Black Lives Matter & Juneteenth

This was my post on June 2nd, also known as #blackoutday - I'm late posting it here now because 1) I thought I already did 2) this message is important not just one day of the year. Today is also Juneteenth (June 19th 2020) which I will get into in a bit.

I had a bit of a struggle on what to post exactly. I mean, not the anti-racism part, or that #blacklivesmatter, or even understanding my privilege as someone who is white. What I struggle with is not making this about me, while also speaking up, without speaking for others or taking up space. Even the black square was controversial for many folks.

The first week of June was one I wasn't going to be on social media much to start with, and me being quiet but supportive was important. My heart is usually in the right place, but I don't always know the best way to be a good ally to BIPOC folks. The best way I knew how at the time was to post local businesses here in Ottawa to support. Those links are here in case they didn't work from Instagram:

Afrobiz.ca for Ottawa - highlighting Black Owned Businesses
https://t.co/DUz5D48zsS

A Reddit Post specifically highlighting for Black Owned Businesses in Ottawa
https://t.co/d0YSojbUsa

Apt613 Post on Black Owned Businesses in Ottawa during Covid 19
https://t.co/nSfhVOG7Gl 

 
While there are a lot of people out there that are becoming 'woke' to the injustices and inequality non-white folks face on an everyday basis, there are still a lot that just don't get it. I don't get what they don't get. Some people seem to think that focusing on one people's suffering seems to take away from them. Seems to take priority away from them. That someone is getting focus, or attention, or support that either they don't deserve, or that they don't get that focus so why should one group get it? The reason is racism, and privilege, and ignorance. If people actually gave more of a shit about others than themselves, they might start to understand.


JUNETEENTH

Before this year I don't think I had ever heard of Juneteenth before. And when I did hear about it I confused it with some sort of Trump event without doing any proper research. But I finally spent 10 minutes to learn about it today and it's very clear now why it's such an important event specifically for black people in the US.

My quick recap: It marks June 19th 1865 and the end of slavery in the Confederacy when Union General Granger proclaimed all slaves in Texas (the last Confederate State still enforcing slavery) were free (two years after the Civil War had ended. A lot of people confuse this with the end of slavery in America, but as I learned in my US History class in university, the Civil War only ended slavery in the Confederate States of America, no the United States as a whole.

Food has always been important at these events, and I wanted to highlight this article from Food52.com entitled "68 Recipes From Black Creators to Celebrate Juneteenth" and specifically to point out the Jamaican Jerk Wings and the Grilled Lemon Pepper Wings - both sound amazing!!!

Grilled Lemon Pepper Wings from the Kitchenista

I'd love to specifically highlight more black, BIPOC, or indigenous owned businesses or chef's that are making great food (wings in particular). If you know any that need a big shout out, let me know on Twitter @lordofthewings, e-mail lordofthewingsblog @ gmail.com or here in the comment section!



BLACK LIVES MATTER & Happy Juneteenth!!!

TURTLE JACK's Burlington 2015 - LOST REVIEW

It's time for another #tbt & #lostreview:

Back in 2015 one evening I was coming home from visiting my Grandmother (since passed away) and stopped for a later night wing bite at a place I wanted to try for years and years, but rarely had access to living downtown Toronto: Muskoka Grill. Since I was driving past Burlington where there are two locations, I decided to stop in and finally check them out. I had a hard time finding the place (this was before I had a cell phone, smart phone, or even GPS), but I finally found it.

I guess when I had seen Turtle Jack's online back then, I had an idea that it was like a Moose Winooski's - family friendly cottage themed restaurant. This was more like an upscale box-chain like Moxy's or Milestone's. It's nice inside, dark, but I don't get how this is a "Muskoka Grill."

Never got my waitress's name but she was friendly, attentive, and brought me drink refills without asking. It made up for the obnoxious group of girls at the table beside me. They seemed like they were high school age, but they were out on a Monday night?

The menu gave several options for preparing the wings, even before you choose your sauce:

• Roasters or Fryer wings - I went with Roasters, which are slightly bigger but less come in an order
• Dusted or Non-Dusted - I went with dusted because I like that extra crunch
• Sauced then Grilled - That extra grilling and caramelizing of the sauce can add flavour but it's not my choice usually
• Sauced then Baked - not many places do this - like the previous option, but I don't think as good
• Ranch or Blue Cheese Dip - you know I went with Blue Cheese!

It's actually very cool that a non-wing place actually does all these things. Suggests to me they take their wings seriously. The waitress also emphasized several times that the wings were organic as well, so that's cool. You can also get wings on their own or as a dinner. I was hungry and went for the dinner.

