Hurricane Grill and Wings 7-29-16
National Chicken Wing Day!
Edit #Two-Hundred something - ok, seriously now, I need to just slap together some pictures and words and get moving. I have been in eating contests, restaurant challenges, paintball events, and all kinds of other nonsense I need to get on with writing about.
The ridiculous amount of food I have been consuming along with the realization of how much work I need to do to keep up with the current status of my blog has caused me to put it off a little bit, but the thought of how much backlog I will have if I don’t sit down and work on it has had an equal effect on me. Last week I bought another never ending pasta pass, so expect me to go completely wild at Olive Garden once again. In the mean time, I want to get in a few updates for this blog and keep them rolling for the next few weeks. Now that I have a GoPro, I have also been learning the ins and outs of video editing the various formats, which also takes quite a bit of time. Once I get the hang of it, things should go faster, but for now let me put some stuff together and talk about Jamaica. NOTE - as I wrote this blog post and thought about those crispy juicy tasty wings and tried to remember everything that happened that day, I just got hungrier and hungrier as I typed. Food blogging is apparently like shopping - never do it on a potentially hungry belly!
I should try to keep track of all of the various food celebration days, because chances are, there is some form of special offer or food challenge for them. Exactly one year ago, I came to this exact same restaurant for the exact same reason: all you can eat chicken wings!
As I was casually browsing either Facebook or my email, I came across various chicken wing deals, all centered around national chicken wing day. That’s when I remembered it from last year and I knew I had to go about celebrating once again. It was a toss up between Hooters and Hurricane Grill and Wings, but in the end I went for Hurricane Grill and Wings, because they have more choices and I prefer their naked style wings. I figured with a chain restaurant like this, the all you can eat offer would be available at pretty much all of the locations, but nope, it was only available near where I worked. I ended up leaving a little early and off I went for chicken wings!
As I walked into the restaurant, an older gentleman greeted me and said “today we have an all you can eat chicken wing special!” which I responded “oh I know all about it and that is exactly why I am here.” He sat me down at a table and I looked over the various chicken wing flavors as I wanted to be attended to. Interestingly enough, I remember so much more about my first visit over a year ago, than I do about this visit less than two months ago. For the life of me, I can’t remember the waitresses name or most of the chicken wings I had, but that’s ok - let’s make it up as we go along!
I started off with a honey chipotle bbq sauce (bbq is generally my favorite!) which came with a side of chips. I munched on some chips here and there, but I was mostly interested in the chicken wings of course. The first set of 10 went down quick and I decided to try the limited edition habanero tropical wings, which were not as spicy as I thought they would be, but they were tasty. After that I went for trifecta, which is a spice rub rather than an actual sauce. If you want to eat fried chicken wings for what they are rather than the flavor of the sauce, then the spice rubs work well. Trifecta had a pretty good flavor, but not overpowering so I enjoyed it.
After plowing through those wings, I went with a set of traditional bbq to make sure I got in my BBQ fix and from here on, I went on cruise control. I asked the waitress to bring any flavor of wings she wanted to bring and off we went! While I was eating my set leading to 35, the same guy that greeted me at the beginning, which was probably the manager, came to my table and said “What are you on, like 50 wings? I will never judge a person’s ability to eat based on their looks ever again.” I laughed and told him I was about to be at 35 and he was just amazed. He went around to the other tables and told everyone about all the wings I was eating. “Yea, you ate 16 wings today? Well, you see that guy right over there, he ate 50 so far!” At this point I feel like that guy was having as much fun watching me eat all of his restaurant’s profit as I was.
Once I hit the 40 mark, the waitress once again came to ask me if I wanted more wings and I said “sure, bring me anything!” and she said “well, I kinda want to hit you with some ridiculously hot wings....” I told her that I don’t usually prefer hot wings, but bring it on anyway. She laughed and said that if I couldn’t or didn’t want to eat them then it wouldn’t be a big deal.
A few minutes later, out came my ridiculously hot wings. I had to taste the sauce first before trying to take a bite, just in case they were in fact ridiculously hot and inedible. It was definitely spicy, but not even close to some of the other things I have tasted. I took a bites and ate down one of the wings. The spice was really kicking in, but I went ahead and ate a second wing. The spice was really kicking at this point and I was sweating up a storm. It was really unpleasant, especially considering I had over 40 chicken wings in my belly already. I drank down two cups of water, ate my celery, and some of the blue cheese to try and cool of as I decided there was no point in trying to force down the other three wings.
I went ahead and ordered another set of wings, something that wasn’t too spicy of course lol. As I ate through that set of wings, I realized... SHE SET ME UP! I drank down all of that water and ate everything to cool off and I lost valuable space in my belly where I could have crammed down more wings. I ordered the next set of wings, which put me at 52 and I decided that would be enough. I was as full as I wanted to be and I had no intention of going overboard, especially since I was headed out to the jetty for some fishing tonight. Looking at the plus side, it won’t matter how late I am out fishing, I won’t be hungry.
