THE FOX & THE FEATHER/SWAGMAN JACK ~ Ottawa

- Swagman Jack's/Fox & the Feather are NOW CLOSED - RIP -

It was a crappy, rainy Saturday afternoon. What better way to spend the day than inside, at a museum? That's right, learning for recreation. LJ and I headed to the Canadian Museum of Nature, which turned out to be pretty much a free for all for kids. Lots of kids. Kids kids kids. Now normally so many kids can be infuriatingly annoying, loud and out of control. These kids were pretty good. But way too many. At the end of this entry, see some photos of the exhibits. We had missed lunch, so we decided to grab a bite to eat. Cruising up Elgin street, we saw an advertisement for 1/2 price appetizers at The Fox and The Feather (F&F). Or was it at the establishment Swagman Jacks? Which place was it? Funny enough, in April of 2006, I came with Dude to Ottawa for the first time since my childhood when he was looking for an apartment. It was an awesome road trip, and while cruising around O-Town (that's what we call it), we kept passing this big building with the Fox and the Feather pub. It excited me because I saw the word wings on yellow banners. But the place looked a little too touristy, and flash forward to 2009, and I'm finally getting to try the place. Back to the confusion of where to go, the only door seemed to be for Swagman Jack's. So LJ and I went in, and saw a sign saying F&F upstairs. We went upstairs and found a quite pub and a friendly bar maid/waitress Kaitlin. We took a seat by the windows where the patio normally would be open. I asked Kaitlin what the deal with the 2 restaurants was. Basically, its the same place. Same building, same menu, same kitchen. Just upstairs is F&F and downstairs is the Aussie sounding Swagman Jacks. It used to be called something like 'Friendlies', but they changed it to the current names. "I think they did it just to confuse people" Kaitlin joked. It's a pretty classic looking pub, with a nice square bar in the middle, old British paintings, and a fireplace and a flatscreen TV or two. Tables were a little sticky and the view was bright but cloudy. Overall, nothing special inside.

We inquired about the 1/2 price appetizers that were advertised all over the building and whether it actually existed on a Saturday afternoon. Most places only have specials on weekdays. But Kaitlin said they were a go, but there are only 4 to choose from: nachos, deep fried zucchini, chicken fingers and chicken wings. We decided to go with nachos, zucchini and wings.

The zucchini sticks were AWESOME!* Ottawa is obsessed with them, and these were the best so far. Cut not too thin, not too thick, and the batter, it was heavenly. It was perfect batter. And it too wasn't too thick or thin. It came with a creamy garlic dip that was also tasty.

*as awesome as zuccini can be

Then, there were nachos. Big plate, but a fairly thin stack. 2 types of cheese, with a side of sour cream and salsa. Guac was $2 extra, and tasted a bit off. I liked the chips because they were crispy, but greasy. Some people may not like a greasy chip, but I do.

Then of course, there were wings.

The wings come about 8-9 in an order. You can get them with fries, but it is extra. The fries were crispy, but fluffy inside. They needed some salt and ketchup, but they were pretty good.

They also came with veggies, but no dip. Why no dip? Why would you eat the veggies without dip? The chicken wing is about a medium, and there isn't a whole lot of meat on the bones. A decent amount of meat anyways. The wings come out dry. The skin was crispy (they say 'golden fried') and you can see the salt and pepper seasoning. They had a nice texture, but they weren't good enough to eat on their own.

For the sauce, it was just a container of Frank's Red Hot. They didn't even bother to dress it up as Buffalo sauce, but then again, they didn't claim to.

FINAL SCORE: These wings are nothing special. Not bad, but not great either. I would stick to the appetizers. And it is a pretty good appetizer special they have 7 days a week. 5/10

The Fox & The Feather Pub/Swagman Jacks

283 Elgin Street, Ottawa foxandfeather.ca

Click HERE for some photos from the museum over at the Wing Bucket.

The People in my Bloggerhood

That's right, lets get to know some of the people and their blogs that I put on the side over here on the right.

Some of these blogs are based on Chicken Wings, some on food in general, and others are just friends and interesting reads. So who are the bloggers behind those blogs. Let's find out, about 1 week at a time. Some I will interview, others I can't reach and I will just tell you why I read them.

