ORIGINALS ~ Toronto ON

FEB 2013

The second meeting of the unofficial Chicken Wing Club, which consisted of Jasmik and Sameer and myself, decided it was time to get some wings. Sameer had his car, so we decided to spread out and try somewhere a little farther than usual. 

Sameer was gracious enough to drive us up to Originals in the Leaside area of Toronto. I had heard they had a wing night on Thursdays, so that's what cemented our choice for wings that night.

The bar was a lot nicer inside than I expected. I feel like it was an old bar that had gone through a bit of a make-over. Very simple, but don't be mistaken, its still a sports type bar. It just looks nice.

The crowd was mixed, with a lot of local older guys, but families, young people etc. Our waitress was Tanya, who was attentive and friendly. We did have a small issue with being served the wrong set of wings, which were taken away and a little while later the right ones came along. She did bring me Dr Pepper, which is not served at a lot of pubs, and I think that's great.

Once we had our wings and sides, it didn't take long for the three of us to chow down.

We ordered 4 orders of wings, and they generally came 2 orders to a plate.

Fries were an additional $1.99. They were ok - a little crispy but otherwise very forgettable.

Veggies and dip with ranch dip. Pretty standard.

Wings come in an order of a pound, which is about 8-9 wings that are naked and deep fried, then tossed in sauce.

The wings were a very decent size - large in length, and an appropriate mediumness in meat. The skin was crispy but became less so depending on the sauce.

We were doing a bunch of sharing, so we chose out 4 different orders of wings. Above we have Suicide because we all enjoy some heat. The Creamy Garlic Parmesan balanced that out.

We also tried some Spicy Thai and the dry Cajun rubbed wings.

GARLIC PARMESAN

If you like creamy wings, this is the way to go. This is a very indulgent wing, with the creamy, cheesy sauce that makes even me feel guilty about eating it. While there is a garlic flavour, its the creamy Parmesan that really stands out.

SPICY THAI

This sauce was slightly sweet and slightly salty with a bit of heat. But it is mostly sweet. It was tossed in just the right amount of sauce to make it sticky, but not overpowering.

SUICIDE

Suicide, was not really suicide. Really more of a hot. Classic cayenne based sauce.

CAJUN DUSTED

This was a dry rubbed based flavour - a mix of Cajun seasoning that was tossed in the freshly fried wings. Crispy, but full of flavour.

We all had our different opinions of the wings - this is how the other two ranked them:

Sameer: 1) Gar-Par 2) Cajun 3) Suicide 4) Thai  

Jamsik: 1) Thai 2) Gar-Par 3) Cajun 4) Hot/Suicide

FINAL SCORE:  I didn't expect a lot out of Original's wings, but they were surprisingly good. They were large without being mutant, the skin was crispy and they were just wet enough to prevent soggyness. The sauces were good. The vibe was a bit weird, but with 4 lbs of wings in our bellies, we were satisfied.

Originals
1660 Bayview Ave, Toronto ON
originalsbar.com