Night after night
day after day, it went on and on
Then came that morning
he woke up alone
He spent all night
staring down at the lights of LA
Wondering if he could
ever go home
Another Tuesday... another Taste! We're taking a break from the land of submarines (sandwiches) and instead checking out a fried chicken chain that has been steadily building a sturdy presence throughout the GTA the past few years. There is a lot of wordplay I could launch with this one here but I'm not gonna do any of it... it's time for Juicy Birds!
Juicy Birds currently have eleven locations scattered about Southern Ontario, from Hamilton, Mississauga, Waterloo to Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa... plus one in Barrie for good measure. If a GO train can go there, so can Juicy Birds apparently. It all started about four years ago when a trio of friends opened up a Nashville inspired fried chicken spot in the heart of Toronto's Greektown at Danforth and Pape.
The space they took over had housed a rotating cast of tenants, mostly a host of variously named shawarma (later doner) places that lasted no longer than a few years... yet all of them kept the same vertical sign above the restaurant that read "BURGERS" in distinct green and black lettering. Juicy Birds opened their doors in February of 2022 (on my dad's birthday it looks like) and despite some initial hardship with a break-in attempt* during those early months... by July they had already set in motion plans to open a second location in Pickering, well surpassing** any level of success that had been seen out of this space before. Before too long...
...even the vertical "BURGERS" sign had changed it's allegiance to chicken.
*we can all agree that people who break into places are assholes but people who break into restaurants especially are super assholes. The profit margins are so thin as it is... accounting for thousands more dollars to replace broken glass and stolen property is the last thing a precarious industry needs.
**I think one reason a fried chicken place perhaps succeeded here while several shawarma places did not... well it's Greektown. There are already tons of gyros and other wrap-like options baked into this part of town, to be another one is immediately challenging to stand out at all.
We'll dive into my first ever visit to Juicy Birds in a moment, because first I want to take you back in time to 2023 at a little place called Reid's Distillery. Yes that's right, I'm using this review as a flimsy excuse to tell a tale about somewhere that has remotely no affiliation with what I'm actually reviewing. Truly this is the level of journalistic concision and focus you come to West Collier Street for...
Anyhow back in the early months of 2023 I was working at Reid's Distillery on a pretty regular basis (my other gigs were out of season) doing a mixed bag variety of things for the place. This meant I'd get scheduled a lot for the High Tea event they did (and still do) on Sunday afternoons, which... well... hmmm.
Statute of Limitations perhaps? It's been nearly two years since I clocked out for a shift there (never officially quit or was fired though)... but it must be said that those High Teas were brutal to work. Brutal! Not the actual service or product, no... I was a part of that and it is legit pretty nice... moreso that working those long days was such an annoying scramble of a zillion little tasks. Unboxing and re-boxing porcelain plates, searching the back storage of the distillery for specific things that were only used that one day of the week, filling up tea kettles with hot water for what felt like an endless period of time (am I somehow still there and this is just an elaborate daydream???), coordinating seatings while serving cute bite-sized sandwiches and pastries on multi-floor plates (while being extremely hungry of course) and to top off everything: running all those many dozens of various dishes, cutlery, glasses and teapots through the one dishwasher in the back room behind the bar, which would take actual hours. Gah! It's bringing back trauma just describing it. For the love of all that is good (and those still working there) I really hope they've since invested in a second option for washing all that freaking stuff.
What does this have to do with Juicy Birds? What does this have to do with anything? Great question. You see, it was during one of those infinitely long Sunday shifts at Reid's that I first heard of Juicy Birds. A couple of my co-workers were hungry (these shifts were also like ten hours long sometimes) and so for their (unpaid) break ordered some rather tasty looking fried chicken sandwiches (the G.O.A.T to be exact) on delivery.
For whatever reason (perhaps from my co-workers raving about the food, or perhaps the heated steam of that constantly running single dishwasher sizzling my brain in that poorly ventilated "kitchen") from that point onward Juicy Birds stuck in my recollection as a place I wanted to try for myself. Zip ahead two and a half years, I'm finally inside the damn place... and the memory of that random shift indeed popped back in my mind (along with all the other stuff I described).
While my once-upon-a-time co-workers got sandwiches that fateful, steamy Sunday... I noticed the sign outside their Pape location was advertising "JB Hot Boxes": a meal deal with a chicken slider, two tenders, fries and a side of mac-and-cheese... just over twenty dollars. This is a dream menu item for any very hungry person but more importantly: a very hungry food reviewer... as such an assorted collection of items gives me a chance to give a bit of everything a try. So saddle in because this is where the fun begins.
You know how certain people always eat the french fries first? I'm realizing I must also be one of those people... I mean, for whatever reason I always review the fries first it seems, right?
Crinkle cut! Clearly not making a comeback because the comeback is already complete. So many places I've reviewed in the past year are slicing potatoes this way. Which is totally fine when said fries have that crispiness along those crinkled edges... otherwise what's the point exactly?
These do. Oh they definitely do... and they're simply fantastic for it. Firm and crispy, the potato inside is very much on point... we're off to a really good start with Boxy JB here. Not super oily, nor is there much salt or seasoning (a tiny touch that's just enough), it's really that precise crispiness with potato almost-goo erupting out that makes this work so nicely... just a wonderful texture here.
