Friday, 23 March 2018
Thursday, 22 March 2018
Kelsey's Hot Wing Challenge = Free Chicken Wings for a Year TODAY MARCH 22nd 2018
Kelsey's has a hot wing eating challenge with the winner getting free chicken wings for a year!!!
It's TODAY and its different at every location (I talked to 4 and they are all doing it at different times) so make sure you contact your local Kelseys @ kelseys.ca
I'm going to compete - are you!??!?!
Wednesday, 21 March 2018
NEIGHBOURHOOD PUB ~ Ottawa ON
Always on the hunt for new places for chicken wings, sometimes I take chances.
Searching the internet for people talking about good wings, I found that there was a pub that not only had good wings, but had a ton of pinball machines. Information was scant about the place - it doesn't have a website, only a Facebook page, and no menu. I found on a pinball website an old menu with some specials listed:
The Neighbourhood Pub down on Baseline in Nepean is nestled in a strip mall, and you could easily drive by without seeing it. I was on my own for dinner on this particular Thursday night and chose this place because they listed it as wing night. The parking lot was jammed full and I had to park in an alley in between parts of the mall. Later in the pub I overheard people complaining about the parking and that a big problem was the marijuana shop at the end.
Funny story, when I left at the end of the night, I went to drive out but this car had parked blocking the alley. The car was running and there was a passenger but no driver. I waited 10 minutes but they didn't leave. I got out of the car and knocked on the window of the passenger, some dude absorbed in his phone and seemingly high. He didn't open the window, and I knocked again. He looked at me and looked like he was high on something and super unfriendly. I had to talk to him through the window asking if the driver was coming back or when they were leaving. He just looked at me with a vacant face but intense eyes. I went back to the car and contemplated my options. I had no options. Finally after a total of almost 40 minutes, the driver came out and I was free. Fun.
The pub is a total dive bar. I walked in and stopped in my tracks - the place looks like it was never finished being remodeled from the previous bar that occupied the space. There was a bar, and some bank tables, but I wasn't sure this was an eatery. I felt super uncomfortable and almost turned around, but all the patrons at the bar said hi or waved. So friendly! Made me feel welcome so I decided to stay.
The crowd was a mix of regulars, lots of senior types, dude in a suit, some students probably from Algonquin College. The decor inside was cheap and run down. There was pool and some games at the back but it looked more like things were just stacked as storage. The place was super dark and seating options minimal. To the left of the main room I heard a retro noise ...
Pinball machines! This was the Ottawa Pinball Arcade. Over 20 pinball games were lit up and dinging. I came here after dinner. Most of the games were $1 or more, which seemed pricey. The machines were very vintage - like 60's and 70's mainly. I was expecting more the pinball machines I grew up with in the 80's that had a lot more gimmicky features, but these were still fun. Highlights for me were the Alien inspired Space Invaders, Star Trek and Elvira Mistress of the night games. Retro-tastic!
When I entered the pub and decided to stay, I wasn't sure who worked there. But a young guy came from back in the kitchen, I think his name was Adam, and he told me I could sit where ever. He was everything - bartender, waiter, host. His energy was high and he was very engaged with all the customers.
I asked about a menu and he said there was only a menu board on the wall, but because I sat at against the wall I couldn't see it. He told me it was wing night and I said I would do that. Because there was no menu, he had to recite from memory a long list of sauces and the list kept changing so I'm not really sure about all their sauces. He did mention they were mostly ED Smith sauces, which is who makes my 3rd Degree. I picked Hot, dry Cajun, and a side of Honey Mustard. He came back out a little while later and sat at my table, apologizing that they were out of Honey Mustard, which was a good thing because while it tasted fine, it didn't look appetizing and he's recommend that the kitchen alter it anyway. I went with BBQ instead.
Up front I have to apologize, this place was dark and I was impressed I was able to get any postable photos at all. Wing's were $0.45 each on wing night (after 5pm), with about 7 to an order. I got a double order. There was no bone plate or wet-naps, just napkins at the table.
The wings did come with dip, and I went with blue cheese. This was an excellent blue cheese because it was both thick and creamy and had a great flavour. I could drink this stuff.
The wings were not large, about a medium and were maybe a medium in meatiness. They were breaded but they were also overcooked. I also suspect that they are a pre-breaded frozen wing that coupled with being slightly over fried meant they were not the greatest texture. The hot wings were not very saucy either and were kind of absorbed into the breading, which made it soggy and crispy at the same time. It's funny because all the photos on their Facebook page seemed to show a much better wing.
HOT
Hot was standard Frank's style hot sauce - cayenne based. It was good but nothing special. I would have liked a lot more sauce.
There wasn't a lot of seasoning on the Cajun, but what I could taste was fine. These were crispy, but as mentioned before, overcooked, so I was not digging these. I needed the bbq/blue cheese sauces for sure.
BBQ
This was just too sweet for me. Tomato based and lots of sugar - tasted like commercial BBQ that I would skip in the future.