So let's travel together and learn more about the Bloggers in my Bloggerhood. The people that you meet each day . . .

Questions for the Bloggers:

• Who are you & where do you live?


• What is Your Blog?


• Why did you start blogging?


• What do you want out of your blog?


• How Long Have you been Blogging?


• What is your favourite blog?


• Do you feel there’s real interaction between you and your
  readers?


• Any crazy blog-related stories?


• What is your favourite chicken wing?


• Do you have a favourite cooking show?


• Do you cook? What is your specialty?


• What is the most disgusting thing you have ever eaten?


• If there was one thing you would want the Wing Nation to know
  about you and your blog, what would it be?

LIST OF INTERVIEWS:

1. The Bumbling Baker
2. Chris @ Nibble Me This
3. Teena @ It's All About Me

Another chicken wing dream . . .

. . . this time it wasn't mine, but my buddy Brad's. But man, it was a hoot. NOTE: I've altered it SLIGHTLY for some privacy.

"I thought I'd share my dream last night.

So, Amanda was in Virginia visiting her relatives and for some reason she needed to be picked up. (yes, Amanda needs to get her licence). Of course, the job to pick her up, fell on us; Randy, Wing King, Ricky and Brad.

There we are driving down south, we come to this intersection, and Rick who was driving asked Randy in the back seat: "Ok, Dude (Randy) which way?" I look into the backseat at Randy, and there he is fiddling with a stack of napkins, in which randy had jotted down all the directions to Virginia! He had obviously lost a napkin that had the directions that we needed at that time..... oh BOY! Ricky got sooooo pissed at Randy. I was thinking, Oh boy, that's all we need is a fight to erupt in Virginia, then we all look over to Wing King, and he's eating chicken wings; his face is completely covered in sauce, and he's wiping his hands off, using, YES, the very napkin that had the directions on it.

The dream ended at that moment, but I woke up laughing to myself and all I can say is how much I miss all you guys, miss the good ol' times driving around!!!"

Yes, my chicken wing obsession can cause all sorts of trouble. The important thing to remember is that is that we all haven't hung out for 2 years, with Dude in China. But we will all be reunited in a few months, and hopefully, that reunion will involve wings. But not me getting us lost.

PUB 101 ~ Ottawa

The Market. The Byward Market. The heart and soul of Canada's Capital. Or is that the Parliament Buildings? I don't know. Either way, the Market is where the action is at and I was . . . at there. I guess all the rain we've been getting has got my brain waterlogged.

So the point is, I was in the Market, and decided to check out the pub, Pub 101.

Before this night, I had some pre-concieved notion that PUB 101 was just a student club that was about getting drunk and not about food. I had no real reason I thought this. No one ever told me that, I had never been, I just thought this. But walking by, I looked in and it appeared to be a cool little pub.







The supper crowd on a Wednesday was pretty mixed. The atmosphere was kind of 'hipster-pub', with a few students, some suits, and some rough looking locals. Lots of dark wood, a great looking bar, this place definitely had some character. There are 3 floors (1 =pub, 2=sports room, 3= dance club) and a patio, so there's a nice appeal to everybody apparantly.

My waitress Marcela was friendly, helpful and willing to answer all my questions. She brought me free refills on pop, but had to charge me a side of sauce for $1.50 extra. She also told me about wing night right off the top, which should be common for servers, but isn't.

Everywhere I looked it seemed people were eating wings, and it wouldn't be long before I understood why.

Wings came out 10 in an order, dusted and deep fried. I wanted to try a couple of sauces, so I got two orders and a side of sauce to try 3. The two baskets came out and I was just so happy to see them filled.

The wings ranged from Medium-to-Large wings. They were pretty meaty, and tender too. The dusted wings again let to a crisp skin. A good over all piece of chicken.


For the sauces, I went for Hot, Suicide, and BBQ.

HOT

These wings were, well, pretty generic. Hot was not, more of a mild. The sauce had been pretty absent, or absorbed into the skin. It wasn't bad, but just a generic hot sauce in the wing. I could have eaten them as they were, but I ended up adding the Suicide to them all.

