electric mud bbq

[disgusti]

known this was in the cards for a minute, but i guess now the name is official and it opens on saturday apparently.

bbq spot in the former stampede space operated by the minds behind grand electric.

anyone have anymore info?

[hal2010]

It gets a good review in the Globe today.

When I first saw this thread, I thought it was advice about a new sort of cooking device :)

[helenhelen]

i miss stampede's poutine :(

[kwass]

Guess what? Electric Mud bbq is now doing take-out...yay!!

https://twitter.com/ElectricMudBBQ/st...

[ylsf]

Thanks for the heads up, anyone gotten take out yet? How is the wait :)

Clearing out some book marks and I came across a blog that I had bookmarked. A recent post there has some pics/review of Electric Mud BBQ:

http://carolinesculinarydelights.com/...

[ylsf]

No posts in this thread for a while. Curious if anyone has done take out and how the wait is. Actually passed by on Tuesday but forgot they were closed that day

[disgusti]

I've had takeout from them, fried chicken, ribs, rolls, some other stuff that I forget, it was great. I still think Popeyes has better fried chicken than anywhere else but the food all held up on the 3 minute walk back to my friends house and was as delicious as when I ate in. Wait was about 10 mins, little awkward bc it was still cold and the place was super packed because no one wanted to go outside but I highly recommend takeout, I would feel ridiculous waiting hours for anythig

[kwass]

Good to know that the take-out holds up. Thanks disgusti. But you really think Popeye's is the best fried chicken in the city? I'm not going to lie. I like Popeye's too, but how can you say it's the best fried chicken in the city?

[ThoughtForFood]

Last time I went to Popeyes at college and spadina, I found 3 chicken backs in an 8 piece box. WTF?

[disgusti]

the only popeyes location i ever go to is the bloor and dufferin one and i've never once had anything less than stellar fried chicken. seriously, i've had fried chicken at most of the legit spots offering it, and none of them have topped pops. hell i had the electric mud chicken again tonight and man it's real good but... it's no popeyes

[kwass]

Wow! That's nuts! I do have to say that I had Popeyes about 6 weeks ago, and got the white meat, and the breast was shockingly moist.

[justsayn]

College and Spadina really is a bad Popeyes. I gave up on them.

[bsv]

I was there on saturday.

there was a line up at 5pm (when they open the doors).

the wait staff is great and answered MILLIONS of questions we had, they were attentive. a definite plus of the place

The food:
the server explained, things come out as they are ready and built for sharing
I had the duck ham, which was really good, the sauce made the dish for me. But the quick pickle cucumber were not right (I make homemade cucumber salad at home so it was just missing something for my liking) but was refreshing with the duck.
my bro had the ribs:was only 3 of them but my brother said it was really good.
my sister had the fried chicken: which I tried and have to say I was not that impressed with compared with the other dishes
we got the sides of hush puppies, slaw and pickles. I only had one of the pickles (which were to spicy for me but homemade)
for 3 bucks each you did not feel like you were skimped (the hush puppies I think were about five of them in the order)

for dessert both my siblings had the cream pie, which is deconstructed and came in a small mason jar. They both said was nice but a little pricey at $5.

from just opening at five pm, in under five mins the place was packed so it was impressive that the food came out so quickly they went from zero to slammed so was very quick. I wonder if they will be able to keep this pace up

My complaint:
it is VERY cramped in there, the table that suppose to sit four barely fit us and an unpadded bench seat. (maybe allows for quick turn around since not comfortable seating). We had to ask our server to turn down the music since we couldn't hear each other speak and it was still too loud for me (and I use to work in a club so I can handle loud)
maybe during the summer with the patio open it will allow it to be more spread out. But as it stands it is just to tight of a space for my comfort, I know I sound like an old fuddy duddy but for me I want to feel like I have a little elbow room therefore won't be making a regular thing. ( example of how tight things are the server taking the order at the next table hit me a few times just trying to take that tables order)

The food was great but if your claustrophobic it might not be the place for you.

here are some photo I took, they are not the best quality but they gives you an idea of what you get

[ylsf]

Thanks for the write up/pics. A saw a friend on twitter who tried to go on Saturday later in the evening and he was told 3 or 4 hour wait :) I guess I will be waiting a while to give it a try

[kwass]

A 3 or 4 hour wait? That's totally insane!! I wonder if anyone actually puts their name down after being told that :)

[ylsf]

I think that is there was of saying "don't bother leaving your number"...

I am curious how long the wait would have actually been...

A place really need to stand out for me to enjoy it after having to go leave my name, go drink somewhere else to pass time, then go back.. I would rather just go somewhere else to start :)

[KhaoSanRoad]

It's a small room so it would only take 20 groups to check in to push their wait to 3 hrs.

