LOU DAWG's (Ryerson Location) ~ Toronto ON

JUNE 2012

So at the same time my buddy Jason was down, I also had some other guest come and visit, my friend Julianna and her (at the time fiancee, but as of November husband) also named Jason came down to visit. It was a bit of a full house.

For thanking me for having them over, Julianna and Jason took me out for dinner, but they told me to pick. BBQ sounded good for all, and I had remembered Teena @ Teena in Toronto going to Lou Dawgs BBQ. A second location had opened near the Ryerson campus, so we decided to go and check it out.

It was really quiet for dinner time on a Saturday. Our waiter (forgotten his name) said it was quiet now, but hopefully once school was back in they would get larger crowds. The atmosphere is a mix of brick and wood. Our table was a high one with high chairs - not super comfortable, but not terrible either.

Our waiter was very engaging and gave us great service. He told us all about their specials - they always have some sort of deal on, and if you follow on their twitter account they often will say "first customer that comes in and sings gets free ______".

On the left is Julianna who went with a Rib special that also came with wings as an add on (which I had as my meal). Jason went with the 2 Meats and two sides - I think it was the pulled and pulled chicken? They both said they enjoyed their meals.

Brought to the table were different sauces to add to your 'que. Or in my case, wings. There was:

• Original Southern BBQ Sauce: Kansas style sauce
• Genuine Smokehouse BBQ Sauce: "Southern sweetness, tangy & smokeyness"
• Smokin' Southern Hot Sauce: "smokey, sweet & tangy"

So I had the wings from Julianna's special, which I added to by having one of their Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Bread Muffins.

This thing was huge - like a softball. It had a nice crispy top, with a fluffy interior. And the centre was like a ball of cheese with jalapeno. I really enjoyed this.

The description on the menu says the wings are smoked, then dry rubbed. They are also deep fried after, but they don't say that. Chicken skin does not get crispy like the above and below from smoking alone.

The wings are also not jumbo as described on the menu, but they do come as a whole wing: flat, drummy and tip, which I think is cool. But if you break the individual pieces up, they are a medium at best. But because they are smoked, there is, well a smoked flavour to the chicken.

The rub that comes after and the deep frying means the skin is perfectly crispy - when you bite in you get that crispy snap on the skin. Actually the wings are good with just the dry rub, but you can get them sauced if you want.

ORIGINAL SOUTHERN BBQ

This Kansas City style bbq sauce (molasses and tomato sauce that is thick) was a nice, slightly sweet sauce. It was good, but was a base sauce.

GENUINE SMOKEHOUSE BBQ

Now this was a sauce I liked. A little smokey, but still had that savoury sweet taste. This was my go to sauce for the wings.

SMOKIN' SOUTHERN HOT SAUCE

This sauce was close to a standard hot wing sauce. Cayenne based, this also worked well on these wings. It was more of a medium than a hot, but it was a good sauce.

FINAL SCORE: My cornbread was great. The wings were awesome. Crispy skin but smokey meat. Great homemade sauces. I think Lou's was definitely a thumbs up all around and I will be back. 7.5/10

Thanks Julianna and Jason - good times, great food!

Lou Dawg's 
76 Gerard Street East, Toronto ON (Ryersn Pub Location)
loudawgs.com