FINAL SCORE:
This is a great dive bar that while not super comfortable, has a great staff, friendly customers, and pinball! Check this place out for the pinball. The wings, I wasn't impressed with at all, but I'm willing to bet it was an off night based on others saying they have good wings. I'm willing to go back and see if there's a difference. If not, don't bother, especially at $14 regular price. 6.5/15
The Neighbourhood Pub & Ottawa Pinball Arcade
2557 Baseline Road, Ottawa ON
Neighbourhood Pub Facebook & ottawapinballarcade.ca
Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Monday, 19 March 2018
LOTW Meme Monday: Spaceballs - When is Then Now?
My Waiter: "soon"
I love Spaceballs. Here is the original scene:
Sunday, 18 March 2018
OUT of the BOX Gourmet Hot Sauces
"Add a splash of Paradise to any dish!"
Not too long ago I was contacted by Canadian gourmet hot sauce purveyors Out of the Box Snacks to see if I wanted to try their product. They just won at the Zest Fest 2018 Fiery Food Challenge in Irving Texas - 1st Place for Caribbean Style Hot Sauce for their Scotch Bonnet and 2nd Place for Fruit Based Medium Hot Sauce for their Pina Colada.
About a week later the package arrived - I love getting mail! Out of the Box Snacks are based out of Kitchener Ontario - I'm always happy to highlight a Canadian business.
Inside were 4 bottles and a description sheet about these "Inspired by the Caribbean" sauces. They promote the fact that the sauces are vegan and gluten free with no artificial colours, thickening agents or preservatives.
They sent me 4 sauces: Pina Colada, Scotch Bonnet, Cucumber Habanero, and Pineapple Mango. I loved the rainbow of colours. The labeling is simple, but still conveys that 'gourmet' sauce feeling, especially with the 'black label' cap on the top. Searching online they retail for about $10 a bottle.
These sauces all sounded pretty unique which is good considering the hot sauce market is huge. I was so curious to try them all:
PINA COLADA
This sauce piqued my interest the most because it sounds so unique. I've never had a pina colada hot sauce before; have you? I imagined it would be sweet and soothing. They also recommend it for chicken wings, so perfect right?
SCOTCH BONNET
I loved the colour of this sauce, but I won't lie, scotch bonnet hot sauces are not always my favourite. I often find they have a good heat, but are sometimes a bit too fruity flavoured for my liking. But the colour really made me feel that this was a good hot sauce.
CUCUMBER HABANERO
I didn't know what to think of this sauce - I mean habanero is good, but cucumber in a hot sauce? I loved that from the bottle you could see all sorts of seeds and spices floating around. I'm going in very skeptical of this because, well, cucumber.
PINEAPPLE MANGO
Ok this one would be sweet for sure. I love pineapple and mango, so this could be good.
~~~~~~~~
I went out and cooked a bunch of wings on a BBQ Grill - I felt that the grill flavour of the chicken would be best to highlight the sauce mix. I did season the wings with salt and pepper and tossed them in olive oil.
For my samplings, I put a few dabs of sauce on the plate just for a sauce visual and tasting. Each sauce had its own distinct look, colour, and texture.
Separately I tossed a wing in each sauce and re-dabbed for extra sauce. I started on the right with the Pineapple Mango and made my way left. I tasted the sauce first, then I tried each wing. I would take a drink and cleanse my palate, then move on to the next sauce.
PINEAPPLE MANGO
Right off the bat, the mango-pineapple flavour is very clearly there. But you can also taste onion and garlic. It's sweet with heat, and also a little salt. Flavour-wise it went well with the grilled wing. Heat-wise, it created a burn in the back of the mouth. It was a very palatable heat that just about anyone would enjoy. The sauce itself is slightly runny but also mushy with real fruit. I quite liked this sauce and could see myself eating it on pork dishes especially.
CUCUMBER HABANERO
I don't know what to say about this sauce. It tastes like cucumber, like a slightly spicy cucumber. It tastes 'watery' like a cucumber. The habanero is in the background and the cucumber is clearly in the foreground and is keeping the habanero cool. You can taste the garlic and salt too. This is a very runny, wet hot sauce. The heat level is also really low on this but it does taste very fresh.
I didn't like or dislike this sauce - I just don't know how I would apply this. If you love cucumber, and cucumber and I are only acquaintances, you might like this. That being said, my wife loved this sauce and put this on everything everyday since it came.
SCOTCH BONNET
It had a great flavour - little sweet, but lots of onion and garlic flavour. The heat was there in my first sampling, but it built up. Went really well with the wings from the grill. The sauce itself is not too runny but not too thick either. Did I mention the heat built? And the sting really went to the tongue. This is not for the faint of heat, but chili-heads won't find it atomic. For me it was just a nice burn.
This was probably the best scotch bonnet sauce I've ever had, I think because it wasn't as sharp fruity as other sauces are, but brought that savoury garlic/salty-ness that made it enduring.