Notes on the size and texture:  

• wings were large and meaty
• meat was tender
• skin was crispy but also not crispy due to sauce

Notes on Sauce:

• Got their Signature NY Butter sauce but got the hotter kind
• tastes like Jack Astors
• it's buttery with a heat flavour but no actual heat. Not like Buffalo sauce which is implied in the NY Butter name ...
• Very good sauce - went really well with the wings
• Wings were crispy but not because absorbed by the sauce. It was a nice texture despite this and the flavour was really good!

Notes on dipping sauce:

• Blue cheese was creamy and crafted well - seems homemade
• Veggies were fresh
• Got a side of their Original BBQ sauce - dark, smokey, savoury sauce with some sweetness - would be good on it's own wings 

Notes on Fries:

• Fries were soft, but better soft than overcooked
• slightly seasoned, were pretty decent

My final comments about the wings were overall thumbs up! Good.  Enjoyed it. Would go back again but haven't since due to access and scheduling. Oh and I live on the other side of the province.

Turtle Jack's Muskoka Grill
1900 Appleby Line, Burlington ON (and other locations)
tutlejacks.com

Pizza & Wings

View this post on Instagram

PC Hardwood Smoked wings with some homemade thincrust pizza. If you're going to have the oven screeching hot, might as well pop in some wings! #lordofthewingsblog #lordofthewings #bakedwings #frozenwings #wingporn #fauxsmokedwings #presidentschoice #pcsmokedwings #homemadepizza #thincrustpizza #pineappleonpizzaisawesome

A post shared by LORD of the WINGS (@lotw_wingking) on Jun 16, 2020 at 3:19pm PDT

#nonwingsunday = Hacked Wieners & Beans

PEKING EXPRESS 2015 Toronto - LOST REVIEW

It's time for another #tbt & #lostreview:

For this review, I took no notes. Just photos. I vaguely remember this order, but I can't really give the proper review or details I would like.

photo from Google Streetview

In 2015 I was living in Regent Park and exploring a lot more of the east end of the downtown a lot more. I also had a metro pass and going up and down Parliament street I kept seeing a Chinese take-away called Peking Express.

I've never been inside the For whatever reason and whatever night this was, I got delivery. That was slightly unusual for me as I prefer to do pick-up, but my order came in a paper bag with the menu stapled on. Peking Express has been running in Toronto since the 1980's so they must be doing something right.

Peking Express has several different chicken wing flavours on the menu, so I did some sampling. I went with 3 different flavours, and an eggroll. I did not take a photo of the egg roll. All three wing orders came in classic Canadian-Chinese red and white boxes with some food paper inside. I also ordered and got a bunch of extra Wing's Hot Sauce, which I love.

The wings were a pretty good size - not super long, but they do seem to be meaty. The wingettes mostly have the wing tips still included, which is great. All the wings were fried, and look like they had crispy skin.

I went with three different kinds of wings, which are all different prices. According to the bill, I got:

• BRDWG (6) 
• B2WG (8)
• DRYHOT WG

My interpretation of what they wrote is Breaded Wings, BBQ Wings (they are the second wing on the menu and they came in orders of 8 back then), and Dry Hot wings. 

These are the Dry Hot wings, which are coated in a spicy rub/seasoning. I really wish I had notes to tell something about these wings. Were they hot? Tasty? Salty? No idea.

Above are the Breaded Wings. They aren't really breaded, more battered like the traditional deep fried Chinese style chicken wings.

These I'm pretty sure are the BBQ Wings. There's nothing BBQ about them, they are just plain fried chicken wings. Also there are about 8 wings in there so that seems to line-up with the receipt.

2 of the 3 wings were sauceless wings. They can be deliciously crispy and salty to eat on their own, but I love them tossed in the hot sauce that is common with many Canadian-Chinese take-outs. Wing's Hot Chili Sauce is so good. Kind of like a less garlicky sriracha type hot sauce.


So I don't remember much about these wings, but I'm pretty sure things were decent to good. I had a lot of wings, how bad could it have been!??!?!

Peking Express
217 Parliament Street, Toronto ON
pekingexpress.ca

Schneiders TEXAS BBQ WINGS - QUARANTINE FROZEN WING REVIEW

It's time for another QFWR:

Back in May I posted my review of Schneiders Smooth & Spicy Smooth Buttery Buffalo frozen wings. At that same time I bought those wings, I also bought the Smoky & Savoury Texas BBQ Wings and tried those around the same time, but never did get to posting them. 

My favourite wings are Buffalo/Spicy wings, but my next go to would probably be BBQ sauced wings. The box, while simple, sounded pretty good:

"Smokey & Savoury" - I like that
"Texas BBQ" - who doesn't like Texas BBQ?
"premium wings" - well that sounds good but last time they were far from premium
"seasoned with an authentic Texas BBQ spice blend" - again, that all sounds good ...


