8.29.2010

Deep fried delight at Stockyards

Prepare yourself when you goto the Stockyards for the following:
a wait, things that run out on the menu, comfort southern cuisine and the guilty feeling of eating way too many carbs and calories!
This is a labour of love for owner Tom Davis who takes pride and works hard to provide Southern comfort food and good Carolina style BBQ alongside with traditional methods of smoking, dry curing and aging.

I went with my good friend Andrew for a lazy rainy Sunday brunch and we were already behind.  We arrived around 12 and waited 45 minutes to be seated.  There is very limited seating here and usually is a take out joint during the week days.Once we were seated in front of the open kitchen and deep fryer which I was very happy with as I love witnessing food porn or in this case deep fry porn, we were informed by our bubbly server Lisa that 3 dishes had already sold out.  The popular beignets were done by 10am, their smoked meat hash and their shirred eggs (oven baked eggs with smoked ladrons in a casserole dish); both of these latter dishes we watched and contemplated about ordering while we were in line and we felt like we missed these 2 dishes by a matter of minutes.  Lisa was lovely although she was one of 2 servers rushing around the full restaurant getting orders, serving food, busing and appeasing the waiting crowd.  Running out of the above options left ordering pretty simple for us as we moved our attention to the fried chicken and waffles and the buttermilk biscuits with sausage gravy.  The waffles were light and fluffy and OMG- the chicken was amazing!  We just went at the chicken with our hands and the batter was so decadently crunchy with their buttermilk batter, fried perfectly and it was drenched in a chili lime molasses sauce that we lapped up with our fingers afterward.  This gave us some street cred amongst the staff and we even found out that Tom is a thigh man- he likes the dark meat... good call!
The home made buttermilk biscuits were so good - you felt like they melted in your mouth and they were topped with the sausage gravy which was interesting as it was thick and a creamy grey colour.  It gave the bisquits a heavier texture and a bit of a punch. It was also served with runny scrambled eggs and home style potatoes.  While we ate, we watched them deep fry their chicken and french fries - which they go through about 150-200lb of french fries a day! WOW!
Tuesday, Fridays and Sundays are the days that they serve Tom's special dry rubbed ribs and his smoked chicken.  The rib racks are usually sold out early and there are lines starting at 5pm for these items which I must go back for.
Upon leaving, we let Lisa know she overlooked our order of their country style bacon which we didn't need anymore as we just ate the heaviest caloric meal ever!  However Lisa insisted that we grab the bacon to go as take out as it's incredible.  The looks on people's faces while waiting in line with our little take out box of bacon was classic - some confused but more of them with huge smiles.  We left with Stockyard spare tires around our bodies but as satisfied souls who needed a long afternoon nap.
The Stockyards
**** stars
699 St. Clair West (West of Bathurst)
 http://thestockyards.ca
              416 658 9666      

http://thestockyards.ca
The Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder on Urbanspoon

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