FATHER & SONS ~ Ottawa

Sometimes looking for a great wing place in any city can be hit or miss. To find the places I am looking for I go by word of mouth, advertising, stumbling and yes the Internet. Food forums often can give helpful, and not so helpful advice. Sometimes I listen to the smallest tidbits of info in the hopes of a hidden wing gem. Today, I was going to one pub in the Sandyhill area of Ottawa but the place was closed for lunch (go figure). I had a back up in mind, Father and Sons, and I went based on one review from Restaurantica:

"Order: Wings, and beer
Review: This place is awesome. I would recommend to anyone looking to let loose and have a great time. A little crowded but not worth wining about!"

Yup. That's it. It didn't even mention the wings. I went back tonight to the Internet because I thought there were more wing related reviews, but there aren't. I had passed this place before, it looked quaint and I figured, why the hell not.


Father and Sons is a pub across from the University of Ottawa. The crowd during the school year is apparently very student in nature - local pub and watering hole. I arrived on a summer afternoon, and while there were a few students, the patio I sat in offered an interesting mix. A few youths debating some philosophy, a British woman discussing with a friend/colleague, her time in India and issues around adoption, and several middle age men who every staff member and every other person in the bar seemed to know.



The service was slow. Really slow. Friendly mind you, but I noticed the staff seemed extremely stressed despite it not being that busy. It took a while before I got a menu. The first waitress gave me 1 minute to look over the menu before she asked if I was ready; I said I needed another minute (you know, to actually look at the menu). After a long while, I was starting to think she wasn't coming back. And she didn't. The other waitress finally came to see me after I made some eye contact. She was friendly and apologized for the wait, and I was just happy to order some wings and curly fries.


I sat on the patio because it was a nice day, and I can take photos with natural light much easier. Since I do a lot of reviews by myself, it can be a bit awkward in a dark place to have a bright flash go off, and people wondering why that guy by himself is taking pictures of his food.

Now I normally don't care too much what people think (most people are too insecure to eat by themselves), but I do these reviews in relative anonymity from the staff - I want an honest review of the food and service, and a flash might attract the curiosity of the waitress and ask why I was taking photos of my wings. While taking photos in groups and of your food in restaurants is becoming more accepted and common place with the blogosphere and flickr sights and digital cameras, even I can admit a guy taking pictures of his wings by himself looks pretty weird. On a patio, people have way more distractions and I have more light. It's win win.


My two orders arrived at the same time. My basket of curly fries looked good. I was fearful of the cheap frozen ones that never have enough seasoning. These, however, were perfect. They tasted like Arby's curly fries, and those are my standard for this spiraling potato fare. Slightly spicy, crunchy, and temperature hot to the very last bite.

2008 THE SCORE 3.0: Father & Sons ~ Ottawa

STYLE:	Deep fried
PRICE:	$5.99 for 6 $7.99 for 10 $14.99 for 20 $21.99 for 30
SAUCES:	Mild Medium Hot Honey Garlic	0/1
HEAT:	No heat – barely a tingle
SIZE:	A small medium sized wing, no meat	1.5/3
WETNAP FACTOR:	Dry with sauce on the plate	1.5/3
CRISPINESS:	Hard – definitely over cooked	-1/3
FLAVOUR:	Ok – pub wing sauce	1/3
SIDES:	none	0/3
CLEAN UP:	napkin	1/3
WING NIGHT:	Mon/Sat $0.35 a wing after 7pm w/drink purchase	1/1
OTHER:	Patio, great curly fries
TOTAL:	Not worth the wings, stick to the curly fries	6/20

I was really hungry by the time the food had come, and after diving into a few curly fries, I was ready for my wings. At first glance I was optimistic about these wings. Then I took a closer look, and realized my 10 wings were not big. Not even really medium, but not pigeon wings either. I noticed there was very little sauce on the wings, that most of it was on the plate, and it wasn't that much.

The wings were over-cooked. I'm pretty sure they were frozen to begin with. The extra long deep frying didn't help. So let's recap: small wings that were frozen and then cooked too long. Not a good combination at all.

The sauce was also nothing special. Generic Pub Sauce #2 used by oh so many places. And hot was not.

The only one who seemed to care for these wings was a wasp who kept buzzing around. One of the hazards of a patio I guess. He really got into the bones, loving what I had already picked what I thought was clean.

FINAL SCORE: Small, frozen over-cooked wings with mild generic sauce. Not even a decent wing place. But the curly fries were excellent. I took a chance on a whim and I lost. Meh, you win some, you lose some. 6/20


Father & Sons
112 1/2 Osgoode Ave
Ottawa

GREEKFEST 2008 ~ Ottawa

OPA!!!!