While this dip (a buttermilk ranch) certainly has utility with fried chicken as well, I mostly used it for the fries. There's a strong suggestion of peppercorn swimming in this as well, which was quite a welcome bonus. A very versatile and tasty accessory.
Because this was a lot of food and I'm not eighteen anymore (at least my stomach isn't) the two tenders I actually saved for later that night on some homemade tacos... which these were indeed perfect for.
These tenders have that perfect balance of juicy tender chicken and considerable bready crunch, without any stale air pockets to deceive any hungry eyes. This is full freight chicken. It must be mentioned that these are also in Juicy Bird's "Nashville Hot" level of spice, which is their second spiciest according to a handy chart they have by the register.
Rather than tossing the breaded tenders in some kind of sauce, it's a nefarious finely ground chili powder that's responsible for all the burning... and burn it will. The heat is legit and immediate, not overwhelmingly so but certainly a bit overbearing at first... I could've done with a little less of it. Nevertheless, the chicken itself is tasty enough to overcome any heavy handed dose of superheated dust.
Hey, they throw in a mac-n-cheese in this box as well? Again, considering modern food prices... getting this much grub for twenty-one dollars (plus tax) is really a bargain, especially as these portion sizes aren't cheaping out either.
As far as mac and cheeses go in general, this one ain't all that special... but as far as fast food mac and cheeses go, it holds up extremely well. There is an actual cheesy taste to it and the feel of the sauce has actual body and consistency far superior to any cheapo "add water to the powder" type of mix. I'd be very surprised if they're not making an actual roux here. Likewise the noodles taste like they've been boiled/cooked properly, not criminally overdone to the point of flabby flavourlessness that you so often kind in other places.
Is it still a fairly generic cheese kind of flavour? Mostly yeah... I would've liked a bit more boldness or sharpness since this is obviously going for a cheddar heavy mac. But for what it is, this is entirely okay. The balance of noodle and gloopy cheese sauce is there, both have authentic flavour and texture... all of it is totally fine! I didn't find myself adding hot sauce to make it taste like something, is basically what I'm saying. You can (and likely have) do much, much worse.
Slide away... give it all you've got...
By process of elimination (since I wasn't completely sure in the moment) this is Juicy Bird's G.O.A.T (at least the smaller version of it): de-boned chicken slider, sweet pickles, coleslaw and their "Comeback Sauce" on a potato bun.
It's definitely a smaller size of chicken sandwich but that doesn't mean you're inhaling this in three bites either. Much like the tenders, there's a really nice hollow crunch to this chicken that's both satisfying and not dry or harsh on the mouth either. Exceptionally tasty and fresh chicken... not heavy on oil or grease and the juicy consistency of it runs throughout the entire sandwich.
The Comeback Sauce seems to be a mayo touched by some sweet ketchup, which actually works nicely here as the result is a gentle creaminess without overpowering the pickles or the slaw. It also helps with the Nashville powdery spice, as that stuff on a much drier sandwich would almost certainly veer into unpleasantness.
Combine that all with the typical soft, light sweetness of a potato bun... you've got a very satisfying little chicken sandwich here. Spice, creaminess, great textures and great chicken... this is at the level where asking for more is just getting greedy.
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Overall! The only real negative things I'm going to say about my Juicy Birds experience have nothing to do with the food. It reminded me of a tedious shift I used to have to work! They played an absolutely, irredeemably terrible modern cover of "September" on their radio! Seriously though... that song is overplayed to the point of being sappy enough as it is (and I think EWaF are great)... twisting it into a sleek soulless creatively bankrupt auto-tuned piece of generico-pop is just offensive (mostly via the idea being just so damn lazy).
Oh, and there was some tow truck drama directly outside the restaurant! A dude came inside to rant about it while I was eating! Clearly the establishment's fault, they should've known a tow truck would come cause trouble ... can't recommend them now...
...no seriously, Juicy Birds is legitimately great. Great! With a capital "Gr". Definitely recommend giving them a look. They're not doing anything drastically different than any other Nashville-inspired fried chicken place, they're simply doing it extremely well and the proof is in how incredibly enjoyable almost everything here tasted. Like if Dave's Hot Chicken had a little more juice and much better fries (and I find Dave's pretty solid).
They do seem bent on continuing to expand, which in most cases does seem to diminish the overall quality of a brand after a while... so here's hoping Juicy Birds is an exception because I'd gladly visit this one again.
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Burnt Ends
Because I've completely gone mad (and not even with power) this article you're still reading (thank you) comes in the midst of the first ever Reviewsmas! Why, that's a silly and clunky name... what is that you might be asking? Well, think of it as my version of the Twelve Days of Christmas... meaning twelve days, twelve reviews! This is Day four (hey, four calling juicy birds) and in case you missed it, here are the first three days below:
Day 1: European Food Adventure part II
Day 2: Crown and Dragon Chicken Wings
Tuesday Tune
It's Bob Seger! Need I say more.
That's it for another week! Wait, I mean that's it for today! I'll have another review up tomorrow for Day 5 of Reviewsmas! Twelve straight days of published articles! It sure seemed like a good idea at the time....
Until then! Stay safe, stay warm and most of all don't spill that mustard.
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