SUICIDE

The little black container came out, and I took a whiff. I couldn't smell all that well (I've had a big of a cold) so I stuck my pinkie in to sample: my good old friend 3rd Degree. Found in bars and restaurants all over Ontario, this bottled sauce is one of my favourites. It is a syrupy sauce, with a nice kick that increases the more you eat.

As I said, I dumped the sauce all over the Hot to increase the heat, and by the time I was done, I had a nice sting going on in my mouth.

BBQ:

This is my secondary go-to wing sauce after hot/suicide at restaurants, and so I had to sample 101's. One bite and I was in heaven. The BBQ sauce was sticky, sweet and melded so well with the crispy wings. It was good enough that I had to ask Marcela what the sauce was. She went and checked: Diana's. Bottled Diana's Gourmet BBQ sauce.

I haven't actually had this sauce in a LONG time (last time I can remember is high school, over 10 years ago). I felt a little duped that store bought BBQ sauce was going to be that good. I am no culinary expert, but I was feeling that I was a little better than this. Maybe it was the combination of the damp weather with crispy wings, a friendly atmosphere, and lots of wings in my belly that had me enjoy them. Well the they were good, and I guess that's the important thing.

FINAL SCORE: Sometimes places have wing night, and the wings are over cooked, under cooked or just done poorly because its cheap night. But this night at Pub 101, the wings were hot, tasty and really hit the spot. I might try their Cajun or the Jerk wings, but I will be having BBQ again for sure. 7/10

PUB 101

101 York Street, Ottawa

pub101.com

King Edward Pub Update

Back in November, I joined the London Crew out for a dinner at a great little pub in Ilderton Ontario called The King Edward Pub. The wings here were so good, they were my Best Wings General Ontario for 2008 (ok to be fair, I didn't review any other wings in 2008 outside of Ottawa or Toronto, but KEP's would have been tops I'm sure).



Well, Rich Hunter, owner of the KEP contacted me to reveal their revamped wing menu. Our waitress the night I was there said they were going to be unleashing a huge menu of wing flavours, and I have a copy, which I'm sharing with you:

Page 1 items that sound good to me: The Dragon, Aztec, and Tequila Tango . . .

Page 1 items that really have my interest: Mesquite, Honey Mustard and Jerk. What would you try?

I can't wait to get back to the KEP and try these out. Also, Rich pointed out a mistake I made in a review about the UrBUN sauce, not UrBAN like I had thought, and gave its origin. Here's where I messed up:

"Note the spelling to, it started out with a customer, last name Urbshott ("Urby"), wanting medium and BBQ mixed on his wings, fair enough. I then added some Cajun spices, 'Urb' from Urby and the 'un' from Cajun."

Thanks Rich!

King Edward Pub Website

Spicy Cuba Libre Wings Recipe

Teena in Toronto was kind enough to send me over a link from the Toronto Star on a chicken wing recipe called Spicy Cuba Libre Wings. It sounds spicy AND tasty.




Here I am just going to copy the whole article:

Mar 25, 2009 04:30 AM
Susan Sampson Food Writer
Have your cocktail and eat it, too. These wings are reminiscent of a simple favourite, rum and Coke with a twist of lime. Cooking with cola is not that weird. These wings are darkly glazed, but they are not as sweet as you might think.

This was inspired by a Southern recipe for cola wings. You can buy wingettes and drummettes in the supermarket. Or use whole wings: trim the tips and reserve them for stock, then cut each wing into two sections.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup cola
Juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup dark rum
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
4 jalapeños, seeded, finely chopped
4 lb (1-3/4 kg) wingettes and drummettes
Kosher salt + freshly ground pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
-Stir together cola, lime juice, rum, sugar and jalapeños in small pan. Bring to boil on medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until syrupy, about 15 minutes.
-Put wingettes and drummettes in large bowl. Toss with salt and pepper. Stir in half the cola syrup.
-Using tongs, transfer wings to baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake 10 minutes in centre of preheated 400F oven.
-Meanwhile, pour leftover cola syrup from bowl back into pan. Bring to boil on medium-high heat. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from burner. Cover to keep warm.
-Brush wings with cola syrup. Move oven rack to top position and place a heatproof serving platter on the bottom rack. Place sheet with wings under broiler. Broil about 10 minutes, until flesh is tender and skin is glazed dark brown, turning at halftime and brushing with syrup. Remove wingettes and drummettes to platter as they are done; they burn easily.