The website also makes them sound pretty tantalizing:

"We revere Texas BBQ. So we've done these wings to honour the Lone Star style. They start in a rich, earthy marinade, including cumin, coriander, and chilies. Then they're coated in a burly sauce of tomato, molasses, garlic, onion, paprika and a hint of smoke."

I'll be the judge if any of this rings true.

Under the ingredients, the marinade on the wings seems 50/50 between what should be there and what is chemical/not natural (ie soy protein, maltodextrin etc). I didn't like water being the number 2 ingredient for sure though. The BBQ sauce sounded pretty decent and almost free of non-bbq sauce stuff; they still snuck in a few things, but this sauce even has brown sugar, blackstrap molasses, even dried bell pepper!

The box is 750g, which includes your frozen wings, a BBQ sauce packet, and an extra sauce packet of Caesar sauce that was not clearly identified on the box.

These wings looked much less marinated or less completely coated in marinade than the Buffalo. You could see some frozen liquid, but also some spice too. And some frost.

There were 11 wings in the box, one less than the Buffalo. These did look a bit more meaty, especially the drums.

They weren't super appetizing looking, but they were not a finished product either.

Two were still fused together and I could not separate them before roasting them. They went into the oven at 400 degrees on a parchment lined baking sheet, just like the instructions said. I flipped them once and got ready for lunch.

After their 30 minute bake they came out like this. I wasn't too thrilled with their look. The marinade looked inconsistently applied and these wings look inconsistent.

I didn't actually try them on their own. I should have, for science, but I think I was in a hurry and wasn't really enthused to take a sneak-bite.

I should mention that when the wings went into the oven, I put both the BBQ Sauce and the Caesar sauce packets into warm water, so that they were thawed for when the wings were ready.

I also just noticed that the sauce packet says it is Southwest BBQ sauce, and not Texas BBQ sauce specifically. I guess Texas is South Western. I went to Texas in 2013 for a conference, but all the BBQ I had was unfortunately from touristy spots or banquet facilities so I can't come back with expert analysis.

The sauce oozed out like a thick ketchup. That's good because Texas BBQ sauce is supposed to be thick.

OK, now we're getting somewhere. Those look not too bad. There was a lot of sauce for just 11 wings.

This almost looks like it was BB-Que'd!

The wings were about a medium to medium+ in size, with the drummettes being a lot more meatier than both the wingettes as well as the chicken wings from the Buffalo box.

Now I was a little weary about the meat as the Buffalo wings were quite awful (not the sauce, the actual wings), but these tasted just fine. The meat was ok in tenderness. The skin was ok in crispiness. I didn't really get a sense of the flavour of the marinade because the sauce was more overpowering.

The sauce was not bad. While the colour was still light and gave the impression it was going to be sickeningly sweet, it actually wasn't. This was a darker, bolder BBQ sauce. What I would expect as a Texas BBQ sauce. It was still sweet, but sweet was not leading the flavour dance this night. They say on the box the wings are 2/5 in spicy heat, but I wouldn't even give it that much.

Oh, and there was that Caesar sauce. An interesting concept and I think in theory it would make a good pairing with BBQ sauced wings. But this was atrocious. Fake tasting Caesar dressing. Like Kraft salad dressing. Blech. Skip it.

WOULD I BUY IT AGAIN?

Probably not. If it was on a really good sale than I would. But there are better frozen wings out there for sure. The meat was fine (this time), and the sauce was decent (but forget that Caesar sauce, yuck!).  8/14

But here's what I would do next time that would totally improve these wings. Throw them on the BBQ (charcoal if you got it). Get some real fire flavour in there, cook the wings crispy, toss them in half of the BBQ sauce, then throw them back on the grill. Caramelize that sauce up, then give them one last toss in the remaining sauce before scarf time. That's what I think.

um ... I think they made some compromises ...

Schneiders
Chicken Wings

Ontario Covid STAGE 2 Opening unofficial Patio Etiquette

Since March we have been on lockdown due to the Covid-19 threat. This is a huge pandemic across the world that has affected us all. Some in tragedy, others in mere inconvenience. My wife and I have been practicing strict measures so that we minimize the risk of contracting the virus, and we have been fortunate that we have not really been impacted in any terrible way. But, I am starting to forget what it's like to eat at a restaurant.

That being said, the Government of Ontario is moving to Stage 2 re-opening of the province this Friday June 12th, and one of the biggest changes is how bars and restaurants will be affected.

