Review - Puck'n Wings

(Corner of Bloor/Walmer)
First off, it's a damn hockey bar, so I wasn't hoping for much.

But, I was assured the wings were top notch, all good.
I ordered 2 pounds - Dragon & dry Cajun.

At first I was excited, they looked hand cut, not mechanically cut. But that was an illusion on one wing. They looked good enough, a decent size.
The sauce and rub were pretty good and they tasted alright. Not top notch, but better than overrated Duffs, for sure.

But something seemed weird. I should've listened to my spidey senses.
We also had a beer problem, Barb's beer was off-tasting. They eventually gave her a fresh one.
Back to the wings. They made me sick as a dog, bad times. Undercooked, I think.

And then the bill - paying over $40 for 2 pints and 2 pounds without chips is borderline criminal.
So this is a pass from me. 2 out of 5, maybe.
I need to get myself to Shagwell's stat.

Return Home

Today was the drive from Niagara Falls to home, so not much time to have anything happen.

But of course, these days can be full too.

The day started as bad as it can with the worst shower ever!
The thing would have hot water come out the bottom but when the button thingy was pulled for the shower the water would be warm and get progressively colder. As an added bonus the water pressure would fluctuate.
So of course I would press the button and the water would burn my feet, then pull on it again.
Repeat this about 10 times and that was the fun I had.

We went for breakfast at the Happy Wanderer.
This is a German restaurant that was never open, at least 4 previous attempts have been made to eat there. But I'd heard good things.

Inside was like turn back the clock, with old pictures and postcards everywhere. The boy, who looked like Frodo Baggins, gave us a seat and I assumed he was the waiter.
A few minutes later I looked up and almost fell off my chair.

There was a girl, nay an Angel, that appeared before me. She seemed to be out of my dreams, and my brain shut down for a good 5 seconds.
She was wearing a traditional German dress that stopped above the knee and hosiery that went up to there. She wore her hair up in the style that is reminiscent of every Bavarian image I can recall.

Of course I choose to think she's Dutch and I will call her Betje (or Bettie).
It was the second time in my life that a woman has rendered me speechless temporarily (the piercing gaze of a young Polish woman several years ago was the first).

So all of a sudden, the day seemed much better.
I went to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a quick drive-by and then headed home.

A good trip, all in all.

Day 2 - Chicago

Day 2 started in Lansing and we then made our way out to Chicago, via Gary, Indiana.

Lansing is the capital of Michigan, so of course Buzz wanted to see the State Capital building:

But of course the main attraction in Lansing is MSU in East Lansing.

Here's a picture of the stadium:

We left Lansing and were on the long road to Chicago, knowing there'd be a stop in Gary of course.

But I saw a sign nearing Battle Creek that mentioned Kellogg and something called cereal city.

I thought it would be good for a laugh, but it was splendid in all it's awesome tackiness!
See the picture ... Inside is a cornucopia of Kellogg's past and present, all the original characters like Smaxie and Dig 'em. All the different Tony the Tigers. Oddly, there was little to see with those demented elves, Snap, Crackle and Pop (I guess after the beating from the Keebler elves they're laying low).

Back on the highway, which had too many long stretches of nothing and construction I see a sign announcing the Chocolate Garden. I started having images of houses made of chocolate and chocolate landscaping ... think Homer's dream.

This is what I found:

Not exactly the utopian paradise I anticipated.

I need to be honest. The only reason I wanted to see Gary, Indiana is because I heard it's a crap-hole. I've seen East St. Louis, I've been to Flint. This is supposed to be the other in the top 3 worst cities.

I was not disappointed. Main Street (as pictured) was deader than Flint's. The houses in the side streets were often abandoned to the vegetation, or had boarded up windows.
Not a pretty sight. You wouldn't want to go to any of the bars we saw ... scary!

What's weird is that US Steel (which sponsors the Minor league team - how did they get that?) and Mittal both have huge working operations there. Why is it so poor?

Finally we were back on the road to Chicago.

Gorgeous skyline, with America's tallest building. Why does the water look so good? I would have thought it would be unbelievably polluted. But it looked good enough to swim, and there were a few beaches along the way.

By this time I was sooooo hungry. I got to see Soldier Field and Comiskey and just wanted to eat at Gino's.