Makes 8 servings.

Star-tested by Susan Sampson ssampsonthestar.ca

----------------------------------------------------
I'm not sure I like the anti-Revolutionary tones of the name of these wings, but I would definitely try eating them. If you make-em, let me know, and send some photos.



Thanks Teena!!!

chicken wing dream . . .

I had a dream the other night that I was at a pub/diner about to do a review. I kept looking over the menu, getting the camera ready, and asking the waitress about the suicide sauce, the bbq sauce etc.


I never actually get my wings though. Last time I go there for wings!


Clearly I have a sick obsession.

CITY LIMITS BAR & GRILL ~ Cornwall, On

Another day back in Cornwall. And on the edge of Cornwall was an establishment advertising wing night. It was the day before, but I thought why not stop in and try the wings at City Limits Bar & Grill.


The building looks like it could be a pool and water sports store with its giant roof/warehouse feel. There's a big patio on one side, where I'm sure in warmer weather a good time could be had. There was even a BBQ station where they seem to have a special patio menu. I love a good outside grilling station.

The inside of this bar/grill was not clearly defined. It wasn't horrible, but if I was led in blindfolded, I would have no idea what kind of place this was. There were flat screen TV's suggesting sports barish, Aztec and other 'cultural' art, and then there was kind of a family restaurant vibe. Even the music went from hip hop to alternative to pop. The clientele inside when I arrived (very busy, unlike the photo below) ranged from a family, to a couple of guys in suits, to some blue collar workers. I guess it's trying to appeal to as many people as possible.

My server (never got her name) was friendly but awkward, like she wasn't sure why some strange guy was in here eating by himself. She was pretty quick with orders, like my Pepsi in a jar (I love getting drinks in non-traditional items. Jars, measuring cups, etc.). She also gave me some pointers on the wings.

Before getting to the wings, I got a side of fries to 'balance' the meal. Did I just say fries balance out this meal? Clearly I'm deluding myself.

Anyways, the fries were light golden, crispy, but really soft, pillowy inside. They were plain coming out, but some salt and vinegar quickly fixed that. Oh and ketchup and suicide sauce. Suicide sauce that I got with the wings.

A standard plate of wings, 8 (the photo below shows 7, because I got hungry before I got my camera ready) with a side of carrots and celery. But no dip. No blue cheese, no ranch, not even Eastern Ontario sour cream. A note to restaurants, you have to give dip to the veggies, otherwise, why????

The wings are dusted, then deep fried. They were crisp, and they were relatively meaty. Not a lot of sauce on them though. They were also about a medium to medium/small wing.

I originally just ordered hot with a side of "No Limits" (or suicide), but my waitress recommended their 'Buffalo' sauce instead of hot. Curious what 'Buffalo' was over a 'Hot', I asked her what it was, she said that it was their hot sauce with garlic and other things in it. Curious and interested in a change, I went with the 'Buffalo'. First off, FAIL in the name. Why, because this is not 'Buffalo' sauce at all. Stop bastardizing the name.

But the flavour of the sauce was tasty. I mean, it really was just a really garlicky hot sauce. The inclusion of actual minced garlic at least said to me that they put some personal effort into making it and not JUST pouring it out of a jug. It was a nice change, but it wouldn't be my go to sauce.

And I went with their "No Limits" sauce on the side, just in case it wasn't very good. But it wasn't bad. Actually it wasn't that much hotter, and it seemed to be just added Tabasco. When my waitress asked how it was, I said it was good but I could eat much hotter. She agreed and said she always asks them to put in a ton of Tabasco when she orders them. That's cool, because most servers I have say they can barely deliver a suicide sauce, let alone taste it.