It's outlined here in the government's plan on page 12. Basically, patio's are opening up for people to eat and drink. It boils down to business having to do the following:

• each patron group must be spaced out 2 meters apart
• Inside access is limited
• Alcohol can be served with certain conditions
• Increase cleaning of touched surfaces
• wear PPE at all times
• wash your hands

In theory, this is great for businesses (and customers). I know many restaurants have struggled (some have closed), staff have been out of work etc. Getting back to business can be a good thing. My fear is that despite these measures we're going to get a second wave. I say this because when I am out, seems like most people aren't even trying to protect themselves or others. For that reason, I'm not going to a patio any time soon.

But some of you will. And that's your choice and I do hope you support local. That being said, I saw this posted on multiple platforms the other day and I think it's important:

All of these rules can be summed up pretty easily: Don't be a dick. 
Wing King Rule #1 always.

It's really not that hard. Think of others before yourself, take some responsibility.


1. Don't run your server. Try your best to ask for everything you need at once. Remember it's going to be a long walk from the street into the building for more water or anything else. Help us out by asking all at once

2. No mask jokes or your views on them. The server has to wear it. They have no choice and really your opinion of them while you're eating not wearing one means nothing to them. (see Wing King Rule #1)

3. The server is wearing the mask to protect you and you have nothing on to protect them. Wash your hands.

4. You Eat....You Go.... Eat your meal. Have some drinks but please do not sit at a table all night unless you continue to spend money. These restaurants are working with very limited space. They can't afford for you to order 2 side salads and water and sit there 4 hours. Yes some people do that all the time.

5. Don't come out if your sick. (see Wing King Rule #1)

6. Social distancing. Keep your kids at the table. Yes. They're cute but if they are running around they are getting too close to other people. (see Wing King Rule #1)

7. Cut everyone some slack. Everything may be a bit slow because this is basically a new job for everyone. Be kind. (see Wing King Rule #1)

8. Tip. They are going to be sweating wearing masks all to make a buck. Please treat them right and leave a decent tip. If you can't afford to tip you can't afford to go out. (see Wing King Rule #1)

9. Be pleasant. You should be happy. You're finally out. (see Wing King Rule #1)

10. Realize that the staff is doing their best. (see Wing King Rule #1)

11. Remember you have 3 meals a day every day of your life. This is only one of them. Calm down and enjoy it! (see Wing King Rule #1)



So if you are going out, stay safe, social distance, wear a mask, wash your hands like crazy, be friendly, tip your staff, and enjoy your wings.

PSA from your friendly neighbourhood Lord of the Wings

Wing Long & Prosper
JB

LORD of the WINGS BLOG TURNS 15 TODAY!!! 2005-2020 & BEYOND!!!

On May 28th 2005, I did one thing that changed my life forever. I started The Lord of the Wings blog. Today marks 15 years of reviews, recipe, and news about all things wings.

Can you imagine I've been blogging about chicken wings for 15 years? Who talks about chicken wings for 15 years?!?! Well, I do.

It seems like just yesterday I was celebrating 10 years of blogging, with my retrospective on the blog back in 2015. Check out some of the major milestones this blog has done over the years. I mean I've eaten and judged at competitions, I went on a Great Wing Tour and visited the Mecca of chicken wings. I've been interviewed by various media and I was even on TV!

The last 5 years has been full of change in my personal life which affected the blog a lot. I was changing jobs and moving a few times. I lost some dear people in my life. I got married, moved again, and bought a house and moved again. Changed jobs a few more times too. At the start, the blog suffered, but with some effort and renewed enthusiasm, the last few years I've been doing more content and reviews than ever before.

When I started back in 2005, I had been trying to do a website for so long but just didn't have the skills. Blogger came along and was a great tool that I continue to use today. I wanted a place to record my quest for the best wing out there. I set out with a simple scoring method, a digital camera, and a hunger for wings. The reviews still maintain the same rough outline, but some things look a lot better:

Since then I've branched out into Twitter (@lordofthewings) and Instagram (@lotw_wingking) and that also has changed so much of what I do and post. At one point I was even doing Youtube videos as WKTV (Wing King TV) but was not able to keep up with making videos. But I've missed doing the videos for so long. And now, I'm pleased to announce that 2020 will be the return of WKTV!!!

I was hoping to have the first episode of Season 3 up and ready for today, but that's not the case. I'm hoping to keep doing wing-related recipes, but also plan on doing wing reviews, sauce reviews, and anything else food related on the channel. I still have a lot of tweeking left to do, but it's on it's way.

Finally I wanted to say thank you to everyone who supports me and my wing endevours. My wife, my family, my friends, and everyone of you that reads the blog, likes a photo, makes a recipe, or leaves a comment. Thanks for 15 years of making my quest so much more fun.

So here's to 15 years - hope to see you in another 15 years!!! Have a wing for me, I'm going to go take down a few myself today.


Wing Long & Prosper
#lotw15years

Wing King
Lord of the Wings
JB