Summer may not be my favourite month, but there is one thing that it is good for: festivals. No matter what city you are in there's something to do. This weekend alone here in Ottawa was a Caribbean parade, a Folk Festival, the Super Ex (big fair) and Greekfest. LJ and I had a busy weekend but we managed to go to Greekfest on Saturday night. Neither of us had ever been, and it had been a while since either of us had Greek food, we were up for the event.

I couldn't find very much on Ottawa's Greekfest. I have no idea how long it has been going on, how many people go, etc. I came across it when looking up information on Super Ex, which I was originally excited about for Carney food, but admission price was more than I wanted to pay on top of paying for the food. But I did find out that Greekfest was free . . .

LJ and I both had some preconceived notions of what Greekfest was going to be. Memories of Taste of the Danforth where various vendors compete with soulvaki from different restaurants and stands on a blocked off street with and music and lots of people. Well, Ottawa's Greek festival was a little different. First, we did see people walking from all over to get to the event. When we got to the event, it seemed to be in a Greek Orthodox Church parking lot. A big parking lot, but a lot none the less.


We first came across the tents where Greek stuff was being sold: jewelry, pottery, books etc. Maybe 6-7 vendors in total. Across the was was a giant inflatable slide for kids. Then there was the food tent, the dining tent, and the stage/dancing area. We joined a large line to get food, watching various people walk out with tasty looking items.

The crowd was really big, but not yet impossible to move. Old people kept trying to bud in front of us and others in the long food line - some not noticing there was an actual line in the crowd, and others just trying to abuse the system. My mouth was watering as more and more food went past. I knew we were getting close.


All of a sudden, we were in the food tent. The menu's were up high, but in small font. It was hard to see, discuss what you were going to order, and keep your place in line as people were in a large shuffle without any clear lines (later, we saw fliers being handed to an even longer line that had the menu, so people later than 6pm had advanced knowledge of the menu). LJ and I thought there was going to be different vendors, but all the food was cooked by one big tent. I couldn't find any info to say if it was a restaurant catering, volunteers, etc. We ordered our food, but found that it was expensive. Really expensive.


We wanted a sampling, so here's what we ordered and what it cost:

• LOUKANIKO: Greek bbq sausage ~ $6
• PORK SOUVLAKI PLATTER: 2 sticks of tender chunks of marinated pork, served with Greek salad and bread ~ $11.50 (we didn't get any bread)
• GYROS PITA: Slices of gyros (beef) topped with tomatoes, onions, parsley and tzatziki sauce on a pita bread $5.75
• SPANAKOPITA & TIROPITA: Spinach & cheese pies in a phyllo pastry $5

Plus 2 pops for $3, our total was over $30, and we didn't even have dessert yet. Now at something like Ribfest, the food is expensive, but proceeds go to charity. Here, there didn't seem to be any charity, so I can't understand why I'm paying $6 for a sausage. And another $4.25 for tzatziki that would be natural for all these, and we didn't get the bread that the menu says we should get with it either.

The next challenge was finding a place to sit. There was a giant tent housing long lines of tables with cheap fold up chairs. The situation made the whole dining experience terrible; the heat, flies, too much crowding, people continually pushing past you with their trays coming and going as you sit, and the table was dirty and people had left their garbage behind them. And we were lucky just to get a seat! The food sure didn't help either.

ABOVE: Over $30 worth of food. Doesn't look like it does it?

PORK SOULVAKI
This grilled marinated meat looked tasty on the stick. It was tender, but not so much it fell off the stick. It wasn't the most flavourful soulvaki I've had, but it was good. The best part was that it was grilled and you could smell the bbq pork everywhere at the fest.



The platter came with a Greek Salad. The salad was simple, with peppers, onion, lettuce, 2 cubes of feta and 2 olives. The dressing came in a little plastic container and I thought it was going to be flavourless, but it ended up being a really decent dressing.

LOUKANIKO
Before I got here, when I was thinking of the food, I was planning on Soulvaki and Gyros. Sausage didn't even cross my mind. But while standing in line I saw a giant grilled sausage go by, I knew I had to have it. It was about a foot long, and looked liked grilled glory. LJ and I split it, and it was juicy inside. But the flavour was lacking. It was blah, and I don't just mean devoid of spicy heat the way I normally prefer my sausages. This just wasn't very good. I ended up drowning each bite in side of tzatziki we got.

TIROPITA
LJ really wanted to try these. Little cheese filled pies. Little flavour. The inside was a cheese mixture that just turned chalky in the mouth. We thought maybe the problem was that they were cold when we got them and they should be heated. We took them home and re-heated them and they were still no good.