FINAL SCORE: City Limits is a pretty generic restaurant from my visit. The fries were tasty, I got pop in a jar, and some wings that were trying to be something special, but they need to keep going. Good start, but your not there yet. 5/10

City Limits Bar & Grill

17369 Cornwall Centre, Cornwall, On
citylimitsbarandgrill.ca

Click HERE for their yellow pages menu I photographed.

THE END

Well folks, its been a good run. But I think I'm finished. I've tried every wing there could possibly be out there, and I just can't find the perfect wing. Maybe this was all just a pipe dream and I thought I could find it, but maybe its just not out there.

This isn't like the time that I finished the Internet. I said I had reached the end and read every website. But I was just seeking attention.

I just don't think I can go on.

I'm not happy about this, but what can one do? That's why I haven't wrote in a while (that, and a wicked cold). Also, I've embraced a new change, and I know some people won't be happy about it. I think I'm going vegan. Or at least vegetarian. Isn't eating meat bad after all?

So after today, I will be changing the site and focusing on all your Tofu and Vegan news, recipes and reviews. I'm sure it won't be as exciting, but, oh well. I've grown some dreads and and got some tie die shirts to complete the change. Thanks again for all those who ate and read about chicken wings. They will fondly remembered as the GOOD OLD DAYS. Sigh.

APRIL FOOLS!!!!!

Sucker - if you really believed I gave up on wings, you crazy! Check back for a bunch of wing info - I really have been sick and busy and didn't get to posting, but very soon!

Ok, pretty lame joke. Ok, really lame joke. Clearly I didn't fool anyone. But that's because people in the Wing Nation are the smartest!!! Anyways, I've got a bunch of posts coming up despite trouble with Youtube (actually Warner Music, darn you and your copywriting!!!) so check back soon.

DICK's DRIVE-IN & DAIRY DIP ~ Ottawa (NWR)

-- Dick's is NOW CLOSED --

About a month ago I was talking about how every town or city has its own burger shop. Well, Ottawa is no different. Last week looking for lunch in a pinch, having past them time and time again, we finally stopped into Dick's Drive-In & Dairy Dip.



Walking in the door you are transported back to the 1950's in this classic diner. 50' & 60's rock and roll on the speakers, memorabilia on the walls, and chrome. Dick's wants you to come back to a simpler time of food, and their website had a great quote about days gone by:

"I remember when hamburgers used to be prepared with high quality, fresh ground beef and cooked over charcoal, not fried, 'flame broiled', or microwaved. Those were the days when you ordered French Fries you got fresh, hand-cut potatoes cooked just like the chip trucks used to. Indeed asking for a milkshake meant you could rely on getting a generous portion of premium ice cream with real vanilla and real whipped cream. Unfortunately, over the years, that trusts has been broken by chain restaurants as they continue to place a higher value on speed, marketing and cost 'control' than they do on product quality."

I read that and pictured an old timer sitting on a porch in a rocking chair, straw in his mouth, wearing overalls. Ah the good old days.

We entered the joint and looked up to the ordering board before seating. This must be a common mistake because the lady behind the counter suggested we take a seat. See I thought you ordered and took your food to your seat, but no, table service is included. And while we didn't have a roller skating waitress with a poodle skirt, our waiter was efficient and was willing to refill pop and meet our needs.

Dick's organizes their burger options by choosing your burger, then you can add a combo on. LJ & I both went with the Deluxe Cheese Burger (cheddar, fried onions, mustard, aioli, lettuce & tomato) $6.65; I went with the Chili Cheese Fry & Drink combo (for about $4 more) and LJ got the Onion Rings and Drink for about the same cost.

I wanted to try a little bit of everything, so the chili fries let me get the both, all while sampling onion rings across the table! A generous dish of the chili cheese fries came out. The fries themselves were fresh cut, and tasted just like chip truck fries, just like they claimed.

The next layer up was the chili. I was enticed to try the chili from their sign outside (see last photo of the review). Well, the chili was . . . ok. I mean it was meaty, but over all didn't have much spice or flavour in my opinion. I actually had to use a lot of ketchup on it. It's not bad, but you know me, I like my food to have a real kick. The top was just plain cheddar.