[jlunar]

Ouch, nope. Wonder it they'll open for lunch...?

[kwass]

Hope so! If they do, it probably won't be for a while though :(

[hungryabbey]

We were there on friday night. We arrived literally as early as work-hours permitted (6:30 PM) to be estimated a 30-45 minute wait time. Not bad.
A few issues I had:
a) VERY loud- so much so I couldnt hear my server speak sometimes
b) SO close and uncomfortable. To say there's not a lot of elbow room is a grave understatement as I recall a few occasions when the sleeves of my bulky jacket nearly made it into my neighbour's bowl of ribs. Sorry, man!
c) Really cold in there so we were in our winter coats- with such a tiny space and the nearby door opening and closing literally every 2 minutes, the temperature inside was intermittently pretty cold. I personally despise eating in my coat, especially when space is already limited, so it wasn't a very comfortable experience.
d) Service was VERY friendly and they seemed genuinely interested in what we thought and our experience.. but there with our server being super busy working the bar, at one point we had 3 main dishes squished between the two of us at the bar, a pile of about 4 other dirty dishes, an empty cocktail glass, and honey and BBQ sauce all over my cloth napkin because I had no where else to rest my cutlery. Try wiping your hands clean with a sticky towel. It's a recipe for sticky disaster. In an already squished place, in an already semi-uncomfortable state (jacket on, music blaring), I would have appreciated my piled up dishes to be promptly removed, as well as some small side plates for sharing.

Cocktails were tasty (Clydedale and Porch Crawler).
Food-wise we tried:

Crack Rolls- the best dish of the night. The butter (aka. the "active ingredient" in this EMB drug) is made from the drippings in the smoker. I licked that butter ramekin clean.

Hush Puppies- biting into one of these puppies yielded a booming crunch and a remarkably fluffy interior. I loved the mild sweetness and supple pop from the corn, and the tangy scallion mayo dressing below.

Coleslaw- With a perfect combination of mayonnaise and additional acid, this slaw had big flavours to cut the fat of all the rich meat. I also loved the sprinkling of sesame on top, which brought a delicate crunch and touch of aromatic sophistication to an otherwise simple dish.

Ribs- Pretty good meaty ribs, they were dressed in a hoisin-based sauce and sprinkled with deliciously crunchy peanuts. These ribs are not your typical fat + sugar + salt concoction, but rather contain enough acid, and umami-flavour to deliver an overall well-rounded bite.

Fried Chicken- Very tasty. The chicken was seasoned beautifully and very juicy, and the batter wasn't too heavy, so it clung well to the chicken.

Pork Belly- A massive portion of pork crusted heavily with a szechuan peppercorn based rub, and seared until wickedly crispy. I appreciated the heat of the crust, the toasted bread, the grainy mustard and the tangy pickle to help temper the fat, but I still found the pork portion a bit too much. Im not sure how anyone (or even any two people) could soldier through three of these massive pieces without a tummy ache.

Banana Cream Pie- Unlike the pork portion mentioned earlier, the dessert was offered in a dainty little mason jar with two teeny tea spoons to share. Very simply composed, a single spoonful uncovered a graham cracker crust, caramelized bananas, and lots of fresh whipped cream. In theme with the meal, the dessert wasn't overly sweet, but comprised of at least 50% cream, it was still very rich. Simple and good, but in hindsight, any belly room should have been devoted to another round of crack rolls. Or just the butter. Yep, I'm at the shameless point of just eating plain butter. So wrong, but so right.

So for 4 sides, 4 mains, 3 cocktails and 1 dessert, the bill came to just under $90 including tax and tip. It wasn't the most comfortable experience.. and I cant say I will do it again for a while especially in light of the wait (when we arrived after being called back at about 7 PM, we overheard the hostess tell a party of 3 that it was up to a 2 1/2 hour wait. Yikes. ) Having said that, it was a good one time experience.

You can find pictures on the blog http://abbeyskitchenblog.blogspot.ca/...

[kwass]

Great pictures Abbey. Thanks!!

[kwass]

This might be a weird question Abbey, but I was just on the Toronto Life site, and they showed a bunch of pictures as well, with a description of each pic, and they showed the fried chicken, which was 2 drums and 2 thighs. Is that the typical order, or can you get wings and a breast instead?

[hungryabbey]

I also got 2 thighs and 2 drums and never requested otherwise but you could try if u went. I would think though that they're already prepped ( super fast service, in and out under an hour).

[kwass]

Thanks Abbey. I think you're right about it being pre-prepped. Given your experience and the pics on TO Life, I think they only serve drums and thighs.