GYROS PITA
This is a favourite of mine. I love a good gyro, pronounced 'yur-ro' not 'gai-ro' or also known as a donair in other circles. Remember my love of Nova Scotia Donairs? Anyways, I didn't see them cutting the meat from a spit, so I envisioned the worst and it being pre-cut. We ate everything else first, and by the time we got to the gyro, we didn't want to eat any longer. LJ tried a bit of the meat but didn't like it.

A day later, I had the gyro reheated (wrapped in foil and put in the oven, not microwave) and I added some more tzatziki. I thought it was great. There wasn't much tomato/onion etc but it was a gyro I would definitely get again if I could. It would be awesome with some Nova Scotia sweet sauce on it.


So Greekfest turned out to be an ok experience. The required Greek music & Greek dancers were there, and other events included learning Greek, cooking Greek, and even a "Everything you wanted to know about Greek Culture but were Afraid to Ask" seminar. We were just there for the food, and our experience was not great. An expensive dinner, sitting in an uncomfortable environment, we decided we would have been disappointed if we didn't go, but we weren't going to be going back for the rest of the weekend/week. We didn't have a blast, but everyone else seemed to be having a good time.



GREEKFEST
August 14-21,
1315 Prince of Wales Drive
ottawagreekfest.com

click HERE for more photos.

We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own . . .

CHICKEN WINGS

+

COMPUTERS

=

????

No not really. But it might be cool.

Yes Wing Nation, the combination of chicken and technology is upon us. They have created a USB key that looks like a chicken wing.

Each one holds about 4 gigs of memory and they retail at $28 US.

Features

• USB 2.0
• Portable and easy operate
• Plug and play
• Support Window 2000/XP/Vista or MAC OS
• Dimension: 75 x 40 x 20mm (approx.) (Chicken Wing)
• Dimension: 72 x 33 x 20mm (approx.) (Chicken Drum Stick)
• Dimension: 47 x 28 x 18mm (approx.) (BBQ Pork)
• Weight: 35g (Chicken Wing)
• Weight: 28g (Chicken Drum Stick)
• Weight: 17g (BBQ Pork)

They even come in bacon, or pizza, burgers - lots of different foods. But lets be honest, wings are the best. But I don't know if I was ever to get one if I would go with a wingette or a drummette chicken wing usb?

Resistance is futile!

Brando
usb.brando

On second thought, I'd probably try to eat it. I'm going to stick with real wings.

Memories of Mad Trappers ~ R.I.P. Post

TODAY WE REMEMBER: MAD TRAPPERS Food Lodge & Koolies

What is an R.I.P. post? Well, there have been many places that I've had wings at over the years that served good wings. Some are no longer with us, others, lost and gone forever. Here, we remember them.

Mad Trappers back home in Tillsonburg didn't really have a theme. I guess you could say lodge in the veins of a Moose Winooskis or a Montana's; with cabin like log walls with dead animals, hanging canoe and other memorabilia. But the feeling inside was more thrown together atmosphere. At Christmas, the college & university crowd filled Trappers as it was the only real dance club in town. The rest of the time, families, strays and the miscellaneous. And me.

This was the best place in town for chicken wings. They even had 2 wing nights, Tuesday & Thursday! The wings were big, crispy and the suicide had a strong bite. Sure, it was 3rd Degree, but they kicked it up a notch. I remember being there with my family and another family on one of our many trips there for wing night, and a small spectacle took place.

My father had suicide wings, as him and I always ordered. When the waitress asked if they were hot enough, he told them it really wasn't that hot. The waitress, surprised, said she would bring out hotter sauce. She did, and my dad did not react. Stumped again, the waitress got the manager. No one was complaining, but the manager wanted to see if he could 'hurt' this guy who was eating his hottest wings. He brought with him a small bottle, with an eye dropper and gloves. The manager explained that they applied about 2-3 drops per giant pot of sauce (more than 3 litres of sauce) and offered to put this on a couple of wings for my dad. He accepted, and about 3 drops were place on each wing. We all watched and waited for my dad to burst into tears . . . for him to scream in pain . . . but nothing happened. He just ate them. We were shocked. I tried a bit of the sauce, and the tip of my tongue instantly felt like millions of little pins pricking my mouth. My father may not eat as spicy now all of the time, but he is still my inspiration for my quest for the ultimate suicide sauce.

What happened to Mad Trappers? Well, word on the street was that the owner never paid the rent for months, and the land lord shut them down. With no one to run the place, it closed back in 2006. Today, the Trap is still there, advertising cheap corona night on Wednesdays.