Then there were the onion rings. Now I normally am not a fan to breaded onion rings. I like battered because of the smooth, crunchy texture. Breaded are rough and crumbly. That being said, these were probably the best breaded onion rings I've had before. Light, crispy with a hint of wonderful. They call them "Dick's Awesome" onion rings, and they were right.

Now onto the burger. This is their baby, what they 'do'. Well I'll tell you up front I was disappointed in them. Lets break this burger down:

First, the bun. I can't remember the exact ratio on the menu, but this is basically a whole wheat bun. Whole wheat. I'm just going to let that set in for a minute. ................ sure the bun was fresh but whole wheat can taste one of two ways: cardboard or blah. These were blah (thankfully). But the bun dominates the burger.

Second, the beef. The good news is is made with fresh ground Angus beef. The bad news, no flavour in there either. Again, the execution of the cooking was done well, but the beef was bland.

Third, the condiments. The bad was too much lettuce for me. The good was the fried onions which while mild, added a nice dimension to the burger. Finally, although I could only taste a hint of it, the aioli was delightful. But they really need to bump it up and slather it on so it oozes out.

So the burger and the chili was a bust for me. That's ok though, they have good fries and killer onion rings. And I look forward to trying some other dishes like their hot dog, sandwiches and of course, the milkshakes and ice cream.

Dick's Drive-In & Dairy Dip

1485 Merivale Road, Ottawa (Nepean)

dickshamburgers.com

RIDEAU CARLETON RACEWAY buffet ~ Ottawa, ON

I don't know where to begin.

I guess the beginning is as good a place to start as anywhere. Buffet. LJ & I were looking to go out and have a wide sampling of food items for a reasonable price. The problem? In my opinion, casual food in Ottawa is just done poorly. And buffets here have been one of the offenders. I know what your thinking, buffet food is about quantity, not quality. And normally I agree, but I have never experienced this lack of quality before.

We've been to 3 Chinese buffets that ranged from mediocre to terrible, an ok Chinese/Indian mixed buffet, a North American buffet chain (that LJ and I disagree on the quality, but to give you a hint, I am not a fan), and just a few weeks ago to an 'international' buffet in Gatineau that had some of the worst food I have ever eaten at a buffet (but to be fair, there were a few gems). and I love buffets.

The only buffet that had quality food was at Banco, the Casino du Lac-Leamy, also in Gatineau.

Important to this blog, most of these places have wings, and I just never did reviews of them. And most of these buffet wings were terrible, and we never went back to these places for me to do a review. But doing some random surfing of the net of restaurants in Ottawa, I came across another buffet in town, and this one had a side restaurant pub with a deal that caught my eye:

$1.99 chicken wings? Seriously? And all I have to do is buy a drink? I don't have to be a member or anything, and this is on a Saturday night? Tonight is Saturday night! Where is this magical place and can this place be too good to be true?

The Rideau Carleton Raceway. Horse racing, slots, and food. It seems like every casino has a buffet, and as mentioned with the above Quebec gambling buffet, they can be pretty good quality. I had never been to the raceway before, just south of Ottawa in the outskirts of the airport, but LJ had heard good things, and Saturday was also their Prime rib & Seafood buffet and we decided to check it out.

Of course once you enter (and we got ID'd by security), you have to cross through the slots and gaming area to get to the food. The beeping, the dinging, the flooding sound of hundreds of machines giving and taking money - it's too much for me. I don't care for gambling, mainly because I'm not lucky, nor skilled enough to win at other casino games. I don't find it fun, but that's just me.

Fortunately, the dining area is glassed off and soundproofed from the casino floor. But the dining area was not as 'classy' as I had expected. The seating is on several tiers facing big windows where, if it wasn't still winter and night, horse racing would be going on that everyone could watch. The carpets were stained, the tables and chairs cheap, and lighting was industrial mixed with x-mas lights. It was a little off-putting. Our waitress got our drink orders and we were off to the buffet.

There was a big line up for the prime rib and shrimp skewers. There was a long table with 'main' dishes, then another table for salads. There was a dessert section, and on the other side of the prime rib line was some cold items like shrimp and pickles. And then there was . . . well, that was pretty much it. LJ and I both looked at each other and said, this is it? This is 100 items?