As I finished up and made my way out of the restaurant, the gentleman that greeted me when I came in approached me and shook my hand. He said watching me eat all of the wings was ridiculous and that I should definitely come back sometime before next year’s all you can eat event. I laughed and told him we’ll see and then left. While this wasn’t necessarily a hardcore challenge by any means, I had quite a fill on chicken wings and a lot of fun.
Alright, onto Jamaica - I will try not to write TOO much haha. I posted a million more pictures all over facebook, but some dialog is always nice. Thinking back, I should have added descriptions and text all over facebook, then I could just copy it right over here! Maybe next time.
Here we go, at the airport checking into our flight! Don’t ask me what is wrong with the girl in the black tank top that photobombed my family picture.
Alright, so do you remember that girl in the last picture, the one that looked like she fell out of a stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down? It turns out, that was actually my sister and we had to take her along. So once we arrived, my cousin picked us up and we had a nice breakfast. Fried fish, callaloo, and fried dumplings.
Of course I ended up taking 1000 pictures of random stuff as we drove up and down the mountains. Here you can see the bauxite fields!
Now were talking! Jerk chicken and jerk pork! This was one of the top items on my to-eat list and it didn’t disappoint!
A weirdo is photobombing me again. Wait, wait... false alarm, just my sister again.
We actually ran into a whole lot of rain (you can see it is still overcast) but thankfully, the rain comes and goes quick. Today’s plan: ride on the catamaran (giant sailboat), snorkel, visit margaritaville and just have a good time!
Group photo, everyone smile! The boat took us out to a reef where we swam around and did some snorkeling. Since it was a little over cast and recently stormed, the water wasn’t the clearest, but we still saw some fish and had fun. I think the highlight of the fish I saw was a big lion fish just hanging out by himself. The guide said something along the lines of - that fish is the king of the ocean, don’t go near it! I have some videos I took, which I should definitely post. Normally, I don’t drink, but I had a few of those rum punches on the boat and I was definitely loopy... I’m such a lightweight. After this the boat too us over to Margaritaville to hang out.
And we have arrived at margaritaville! Full restaurant and bar that comes fully equipped with a water slide as well as a bunch of floats and things to mess with in the water. I didn’t find out until the next day, but it turns out they have a burger challenge here. It’s a 4 patty burger with a side of fries - complete it in 15 mins and its free. You know me already, that would have been a snack - do two of those and be on my way. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to go back and take it down, but there is always next time!
Dim Sum! I always enjoy some good old dim sum, so why not have some in Jamaica? There were a few items I haven’t tried (footballs aka Chinese patties for example) which were tasty. After breakfast we headed over to Mystic Mountain.
Off to the famous Mystic Mountain! Going in I had no idea what it was about, but it really turned out to be so much more fun that I could have imagined.
Hey, there we are, up in the tower!
As you can imagine, the view from here was fantastic. I have pictures and videos from the lift, which again, I will look into sorting out some of those.
Jamaican Bobsled Team! At the top of the lift is a large area where all of the excitement happens. They had a restaurant, gift shop, a few attractions, a nature trail (we didn’t have time unfortunately) and a mini museum. The museum had a heavy focus on bobsledding (COOOOOOL RUNNINGS!) as well as other pieces of history. After checking out the museum, gift shop, and the view, we went to ride on the bobsled. It is an individual person mini roller coaster. They give you the option of using the breaks - HA, I was full on gas the whole time. It was a moderate speed roller coaster, nothing even remotely close to the other things I have been on. It was a fun little ride to transition us over to the zip line.
Here we are, all suited up and ready to roll! As you can see, I definitely have my GoPro on my helmet and this is a video I absolutely must post. <placeholder here for video - EDIT - yea, if I ever actually get to it lol> Going in, I thought ok, probably just one long zip line going down the mountain to the bottom - should be fun. Now let me tell you, going on rides and different activities is fun and all, but the fun is amplified by so much if you are in good company. Saying we went on a zip line, just doesn’t even begin to explain how much fun our two guides made the entire experience. Cracking jokes and being full of fun and energy the entire time ensured that everyone had a blast.
Look at that face, my mom was having an absolute blast.
Here goes my sister, completely upside down! We went through 5 different zip lines of varying lengths, as well as a rope bridge which eventually led us back to a lift to take us to the bottom. When we got to the rope bridge, I was the last one across and I went running across and shaking the bridge and along with the guide behind me shaking it, I may have overdone it a little. I was hanging on for my life trying to hold my balance as the bride rocked back and fourth. It doesn’t look too bad from the video, but I’m telling you, I was gripping those ropes really tight lol. I had so much fun and the experience just blew away my expectations; we all left there with big smiles on our faces.
Jamaican Tacos at Blue Cantina - very different from the tacos I’m used to - it was quite tasty, and a little spicy, but I enjoyed it and ate it up. It was more like a chili consistency on top of veggies with more of a harder baked tortilla.
