by the way, was Diet Coke, but it didn't taste like a Coke or Pepsi product but more like a no-name brand soda. I drank it anyway but I probably should have said something.

It was really hard to evaluate these wings because these are not their normal chicken product. But I can describe what they did with what they have.

First off, I have no idea how many wings come in a normal order. I have no idea how big they are for sure. Until I go again, no idea. What did come with the wings were some really fresh celery and carrot sticks (nice), and the smallest little paper cup of ranch dressing I've ever seen.

Well Brennah was right, these wings were tiny. I mean these were some of the smallest wings I've ever been served (I have had smaller, but not by much). Sad for sure. The wings were deep fried and the skin was crispy. There was almost no meat on the bones though.

The wings were nice and saucy. The sauce was probably just Frank's or some other cayenne based hot sauce, maybe not, not too sure. 

I have to say, the wings were actually really good. Some people argue that smaller wings are tastier than large or jumbo wings, and on this occasion I'd be willing to agree. I really enjoyed these little suckers.

FINAL SCORE:

I can't officially score these wings, but what I can tell you is they got served with fresh veggies, were sauced well, fried well, and were tasty. I can only imagine that the Seaway Roadhouse does a good job on the normal thing. The service was friendly too. I will have to go back and re-sample when the wings are back to normal.

Roadhouse!

Seaway Roadhouse
830 Second Street West, Cornwall ON
Seaway Roadhouse FACEBOOK

COMINO'S PIZZA & WINGS - Whitby ON

Back in April or May we were in Whitby and I had the chance to try a local pizza joint out called Comino's. I had seen online photos and reviews of their pizza and wings and the pizza looked like the type I love and can't get in Ottawa. I was right, and the pizza was very good. But the wings, the wings were "righteous". I didn't do a full review, but I vowed if I got the chance again I was going to get the wings again and do a proper review.

Well this past November I got that chance. I was on the road and made a quick lunch stop to my new favourite pizza place.

This is just a standard take-out pizza joint with only some stool seating at the window. It's run by a South Asian family (mom, dad, son - I assume, that seems to be the arrangement working in the back). They are very friendly and seem to have a good time preparing the food together.

They have lots of combos advertised, but on this particular occasion I wasn't getting pizza. I was here for wings, and wings were what I was going to get.

What I love about this place is that they make their own sauces. There are a ton of varieties, and in my limited experience, if they say something is hot, it's hot. There is no advertised list of sauces but you can see the sauces in containers in their front display case. They do have Heinz pizza dips (so like, Ranch and Cheddar etc) but the wing sauces that I'm aware of are:

• Medium/Hot/Red Hot (I don't know what the difference between hot & red hot)
• Buffalo Style Hot Sauce
• Suicide
• BBQ
• Honey Garlic
• Jerk
• Sweet & Spicy

That's an awesome list. Respect for the love they give for their sauces. Just to be clear, these are extra sauces you can dip - there seems to be waaay more sauce on the wings than one of these little cups. I asked for 2 orders of wings, and then picked Buffalo Style Hot Sauce and Suicide - the dad(?) warned me they were both hot, but I told him that was what I wanted. He smiled. I waited about 10-15 minutes and soon I had my wing feast.

Spoiler alert - I am so glad I stopped here for wings again.

Wings come in increments of 10 with 10 costing less than $9 which is a good price. When I see that price I expect tiny wings, and these were not. Nothing came with the wings, so don't expect veggies or dip.

The wings were packaged in two Styrofoam containers lined with checked wax? paper. They didn't even give me a paper bag for my take-out which is a little odd. I also didn't get napkins, although I could have grabbed some from the dispenser inside, but they have those small weak ones and I had better ones in the car, where I went to town on these wings.

The wings were BIG - like near jumbo wings. Long, wide, thick. The skin is dusted and the wings are deep fried, which gives them a wonderfully crispy skin. They can hold up to a lot of sauce, but overtime that crispness breaks down, but not to the point when they get soggy (I know because I had leftover wings and they weren't as crispy, but still good). The meat was relatively tender under that skin.

The two wings were sauced very differently - one was moist, but more dry in it's distribution, and the other was wet and had had globs of sauce all over them. No way that came from just one of those cups.

I got the two flavours mixed up (they weren't labeled) when I finally got to eat them. I thought the orange-y more dry looking wings were the Buffalo and I bite into them and I was like, whoa, those are really spicy. Then I had the saucy wings and they were clearly less hot and I realized they were the Buffalo after all.

BUFFALO STYLE HOT SAUCE

Right off the bat I have to say, I was not happy with the name of these wings. There is nothing Buffalo about them. They are not cayenne sauce with butter and vinegar. No. So no idea why they call it that and they shouldn't. What you can call them is awesome.

I love this sauce. I could drink it. I had a hard time describing the sauce. It was so good. It reminded me of one of my favourite wings - Moose Winooski's, but hotter. It's almost like a BBQ sauce in that the texture is thick and it's kind of sweet, but it's not molasses or even tomato based in flavour. It's just good.