Our first round through, I forgot I had my camera and didn't take any photos. I made up a salad with lettuce, onion, croutons, peppers and Caesar dressing (nothing else in the salad bar interested me). My plate got some potato salad, some ribs, chicken wings (I'll come back to the wings and ribs in a minute) and a couple of skewers of grilled shrimp. The shrimp was blah - and dry and the grilling didn't actually add anything. Overall pretty disappointing. As was the fatty, gross prime rib.

On the second tour of the buffet, LJ went with crab legs. These were a popular item and some people (and you will see them at every buffet) mound their plates so high, that not everyone gets a fare sampling. I have no patience for cracking crab legs, and with the shrimp putting me off, I didn't have any. LJ said it was ok. Note that butter self serve in plastic containers - not environmentally friendly, but there were no small bowls to use.

On both my first trip to the buffet I got the ribs (about 3). They were tender, meaty, and had a tasty bbq sauce on them. The sauce itself was sweet, only so slightly smokey, but I don't doubt it is some sort of bottled sauce. These too were a popular dish, and of the buffet, the only item I really liked. On my second trip I picked up about 5 more, but by the 3rd (after eating 6) I was not enjoying them anymore.

So how was the wings going to fare?



Buffet wings are always exciting to start with for me, because its all-you-can-eat wings, which is good. However, the quality can often be poor, which is bad. But I have rarely met a wing I won't eat. Again, its a sickness with me.

These wings were breaded. It was a thick breading, and its consistency made me sure that these were a frozen product that they bake off at the last minute and serve in big trays. There is no seasoning on them, so on their own, they are pretty bland.

Their size was about a small to medium. They weren't very meaty, and the breading overpowered everything. The colour wasn't very appealing to me either. The wings weren't crunchy but chewy, and it took a lot to get them down after a few.


As I mentioned, they were a blah wing on their own. I had grabbed a lemon wedge my first time for my Caesar salad, but I ended up using it on my wings just to give them some moisture and some tartness. On my second go at the wings at the buffet, I grabbed a plastic cup and had some bbq sauce (they also had honey garlic, but why?). The bbq sauce wasn't the same as the ribs, nor near as good, as it was extremely sweet. For most of them I just rubbed them against the ribs for their sauce. I should have used some ranch or something. On my way out that night I saw one guy with a big pile of wings on his plate and a jumbo bottle of Tabasco sauce. I said to LJ I should have asked for that, and she said "would it have really made the wings better?" No, no I guess it wouldn't have.

FINAL SCORE: The pub simply serves these buffet wings themselves, so the $1.99 deal is not worth it. These were terrible wings no matter which way you slice it. After my second plate, I got dessert and that was it, I just was sick of the food.

The part that killed me was a conversation with our waitress. I asked what the weekday buffet was like, as it is $9.99 (as opposed to our $19.99 weekend buffet). She told me, in honesty and earnestness that the weekday buffet had the same number of items (she stressed that), but that the recipes weren't as rich as tonight's. Let me say it again, they were not as 'RICH' as tonight's. Simpler, less decadent. And she meant it.

But people seemed to love the food. And I find this everywhere in Ottawa. We go to casual restaurants that come highly recommended, or I read good reviews, and find the quality is just not what I'm used to. I think its little pond theory, and its not meant to be offensive to Ottawaians, but its where people in Ottawa who have rarely lived outside of Ottawa love the only food they have been exposed to. Sure there is a great diversity of food (Italian, Japanese, Lebanese, Indian etc), but its just never on par with what I had growing up in my small town, neighboring areas, or my last home of Toronto for 8 years. Ottawa is a beautiful city and a friendly people, but I miss the buffets from South Western Ontario!

Sorry about that Ottawa, I've just been keeping this in for a while, and the Rideau Carleton Raceway was the last straw. You really need to step up your game and get your wings out of the 'second thought' category and stand up. We shouldn't have to settle for this. I'm not writing this to be a 'hater' but to let the pubs and restaurants and even the grocery stores know that the good people here deserve better for the prices they are paying.

Rideau Carleton Raceway Buffet & its wings: FAIL 1/10

Rideau Carleton Raceway Buffet
4837 Albion Road, Ottawa

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