So to Mad Trappers, we raise a wing and say thank you for the years of great wings. We salute you!

RIBFEST 2008 ~ London ~ Day 1

"SNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!
Do you smell it? The wood smoke? BBQ sauce? Ribs?"
Ricky P

Ooooooooh boy, Ribfest is back!!!! After waiting a full year, I was ready for ribs and carney food. A tradition for about 5 years now for Ricky, Brad, Amanda and myself, we were looking forward to hanging out and eatin' ribs. Sadly, Dude is in China and not able to make it this year, but last year was the only year we were all able to go.

The smell of smoke and bbq filled Victoria Park in London Ontario, and we were excited. This was a 3 day event for us, with Rick and I going Thursday, Brad joined us Friday, and Amanda joined us Saturday (even if she doesn't eat ribs). The whole affair is pricey, but it is a charity event with the proceeds going to the London Boys & Girls Club:

"ON THE ROAD" MENU
Pork Back Ribs
Full Rack Ribs- Ribs only $22.00
Half Rack Ribs- Ribs only $13.00
Half BEEF Rack Ribs- Ribs only* $13.00*Beef Ribs not available at all restaurants

Other Items
1/4 Chicken & 1/3 Rack Rib Combo $15.00
1/2 Chicken $10.00
1/4 Chicken $ 8.00
Chicken on a Bun $ 6.00
BBQ Pork on a Bun $ 6.00

Specialty Items
Vegetarian Nightmare -Rack Ribs, Chicken,
Pulled Pork, Beans/Coleslaw $20.001
Pound BBQ pulled pork $10.00

FOR DELUXE DINNERS (2 SIDES ITEMS) ADD $2.00

BEVERAGES
Labatt Beer (14 oz) $ 5.00
Coolers / Wine pork $ 6.00
PC Pop / Water $ 1.00

ALL TICKETS COST $1.00
Taxes, Gratuities, and Entertainment Included!

A new feature this year was trying to be environmentally friendly:

• Permanent Victorian-style park fountains (bring your own water bottle!)
• Foam packaging recycling (make sure you recycle your plate!)
• Dishwashing station (bring your own dishes!)
• Dishes available with $5 deposit to avoid garbage
• EcoStations (the place to reduce your waste! The place to dispose of their waste by sorting it into the various bins for recyclables, compostables or landfill)

Sadly, we didn't bring our own dishes or the reusable ones provided. But we did recycle and compost!!!!

But enough of the small details, how were the ribs? I've broken this up into the 3 days, and some extra photos you can see. I am dividing it by Vendor, and then the comments we had about it. While there were varying comments, we were pretty much all on board for our comments about the various places.

DAY 1

Rick and I didn't know where we were going to go for dinner in London that night. Then we were like, let's go to Ribfest, just to make sure its there. A quick, preliminary scouting trip. Seating was not a problem.

KENTUCKY SMOKEHOUSE

I have no photos of Kentucky Smokehouse. I can't find a website to upload their photos. I don't even have a proper review. My Bad.

KS is 'smoked southern-style BBQ ribs, and originally I thought they were from, well Kentucky, but I think I read somewhere they are actually from London On. Crazy!

This was Rick's first choice of Ribfest. We generally get our own ribs and swap a few so we can sample all around. Rick remembered this place as a really good, consistent rib place from last year. But when I checked last year's reviews, it seemed like a decent place but nothing special. This year, it was really good. Why the difference? Asking for extra sauce. See, all the ribs come from the same place, so nobody has a meat advantage. So when it comes down to it, this Ribfest is all about the sauce. And if you don't have a lot of sauce (like last year) you may not get as much flavour. So our tip, order extra sauce.

GATOR BBQ

For my first night, I was up for some experimenting. For some strange reason, I was attracted to this place because of a quote on their booth stating "the secret in our sauce is oranges" or something like that. Ok, I get it, oranges, gator, Florida.



Unfortunately, these ribs were nothing special. I tasted no oranges. Not even a hint. The ribs had a hint of BBQ flavour, but were weak. Not great, but not terrible either. Another key to picking out a place is whether they smoke the ribs or cook on propane. Gator used propane. Go with smoked.

I got a meal, and the potatoes were pretty blah, but the beans were tasty. They also had a bottle on the side that I thought was extra sauce, but later found out to be hot sauce. A nice addition, but I actually wanted more bbq sauce.

