{"id":1707,"date":"2011-12-14T10:28:20","date_gmt":"2011-12-14T15:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=1707"},"modified":"2012-05-01T10:13:24","modified_gmt":"2012-05-01T15:13:24","slug":"the-county-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=1707","title":{"rendered":"The County General"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Awesome fried chicken two ways with an array of garnishes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Scrabble games go, it was an embarrassing blow-out \u2013 a Leafs versus Bruins game with my wife as Boston, creaming me by well over 200 points. It was over so quickly we found ourselves drained (emotionally and linguistically) by 5:00 p.m. \u2013 and hungry, too, since we ran out of those spicy, anchovy-spiked cheese straws from The Harbord Bakery (best cheese straws in the city) just about the time Wendy put down “parvenus,” her fourth seven-letter word. So we went out to dinner, early enough to find two seats at the bar of The County General, the casual new place opened by Splendido\u2019s owners, chef Victor Barry and manager Carlo Catallo. Neither of them were there (I suppose they were at Splendido) but we were beautifully looked after by the two women behind the bar \u2013 smart, friendly service really stands out sometimes. I didn\u2019t realize that one of them is Aja Sax, whose cocktails I have read about but have yet to try. Last night we were in more of a white wine mood and found a lovely Fielding Estates Viognier on the small but proudly all-Niagara wine list. Aja also does the music, apparently, which was right up my boomer-box tin pan alley \u2013 drifting along through Leonard Cohen to U2, Chris Isaak, the Stones, Derek and the Dominoes\u2026 and all at a reasonable and highly civilized level.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The County General is small \u2013 just 14 seats plus another 10 at the bar \u2013 but it\u2019s nicely put together. The decorative theme involves a large number of 2-by-1 planks, lining the walls, creating a dropped ceiling and forming the bartop. They play on this barn-like feel with occasional sculptures of chicken \u2013 which makes perfect sense when you see how often chicken appears on chef Garth Legree\u2019s short menu. He is working with a fairly narrow palette of flavours \u2013 sort of Thai meets American barbecue \u2013 but the results are absolutely delightful.<\/p>\n

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winging it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We started with a hearty soup full of chunks of tender, pale-as-pork ham, white beans and hunky croutons of Marc Thuet bread. The thickish broth was tangy with mustard and lemon juice, thyme and rosemary \u2013 just the way to start a winter evening. I had the daily special of wings which were easily the best wings I\u2019ve ever had (okay I\u2019ve only ordered wings three times in my life, but these were the best). Legree cooks them sous-vide then flash-fries them so they\u2019re unbreaded, relatively lightweight and glazed with a sticky and delectable bbbq sauce that avoids over-sweetness and gains depth from a hint of espresso coffee. The wings are strewn with sliced up raw red chilies and a mass of fresh cilantro. Three condiments are presented separately \u2013 a creamy, smooth blue cheese dressing, a herbed mayo, and a fresh, tangy apple slaw. Being almost a virgin where wings are concerned I don\u2019t know the protocol of these extra sauces. They were too good to waste, but I was enjoying the wings\u2019 own flavours so much I didn\u2019t want to mask them. In the end, I used the bones as dippers and had the best of both worlds.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Another star dish is the trio of miniature steamed buns each of which contains a small quivering block of lightly smoked pork belly. Again changes are rung by a variety of condiments. In one bun it\u2019s a crunchy, not-too-garlicky kim chi; in another, that green apple slaw; in a third, a dollop of oniony avocado chutney with a mittful of fresh cilantro. A runny green chili sauce is delivered in a miniature squeeze bottle.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The main event of our dinner, however, was the fried chicken \u2013 a dish intended for two. Served on a wooden board, two substantial chicken breasts have been cooked sous vide and then differently treated \u2013 like twin sisters who have grown up in different parts of the world. One has a tamari glaze of great complexity \u2013 spicy-sweet and altogether delicious. The other has had a brush with a spice rub featuring allspice and chili and has then been battered and fried. It\u2019s pretty well perfect fried chicken, juicy and flavourful, and ends up being the one we mess with, wrapping thick slices up in lettuce leaves with various combinations of the accompanying garnishes. You can see them in the opicture in their teeny metal bowls \u2013 cilantro, green onion, radish, pickled red onion, kim chi, grated fresh ginger, Thai chilies, avocado chutney with plenty of kaffir lime, bbq sauce, a squeeze bottle of red<\/em> chili sauce. Awesome.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Other treats? Great frites, triple-fried to make them soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, with a ramekin of smokey, house-made ketchup. A slice of classic apple pie dusted with cinnamon. A flight of 4 top rums, part of a fulsome and very sophisticated program of brown spirits (mostly rums and bourbons) that Aja Sax has put together. It all costs far less than\u00a0 it could. The only drawback is that you have to get there pretty early or pretty late if you want to find a table. Me, I\u2019d rather sit at the bar.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The County General is at 936 Queen Street West (on the corner of Shaw). 416 531 4447.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Scrabble games go, it was an embarrassing blow-out \u2013 a Leafs versus Bruins game with my wife as Boston, creaming me by well over 200 points. It was over so quickly we found ourselves drained (emotionally and linguistically) by 5:00 p.m. \u2013 and hungry, too, since we ran out of those spicy, anchovy-spiked cheese […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,19,95],"tags":[557,556,555],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1707"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1950,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707\/revisions\/1950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}