SUICIDE

Wow - these were a true suicide. As I said, I thought they were the Buffalo but boy did they have a kick. The heat caused me to cough well after I had eaten a few. It was a stinging heat that went right to my lips, and my throat.

The flavour was hot. Bam! It's got a very sour taste to them (in a good way). There are chili flakes there that add to the heat. I don't know what they use, but it tastes very familiar to me. If you want to sit around enjoying multiple levels of flavour, this is not your wing. If you want fried wings with missile precise heat, this is your wing.

FINAL SCORE:

These are excellent wings. Big, crispy, saucy. Suicide is actually very hot, and the Buffalo Style is nothing like Buffalo, but it is thick and tasty. So impressed with these wings and so very frustrated I don't live nearby. Kudos for a take-out pizza place making all the effort on their sauces and showing their wings love, it really shows. 12/14

Comino's Pizza & Wings
1910 Dundas Street East, Suite 124, Whitby ON
cominospizza.com

LOTW Meme Monday = Johnny Cash Suicide Wings

My mouth says I still feel ...

BARNEY's PIZZA - Ottawa ON

I like to think that I'm a person with a good sense of direction, but on occasion I get lost. Actually it's more like I don't like to take the same route and go exploring and I find stuff I never expected. I'm a regular Marco Polo, what can I say? 

One day while I was out I decided to go down a road I had never been down before, which led me to a sketchy, rundown little strip mall with a local pizza joint called Barney's Pizza. Up until just a few minutes before writing this, I had not paid attention to the name; Barney's. I just assumed it was like so many pizza places just named after an owner. But as I was writing  I actually noticed the logo in the collage below and realized that the Barney in question is supposed to be Fred's neighbor and best pal from the Flintstones. Huh!

I had seen Barney's on the internet before but had no idea where in Ottawa it was. Now I know. The store frontage is pretty big, but the only seating is a few stools at the windows. There is a school nearby that I think makes up a lot of the daytime customer base; there are lots of snacks, treats, pop and pizza slices they have to create a one-stop-shop and keep those customers from going to both a convenience store and a Giant Tiger in the same plaza.

There were several staff behind the counter working away and when I was ready the Pizza Lady came over to take my order - 12 wings, and I decided to get some onion rings. She asked what sauce and since none were listed I asked what they had. "Mild, honey garlic, hot, medium, suicide" so I said "suicide" and she smiled and said "oh, that's how my husband gets them!". Cool.  I had to wait a while (about 15-20 minutes) but I hung out and watched customers coming in and out, the delivery guy joking with the staff etc. After a while I had my food and off I went.

I drove to the river and had a car picnic. I noticed that the paper bag everything was packed into was misshapen and even a bit greasy coming out of it? What was going on? I peeked into the bag and noticed what was causing the problem - the onion ring container wouldn't close!

There were so many onion rings that the small clam shell for this small order was too big and wouldn't and couldn't shut. Wow. Impressive. Also, the grease on the bag came from the rings, so then I had a good feeling these onion rings were going to be good.

I was expecting standard frozen mass produced onion rings, but was pleasantly surprised by these seemingly homemade rings! At first I thought they looked burnt and expected them to have that taste, and I think they were on the verge of being burnt, but weren't. They had a puffy batter that was crunchy/super crispy and almost brittle. This was under $3. Overall they tasted good. I only wish I had gotten some ketchup or some dip with them because I likes me rings and sauce of some sort.

So the rings were good, but how about the wings???

The wings came in a Styrofoam clam shell, and inside that they were wrapped in tinfoil. This leads to the wings getting steamed and moisture forming in the container as it travels for delivery. That's too bad.

They smelled good though! The wings come in numerical orders, so I went with their smallest amount which is 12 wings. Nothing comes with them, but you can buy sour cream, ranch or garlic dip for $0.75. I did not.

The wings were sadly a bit small. Not the smallest I've had, but small. However, they were pretty meaty for the size of the wings.

The wings come from frozen, and are deep fried naked. The chicken itself wasn't tender, but it wasn't tough either, just ok. The skin would have been crispy before saucing, but because they travelled in the tinfoil they steamed and were not crispy by the time (about 10 minutes after leaving the store) I actually consumed them.

I went with Suicide, but these weren't that spicy. I mean there was a little sting, but I think their suicide is just adding chili pepper flakes to their hot. Their hot tastes like a cayenne based hot sauce, but it didn't taste like the industry standard Frank's Hot. They were tasty enough. Also watch out, the sauce stains the skin big time! The wings weren't super saucy, but again I think because they absorbed into the steaming skin.