[kwass]

Fried Chicken looks soooo good!!

http://www.torontolife.com/daily/dail...

[ylsf]

BlogTo has a write up including photos of food:

http://www.blogto.com/restaurants/ele...

[kwass]

I just read it. Great review. They don't mention the hours though. Does anyone have any ideas what they are?

[bluefirefly]

Wednesdays to Sundays, 5pm to late. No reservations.

[kwass]

Thank you so much. I haven't been able to find their hours listed anywhere. I wonder if they do take out? Grand Electric doesn't, so I'm guessing they won't be doing it either.

[disgusti]

i really sincerely doubt it. it's not the kind of food that seems particularly suited to takeout

[Bobby Wham]

Stockyards does take out, it's the same kind of food, hopefully they do take out

[ylsf]

Stockyards food seems much "simpler". Like, no crazy extra sauces/topping on stuff. If you look at the BlogTO link I posted above you will see what I mean.

I doubt people will pay those kinds of prices for "takeout" anyway. I would like to try it but hard for me to justify the prices... well, maybe I will go and try it and see if it justifies the price in retrospect.

[kwass]

I would pay those prices for take-out fried chicken

[disgusti]

nah man it's really not the same at all. stockyards is great but it's more "here's a plate (or basket or cast iron skillet) full of food". they can put it in a box and not lose anything. there's more of an element of presentation (that includes the "BBQ") at this place. it's casual but less casual than stockyards

[num nums]

Corey Mintz at the Grid already has a write up. Not too many details on the food. But lots of photos of bourbon and beer taps.
http://www.thegridto.com/life/food-dr...

[disgusti]

i remember at least the bbq and sides menu, there's another menu that i don't remember all of

ribs (as described by mintz, 3 to an order, i think 13.50, very good, had a nice bite and a good not overwhelming smoke flavour and a great sauce, kinda asian-y)
hot links (weakest point for me, not a very good texture on the sausage and not enough of it. served on a pimento cheese with some crispy something or other i think 8.50)
duck ham (delicious, duck breast treated like black forest ham and served with a chicken skin crisp and very quick pickled cucumber and some kinda sauce i think 13.50, really fucking delicious)
pork belly (3 chunks of pork belly, pretty standard, served with toasted white bread... rectangles on a mustard based sauce or maybe just mustard i don't really know, i think also in the 13.50 ballpark, very tasty oh and it came with a kinda half-sour pickle spear that was deadly, these fools apparently have pickling on lock haha)
slaw (very good nontraditional vinegar based with again a kind of asian influence i think)
peanuts (basically baked beans with peanuts instead of beans)
pickles (sweet, delicious)
hush puppies
collards
maybe a couple others

there's also another menu with a pigs ear salad, fried chicken, shrimp and grits, buffalo pigs tails (only thing we had off this menu, these were absolutely great, meaty and fatty and melty and buffalo-y, served with a blue cheese dip that was also real tasty) and probably a couple others that are escaping me right now. all in the range of 8-15 dollars i think, everything i saw coming out looked real tasty and it was definitely bumping for a first night. beer and cocktail selection is on point much like ge

i had almost no expectations going in there so i was happy with it. i didn't really think that these dudes were gonna do a traditional bbq joint, and they definitely didn't, but i hope that moving forward they do put some more emphasis on the bbq itself because i have no doubt in my mind that if they want to they could put out great product. that being said, what they have now is all good to great and i will definitely be back to try the rest of the food.

it's gonna be a real great patio come summertime too. i can't believe (and am very pleased) that they got around the parkdale ban and it might well cause consternation in the neighbourhood. good for them.

[kwass]

Interesting! The duck ham sounds awesome! Thanks disgusti!

[kwass]

He didn't post any pictures of the food :(

[disgusti]

it's good but it's not quite a 'real' bbq joint. i would say more bbq inspired

still delicious though i'll try for a more detailed review later on

[kwass]

Can you tell us what's on the menu?

[childofthestorm]

It's from the Grand Electric guys.

Get real excited.

[kwass]

I know :) Hope it won't be too long before we hear some news.

[kwass]

It's weird though that there hasn't been more buzz since they're apparently opening on Saturday.

[kwass]

I also heard that they were opening up in the old Stampede Burger Place. But I haven't heard anything else. Should be interesting!!

[Davwud]

Interesting.

DT

[themiguel]

What former stampede space? This is a BBQ joint from the same two dudes that run GE???

If so I am immediately ridiculously excited.

[Bobby Wham]

I like the name, I'm guessing it's named after the Muddy Waters record

[Kagemusha]

Yup. Let's hope the food trumps the name for originality.