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| - Safe to say after reading some of the earlier reviews, that Hank Daddy's has overcome their initial new biz hurdles and is now in the "killing it" era of their business cycle with no end in sight.
BBQ has become latest trend to hit Vaughan and with spots like Hank Daddy's leading that charge I anticipate many copy cats will soon follow.
Having a meeting in Vaughan was cause enough for me to pay them a visit - even though my meeting was at Hwy 7 and 27 (HDs is at Keele, so couldn't be further away) but like a good 905oodie I didn't balk at a drive to get good eats.
HD's is located around the corner from National Sports at Keele and 7 and they've taken up an amazing corner location With lots of parking, great access from main roads and a huge indoor space. Walking in I felt like this spot was part restaurant, part backyard cookout. String lights hung from the ceiling with care above a mix of standard and picnic style tables.
The crowd at lunch was packed with business types in groups stealing away from their boring bagged lunches to come have a cheeky meaty splurge (and subsequent meat coma) at Daddy's place.
Being a first timer I took a long hard look at the wall sized menu... and got lost. I wanted all of the things. All of them! So I got to the front and asked for help... please. The gal at the cask was a rockstar, she walked me through it and as we went explained some easy combos and ways to get the most for the least. She also tempted me with their signature pulled pork sundae/parfait (pulled pork, mashed potatoes in a sundae glass). Amazing.
After some deliberation I settle on the pound of smoked wings (spicy) with a side of MacNchesse then for $9 added 3-4 pork ribs on the side AND used their Yelp check-in offer for a free side to grab some corn bread and really max out my order.
Ok I'll need a breather for a second here because I just got super excited reliving what I'm ABOUT TO tell you so gimme a sec...........
........ ok I'm ready!
To start let's warm up with the sides. Previous reviews stated insufficient portion sizes for the MacNcheese and that it was dry. Not the case any longer. The side was nearly a meal on its own a hearty sized bowl of super moist and cheesy noodles (see my picture for suspended cheese pull imagery haha). The corn bread was next and it was lovely, the perfect accompaniment to all the sauce on the ribs. It was nice and moist and not even a little try (read: no unnecessary crumbling!).
Next up, the back ribs, done in the Hand Daddy's original sauce. You wanna talk about fall off the bone? As I picked up each rib I needed to be careful as to not wiggle the bone too much as the meat was barely hanging on. I could have had no teeth and been totally fine gumming these to death. Melt. In. Your. Mouth. Yum. Not overly sauces either which was great so you still got some of the smiley meat flavour through the sauce (which had a hint of maple syrup surprisingly through all that BBQ smoked goodness).
I love the ribs, but the chicken wings? Totally knocked me back on my ass. Wow. Everything about these was executed beyond perfection. First off they were a great size easily the size of 3-4 of the baby wings you get at place like Wild Wing (seriously how are they still in business and growing). Next they were slow cooked, so not unlike the ribs they too were falling off their bones. And with that slow cooked smoked flavour paired with their dry rub season and their spicy sauce I think in the debate of who came first the chicken or the egg.... it was me. Get it? Yeah they were that good y'all.
I honestly had to stifle my audible "mmmm's" and soft groans between bites because I know I was getting hella awkward while eating.
It was an amazing meal, and for some reason HDs blends of spices and sauces go unbelievably well with a tall pint of Steamwhistle pilsner (available on tap here). The pilsner acted like a palate cleanser and really brought the meal to another level.
I'll definitely be back with my Yelp friends in tow. If you haven't been or have been thinking about going here, do it. Do it now. Line up if you have to. Once the word of Hank starts to spread anticipate line ups and wait times... but always amazing food.
Also say hi to Hank Daddy himself, he'll be the super friendly dude in the full brim hat cooking in the back and coming out personally to check out how your meal is going.
EATCREST out!
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