Jack's Sunday Night football fix- essentially free wings

Jacks on Richmond Row at Kent street, has changed up their Sunday Night Football wing special. I previously reported that the wing night was cancelled, and since the people at jacks have changed things up. 

They are now offering $11 pitcher and wing deal.  Which is one of the best I've seen in town.  $11 gets you a pitcher of domestic beer and 10 wings. 

Granted, 10 wings cost you $2.90 on almost every night at Jacks if you purchase a drink (which cost $2.50 a bottle). 

This works out to a great deal if your goal is to get a bit tipsy for the game, but not so great if you want to eat copious amounts of wings.  Though, even if you buy another 10 wings on the side, you're still coming out on top here.

Smoke's Poutinerie - Not your average fries and gravy

         Smoke's Poutinerie just opened its doors for the grand opening this week in downtown London, right on Richmond Row between The London Tap House and Jack's.  Its website describes itself as the first chain of restaurants in the world - yes there are currently 6 locations, 5 GTA and 1 in London - serving strictly poutine in many different flavour combinations.  

If they''re the only ones, I'd be surprised.  This doesn't seem like a very hard concept for our provincial neighbours to the East to figure out, after all , Quebec is the birthplace of Poutine.  That being said, Smoke's says their goal is to bring the "authentic Quebec classic to the world in its original and unique way".  This is where  my issues begin with Smokey's.  How can something be original and unique at the same time.  Frankly, I put Smoke's to the test, my roommate hails from France, has lived in Quebec and is an expert on anything French- Parisian or Quebecois.  So, needless to say, on Poutine, I'd take his flavour palette over mine any day.

The first time my roommate ventured to the Poutinerie, I could not attend, but he told me that he would let me know how things went.  Naturally, he ordered what Smoke's claims is the original: fries, gravy, cheese curds.  I've used a term before that many students like myself know all too well, and my roommate agreed, this really does fill a void.  He probably a 170 pound male, was unable to finish off a large original poutine, at $7.49, this could likely last you two meals, or one drunk night.

As for authenticity, there were a few obvious errors.

Sauce:
The gravy used at Smoke's is less than hardy.  Be it that the new cooks in the kitchen are getting used to churning out batches of this all day, or that the recipe needs some fixing, either way, the gravy is flavourless and lacks any body.  There is no mention of "homemade" or "made fresh daily" on Smoke's website, so we'll go with the fact that this is a powdered gravy.  Smoke's staff, if you're reading this, please add less water to the gravy mix.  The website, and the menu, also have a few other sauces, Curry, Vegetable gravy (Vegetarians read below!!) and home made meat sauce.

Fries:
Overall, the fries were pretty good.  It's REAL hard to mess up standard fresh cut Yukon gold potatoes.  I know for speed sake these potatoes are blanched and probably refrigerated, which cuts down on the final product's crispy nature most "fry connoisseurs"  know and love.

Cheese Curd:
Apparently, this cheese curd is made in the Eastern Townships of Quebec and is as authentic is you can get. It tasted fine, and at least its curd, but the viscosity of the cheese was something to be desired.  We want more melting action!  (again, Smoke's Staff, please pour HOTTER gravy over these curds).

As mentioned previously as a warning to Vegetarians, my other roommate joined us on our second trip to Smoke's and ordered what we thought would be a completely vegetarian dish, the Veggie Nacho Grande.  What he got was veggie nacho fries, with beef gravy.  How dumb can you be!!!  So make sure you specify Vegetable Gravy when you order your favourite veggie poutine.

Other combinations we tried were:
Country Style -mushrooms, onions, bacon and chicken, a good meal, be sure to order the small, as none of us could finish our small.  It was pretty flavourful and a good deal for your money.

Pulled Pork - the pork was sweet, so if you don't like sweet bbq flavour, this isn't for you. I enjoyed this meal and would definitely go back for more.

Overall, Smoke's must thrive off of location, if you look at where they plan to open next, the cities are all student driven, Kingston, London, the areas in Toronto and coming soon, Ottawa.  The food is decent grub for the price, but its by no means up to snuff for some serious poutine eaters, so essentially, Quebecois beware, this ain't Quebec.  Look for Smoke's to fill that hungry void that snickers chocolate claims it can, and can't.  Great location on Richmond Row means this joint will be popping till the wee hours and is open till 5am on Friday nights.  I cannot wait to try this under the influence.

The Game, a beer and some wings

I just got back from Jacks.

Sunday nights after 9:30pm they have free wings and fries with the purchase of a drink. From what I'm told, this drink doesn't have to be of the alcoholic nature, but when you're at Jacks, a beer and a game of Football just seems right.

The food isn't great, but it fills a void. There are two options for wings - BBQ - they are usually over cooked and over caramelized, and what the server/security personnel was referring to as "extra-hot". These wings are meant to be mean. I love spicy food - I had a great dinner of Pho today from Vietnam Taste- more on that later - but these wings aren't a nice hot, basically, think Franks Red Hot poured all over, nothing to them but to make you thirsty. The free buffet is concluded with French fries. These, like the hot wings, are - it would appear- meant to make you need a drink.

That being said, these do fill a void, when you're hungry, and you live downtown, or on the 12 or 2 bus route and need a place to unwind on a Sunday night, head on over to Jacks, where for the budget conscious student, you can have relatively all-you-can-eat wings and fries for $2.25 - $2.50 (price of a Soft Drink versus a domestic beer). Just remember to make your second drink a cup of tap water, you may need it.

Look out for more cheap places to eat in London, as well as posts on cheap meals to wow your significant other, things like that. Enjoy.