PINA COLADA
I saved this sauce for last because I thought it would be a good cooling sauce after the scotch bonnet burn. What you don't expect is that this sauce comes with it's own bite. I mean I knew it was a hot sauce, but I didn't think it was a hot sauce. I was expecting just a creamy sauce.
This sauce is very thick - like it didn't want to come out of the bottle without a skewer to coax it out. It looks like horseradish sauce - there's even little stringy fibres inside. My first taste it was clear this was pina colada. That coconut and pineapple is right there. But there's also a kick I wasn't expecting. It's very mild, but that little bite comes through all the creamy sweetness. It's so unique, and quite tasty. If you were wondering what this would go with aside from wings, we had some leftover Thai food another night and this sauce paired well with it.
After the samplings, I did some larger batches of wings with the sauces tossed. I didn't use the Cucumber Habanero because I wasn't crazy about it and decided to up my wing resources for the other sauces I did really like.
The Scotch Bonnet was just an all around good hot sauce. It had a really good flavour and a good heat and I can see myself using this on any number of dishes for hot sauce, but I think wings would be the best.
The Pineapple Mango is just a delight. Sweet, but has a nice fruity flavour (which I know I mentioned above is why I normally don't like scotch bonnet hot sauces, but its different. It's just different). Just a bright sauce that makes you stop, smile, and think 'what is this? yum.'
The Pina colada is novel and tasty. You get the coconut flavour. This would be the sauce that stood out the most for me from when I saw the bottles to after tasting. Now I don't think I would make a whole batch of wings just Pina Colada - I think this sauce works on that novelty factor on its own, but is best paired with the other sauces.
These sauces don't taste like big batch commercial hot sauces - they tasty personal and unique. They each had their own flavour and felt like they were made with love. I mentioned that to Dots Khadim, owner of Out of the Box Snacks. Dots, who is originally from Guyana, said "I love to cook for family and friends. I have been making hot sauces for my family, and everyone love my sauces. This is what inspired me to experiment with different flavors and Caribbean Exotic fruits."
If you are looking for some gourmet hot sauces that aren't like the others, Out of the Box Snacks Hot Sauces are for you. Savoury heat? Try the Scotch Bonnet. Fruity bite? Pineapple Mango. And for truly thinking 'outside' of the box, Cucumber Habanero for a fresh taste, or Pina Colada for that completely unexpected hot sauce. I really enjoyed the flavours of these sauces and think you will too.
Out of the Box
You can buy these sauces at various hot sauce and gourmet food shops, many are listed on their website: outoftheboxsnacks.com
You can also see more on their Facebook & Instagram
Friday, 16 March 2018
Chicken Wing Pie for PI Day
HAPPY PI DAY
Yes, yes there is.
Betty Crocker has a recipe for Buffalo Chicken Pie that was the 3rd Place winner in the Bisquick Recipe Contest of 2010.
Yum?
Can you BBQ "Fried" Wings???
So the other day I go to do up some wings on a BBQ grill. I'm house sitting and have access to the home owners grill, which is super awesome.
I prep the grill for indirect heating. I'm debating putting the wings on the top rack to have more air access and because I don't really want to put them directly on the main grill. I then remember that I brought my BBQ mat - a gift from my folks that is a non-stick thin sheet of material that transfers the heat without having food fall through the grates.
I threw the mat on the grill, waited not even a minute, and then dumped my wings on the mat. Instantly they started sizzling, like they were in a pan. I spread them out and let them cook with the lid down for about 10 minutes. I came back, flipped the wings and boom! The wings had crispy fried skin. Seriously? This was awesome because I like grilled wings but not the rubbery skin.
Later I sauced the wings and ate them up and to my delight, they were crispy, but also had that grilled flavour. This changes everything ...
I prep the grill for indirect heating. I'm debating putting the wings on the top rack to have more air access and because I don't really want to put them directly on the main grill. I then remember that I brought my BBQ mat - a gift from my folks that is a non-stick thin sheet of material that transfers the heat without having food fall through the grates.
I threw the mat on the grill, waited not even a minute, and then dumped my wings on the mat. Instantly they started sizzling, like they were in a pan. I spread them out and let them cook with the lid down for about 10 minutes. I came back, flipped the wings and boom! The wings had crispy fried skin. Seriously? This was awesome because I like grilled wings but not the rubbery skin.
Later I sauced the wings and ate them up and to my delight, they were crispy, but also had that grilled flavour. This changes everything ...
Monday, 12 March 2018
LOTW Meme Monday - Gru Wing Plan
I figured why not 2 in 1 day!
But seriously, why are wings so expensive?!?!
LOTW Meme Monday = Wing Sauce Scientist
Chicken Wing Scientist. That's me. I'm a PhD in Chicken Wingology
#nonwingsunday = Poached Eggs
This may sound surprising but I've never poached eggs before. Just never tried. Don't know why, poached eggs are my favourite. LOVE me some Eggs Benedict. I think I did pretty good though for the most part. Plus putting them on chopped bacon and onion . . . how could it not be?!
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