DAY 2 ~ DAY 3 ~ MORE PHOTOS

RIBFEST 2008 ~ Day 2

DAY 2

Our second scouting mission day, exploring and experimenting for more rib places. It was a boys night out as Brad joined Ricky and I. We got our ribs and ate before the big storm hit, and it was good. The only problem, a much busier evening so table space was at a premium. We found ourselves sitting on the ground, but this is difficult for rib eating.

RIBS ROYALE
Rick's choice this day. Ribs Royale won last year's Judges Award and the line ups for this place were huge everyday. These were propane cooked rib.

RICK: "Full bodied, sweet"
BRAD: "Many layors, hands down the best of the 3 [one day 2]"
WK: "Very sweet - an interesting sauce"

Above you can see Rick pointing out his bbq beans that were good, but interestingly filled with red and green bell pepper chunks.


TEXAS RANGERS
Brad's choice in ribs. He was hungry and went to one of the shortest lines at the ribfest. Would that be an indication of the ribs??? I don't remember these guys being here last year.

BRAD: "A lingering heat, spicy, but sweet/fruity, a hint of apple"
RICK: "Spicy sauce, tasty, but the meat is dry"
WK: "A dark flavour, hint of heat, but ribs were cooked too long"

JACK THE RIBBER
My choice to experiment. Interesting name, smoked ribs, I thought it was a good try. Rick and I both agreed that the mascot needed BBQ sauce dripping from the mouth or on himself to look like he killed someone and was sprayed with bbq blood. You know, like Jack the Ripper.


WK: "Mild mild sauce. Just a plain bbq sauce. Meat is very tender"
BRAD: "Flavourful meat, sauce just doesn't stand out."
RICK: No comment

A good second day, but I think Ribs Royale was the winner amongst us this day.

DAY 1 ~ DAY 3 ~ MORE PHOTOS

RIBFEST 2008 ~ DAY 3

DAY 3
After a day trip to the beach and other adventures, we knew we were coming back to Ribfest for supper. Amanda had now joined the boys, but no Starbuck like last year. After grabbing a table, it was a bit of a fight to scrounge up 4 chairs, but we did it.

BOSS HOG

Both Rick and I went here this year. I was eager to meet Tom D, the owner who contacted me a few months ago about suicide wing sauce. Saturday was super busy, and I quickly met Tom in person in the midst of pouring bbq sauce, controlling a fire, and cooking ribs. Boss Hog won last year's People's Choice award, and it certainly was my #1 for traditional sauce.

RICK: "Sweet, with a tang to it"
BRAD: "Nice sweet sauce, good smokey meat"
WK: "Great BBQ flavour, smokey, sweet"

Check out their website HERE. Thanks Tom for the great ribs!


FIRE ISLAND

This was my other favourite rib place last year, because one of their sauces, Suicide, was more akin to my wings than to ribs. Still haven't tried their mild or honey garlic, and I'll be honest, I don't want to deviate from suicide. There is a fruity flavour that probably comes from the fact that its apple wood smoked.



WK: "Spicy, 3rd Degree with a slightly fruity flavour. . . apple?"
BRAD: "Fruity hot sauce vs salty meat . . . almost a Caribbean jerk sauce"
RICK: "3rd Degree overwhelmingly"


CAPRI PIZZA

Amanda's choice, only because she doesn't eat meat (she is an Amandatarian). Her square cheese pizza looked good.
AMANDA: "Really good - cheesy!"


DI's FRESH CUT FRIES

Rick and I got an order of this later on walking through Carny-land. There were several chip trucks, but Rick had a calling to go here. The fries were great as 'fresh cut', tasty, with great salt and malt vinegar. And ketchup, can't forget that. Only problem, my 3 seasonings only made it to the top, leaving the bottom not as good.



RIBFEST CONCLUSIONS

Overall, what a great weekend. Good ribs, good friends. But here are a few comments for the future:

• More chairs and tables!!! So many people, so few places to sit and eat.
• Composting was a great idea
• No more karaoke entertainment
• Leave your dogs at home
• Thursday is a great day to go, small crowds means smaller lines, more tables
• Go with a half-rack. A full rack is just too much
• It's expensive, but its for charity

Rib-Fest 2008 Winners

BEST RIBS
1st Place - Ribs Royale
2nd Place - Fire Island
3rd Place - Tony Roma's

BEST SAUCE
1st Place - Ribs Royale
2nd Place - Crabby's BBQ
3rd Place - Blazing BBQ

PEOPLE'S CHOICE
Boss Hog

BEST BOOTH
Pistol Pete

VOLUNTEERS' CHOICE
Tony Roma's

ORGANIZERS' CHOICE
Crazy Canuck

DAY 1 ~ DAY 2 ~ MORE PHOTOS