We get there (finally - there's 2 but they are no help at 411) and there's a sign that says it's closed for renovation. I don't even get a chance to ask Frank what do we do now. As I turn around a wonderful woman (an Angel? - she was cute, as I remember her anyway) tells us to go to the other one and gives us impeccable directions.

15 minutes later we're seated at the famous Gino's East.

It took forever to get our food, but we should have known, when this is the sign above the bar:

The Cheese and Sausage Deep dish arrived forty-five minutes later (we got there at 4:30) and it was delicious.

It was just so different than anything we're used to.

The cheese was on the crust, followed by the sausage patties and the sauce on top (so a reverse order). Very tasty.

We then went to Wrigley and headed back East. We're staying in Laporte for the night.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Have Fun!

Frankenmuth - Day 1

Yesterday was the first of our mini road trip.
It started in the morning and I need to say one thing.

Holy crap Ontario is boring!

That stretch of 401 between Mississauga & Windsor has nothing. It took all my will power to not crash my car into the ditch. Sweet fancy Moses.
When we finally arrived at Windsor we noticed we had the option of taking a tunnel across to Detroit. Boy that was a bad idea.
I got into the line to pay the toll and then realized I was in the wrong one - I did not have 4.00 in coins. So I needed to move over and a kindly person was letting me in, however they shut down all the lanes.
What the ...

After about 15 minutes they finally let us in. Good times!
We saw a little of Detroit, very small core.
Saw the old home of the Lions and then went to Flint again.

It was the city's festival ... At least 50 people were downtown on Saturday afternoon!!!! Happening place!

The purpose of the trip was upcoming - Frankenmuth.
Oh Baby!
I was expecting a tacky suped up version of Flint. Boy was I wrong.

But not at first. The first thing you see is the World's largest Christmas store. Sweet baby Jesus that was frightening.
My travel buddy Frank almost passed out. It took about 30 seconds before he started freaking out. There was a distinct possibility of him dropping to the ground in an epileptic fit.
The place is beyond huge and after a few minutes I was starting to get a little anxious. The place has an unholy vibe, strange because there is religious stuff everywhere.
Sweet mother of God, I was trapped in the seventh strata of hell and couldn't find what I wanted.
We escaped but were never to be the same.

The rest of the town is completely different. My favorite so far of any city (smaller ones - nothing can compete with New Orleans). It has a distinctive Bavarian feel, many Inns, restaurants, chocolate and cheese shops.

I ate a Wiener-Schnietzel at the brewery - Delicious, really, really great. I recommend it!
Then Saginaw had nothing to offer and it took forever to find a place to stay, finally finding one in Lansing - no vacancy ... but luckily a few miles down we were in luck.
More tonight about day 2...

Have fun!

Southern Accent

Last week I went to Southern Accent, a Louisiana style restaurant, here's my review.

We went for a good friend's birthday and had an almost private room. Turns out it was also her flatmate's b-day, but we were not told ... Awkward!
The place is near Bloor/Bathurst on Markham street (behind honest Ed's).
Check it out at http://www.southernaccent.com. We thought it was decorated for the party, but they always have a Mardi gras feel to the place.

The decor is great and the ambiance very cool. There's even some psychics if you want a reading for a fee.

The food is varied, not all pure Cajun, there was a special maple menu at the time as well.
I had a few Hurricanes to start, anyone who's been to New Orleans will know about those fruity killers.
As an appetizer I had some oysters. Some Jalapeno infused Vodka was poured over them, add some lemon and Habanero hot sauce and slide her down ... hmmm ... hmmm ... Good!

The popular menu item was the hush puppies, corn fritters, fried. They loved them.

As a main course I went for the blackened steak. A very nice New York cut, cooked to perfection with a spinach mash and some veggies.
As most know, I'm a man who likes him meat. Well, that has the be the best steak ever! A culinary masterpiece. I wasn't crazy about the mash, but that's because I don't consider vegetables proper food.

One more note, a dollar from each meal goes to help New Orleans restaurants get back open. A more than noble cause.

I highly recommend Southern Accent. Next week I'm going to Big Daddy's - they have crayfish etouffee on the menu. I'll let you know.

Last year I tried N'Awlins on King Street. The food was good, but the Jazz was better. But you better have a reservation.