FINAL SCORE:

These were not bad wings despite the score. They were small and they weren't crispy but they were good enough and tasty for lunch. I would go back to Barney's, but no rush. Except maybe for the onion rings - now those were Yabadabadoolish! 6/14

Barney's Pizza & Subs (or sometimes listed as just Barney's Pizza)
2843 Dumaurier Ave, Ottawa ON
Website is defunct but they use FACEBOOK

WING CENTRAL - Kingston ON

Back in November, LJ and I had some business in Kingston and when that was done, it was time for some lunch. We both thought wings sounded good, it was a Tuesday and one place in Kingston had an all day wing 'night': Wing Central  

I've done my research in the past one places to get wings and Wing Central comes up over and over again as a place that people feel has good wings. I've also knew in my research that Wing Central used to be a Wild Wing restaurant and part of the chain. There must be a lot of funny business with the corporate wing of that chain because I've seen several branches break away and and become independent restaurants. And the contracts can't be that good because they seem to clone everything about the chain with just slight tweaks.

Wing Central seems to fall into this category perfectly. You walk in and it looks like any Wild Wing restaurant in the province: wood paneling, wood benches, wood condiment tray with paper towels and bone buckets. Sports memorabilia on the walls. Heck, even the menu while in different fonts and different names is pretty much the same as Wild Wing's.

What was a bit different was the vibe. The restaurant side was kind of empty, but the bar was completely full with what I would call the locals. They were there to drink and socialize, not eat wings so much would be my guess. But there doesn't seem to be any other bars nearby to this strip-mall like area.

There are over 80 flavours here to choose from (Wild Wing's says over 100 on their menu, but are there really?) but what does seem slightly different are the specials and combo packs available. We actually went with the Tuesday special which was $14 for a pound and a half of wings (normally they are $13 for one pound). What I really appreciate is that they explain all of their flavours, so you know what you are getting besides a cute name.

Out waitress was Nicole and she took good care of us. Took our orders, answered our questions, and brought us refills on drinks. It didn't take long for us to get our wing feast.

An extra half pound doesn't sound like a lot, but when the wings came, they were a lot!

Our pound and a half orders contained approx 11 wings each - making a regular pound probably around 7 wings.

There were no sides with the wings - maybe because of it being wing night? Because on the menu it says they are served with carrot & celery with a choice of dip. You can also get the wings as a 'Dinner' or they even have a super combo called "Meal Deal for Two aka Date Night Special) with 2lbs of wings, 2 side orders and 2 desserts for $39.99.

The wings were a good medium + wings (not quite large, but a good size none the less). They were both medium + in length and height. They also have a light batter breading on them that doesn't affect their width, but these were meaty wings that were also quite tender. The skin was crispy even holding up to the very thick sauces.

Wing Central was also generous with the sauces. There was not a dry wing in the house and you were going to HAVE to get messy to eat. Good thing there is a roll of paper towel at the table!

We both went very creamy with our orders. LJ went with the Caesar & Parmesan, and I went for the Kicked in the Dills (which is a hot and creamy dill mix).

CAESAR PARMESAN

These were very very very creamy wings. Caesar dressing mixed with Parmesan and sprinkled with Parmesan - great concept. The only downside was that the Caesar wasn't very strong, so you didn't get as bold a flavour as you would expect.

KICKED IN THE DILLS

I get the joke, but the name doesn't really make sense. Good thing the flavour does. Extreme Hot and Buttermilk Dill is a great combination - it's creamy, it's spicy, it's dilly. The heat isn't that hot because it is tempered by the cooling buttermilk.

FINAL SCORE:

Wing Central may just be a decentralized former chain, but they have kept up the quality for years. The wings are crispy, meaty and tasty. Everything you want in a good wing. By the end of the meal, I was STUFFED and very satisfied. 11/15

Wing Central
97 Bath Road, Kingston ON
No functioning website but they are active on FACEBOOK

#lotwtestkitchen finds a new Home

If you've been wondering why the lack of posts, it hasn't been because I haven't been eating wings (I have), or because Ive been on the road (although I have), but mainly because we bought a house & we moved in!

We`ve been busy with lots of unpacking (what box did I put the deep fryer in?), organizing, setting up utilities and just settling in when we`ve been home. Thanks to our parents for helping with the move, painting, cleaning etc. They were amazing help.

So what`s next once we are officially settling in? Well I have a new #lotwtestkitchen to make wings (and have been fortunate enough to have had the first wings of the house!), which means in 2019 I'd like to reboot WingKingTV on youtube, but that won't be for a while yet. I'm also furiously trying to finish all of my 2018 reviews (I have like 10 in various states of being completed) so that I can get to my Year in Review for 2018 done! This will be the first YIR that isn't just mini reviews of reviews I never got to post.

Anyways, exciting stuff around here, but thanks for your patience. There's lots to do but we are super excited to settle into a proper home.

Update & Random Chicken

As I mentioned, things are mondo busy. Big life announcements coming up that are sucking all my time. I have a bunch of posts on the back burner but it doesn't look like I will be getting to any of them in the next week. Stay tuned for announcements soon!

So to tide things over for the moment, this was a photo I found on my phone when I revamped some leftovers from some decent fried chicken, to Buffalo sauced fried chicken. Level up!