After tacos, we went back to a friend’s house where her son caught land crabs and cooked them up for us. They were absolutely delicious and he also made a tamarind sauce to go along with it, which was also very tasty.
Later that night we went to Ribbiz (ok, so I THINK it was Ribbiz and im sticking to it). It’s suppose to be a famous place, so why not take a quick trip over and check it out? Not really my scene, but I sat down for a bit then cruised through the casino.
NO PICTURES ALLOWED. Ooops? Well, too bad, I had to snap one as I left :)
In the morning we had a typical Jamaican breakfast: Ackee and salt fish with boiled green banana, yam, dumplings, fried plantain and a fried dumpling. It was a good way to start the day, especially since we had a long one ahead of us.
And up the mountains we go, right where they grow all of the blue mountain coffee!
Up and up and up we went. We took a quick stop off to take some pictures and as you can see, we are pretty high up there already.
A quick stop by Holywell to take a picture or two before reaching our destination.
And here we are, at The Gap Cafe, way up in the mountains.
I might not look like too much from the outside, but the main dining area is setup very well.
We headed outside to the absolute best seating area. The view from here was just incredible.
The food was also delicious and as you can see, it was also elegantly plated.
There is absolutely no way you can go all the way to the top of the mountains where the world famous blue mountain coffee is grown and not have a cup of coffee. I don’t tend to drink a lot of coffee, but I will enjoy a cup here and there and suffice to say, I was enjoying this cup right here.
And back down the mountain we go! It’s no joke at all going up or down the mountain, you have to be careful. One of the guys we were with said that in his younger days, they drove too close to the edge and actually tipped over and fell down the mountain. The car went tumbling but luckily they were stopped by a barbed wire fence.
As you go up and down the mountain, you come across various sections where people live and grow fruits/vegetables. As we drove down, we saw a peach tree and Lisa asked around to see who it belonged to. The gentleman that owned the tree told us we could pick and take as much as we wanted, which was very kind of him. I ate a couple of peaches, but obviously this isn’t a peach in my hands. Next to the peach tree, another man had a jackfruit tree and he said that he doesn’t eat them and let us take one of the big ripe ones. Jackfruit is very delicious and like most fruits, it is so much better fresh than from the can. One of the downsides to jackfruit is that it will really stain up your hands, but there is a trick to it! You just throw it around and toss it all over the place and bruise it up and that’s it, no more stains. Now at first I was worried about how well it would hold up so I dropped it from chest height. Nothing, it just fell and that was it. Ok, so I dropped it from over my head; still nothing, it held up just fine. Alright, you wanna play rough? I picked that thing up and threw it in the air as high as I possibly could. It came down and the expected SPLAT didn’t happen; it just landed and that was it. I threw it around a couple more times, but that thing was clearly a champ and not giving up, but I bruised it up real good (no stains!)
Here is what the inside looks like, giant seeds and a membrane holding it all together. I probably ate half of this thing and it was delicious.
While yes, I had a belly full of jackfruit, that was only the appetizer’s appetizer for me. For dinner we had an absolute feast of this incredible Chinese style lobster. Oh I was happy alright and when the lobster was done, I took all of the rice and slopped it on that gigantic plate, mixed it around and ate every single thing. My belly was happy :)
Early the next morning we geared up for some fishing and snorkeling. As you can see, I am always ready to go - GoPro, face mask, fins, snorkel, everything. We started off with some fishing using hand lines, but it wasn’t very productive, so we anchored over on a small island for some snorkeling.
It’s such a small world. We stayed with my mom’s friend and it just so happens that her friend’s friend’s kids were my cousins! A quick group photo with my newly found cousins! Look at the sky and ocean behind us, it was an absolutely beautiful day.
Not only was it a great day for swimming, but it proved to be very profitable as well with the shellfish we caught.
After swimming around for a bit, we headed over to hellshire beach for lunch. Hellshire beach is essentially a beach full of shacks where they cook food and you can eat, swim, and just hang out.
Not only did we have fried and steamed fish, we also had the lobster we just caught. They were cooked up with garlic, butter, and seasoning and it was absolutely delicious.
Everyone talks about the KFC here, so it is imperative to have it at least once. Honestly, I wasn’t too happy with what we got. It was fried chicken soaked in BBQ sauce, which left for a soggy mess. The best part of the meal was definitely the corn in the bag.
We stopped off at my uncle’s plant nursery before getting ready to head out for lunch. As I was taking a selfie, my mom and sister photobombed me, hehe.
Back at the beach again for lunch! This time around we went to a more private beach, which was far less crowded.
Steamed snapper for lunch! Lots of veggies
We made a trip to the t shirt factory to do some shopping. I came across this ridiculous shirt and I had to get it.
Yes, the ice cream at Devon house is legendary! If you like ice cream and you’re anywhere nearby, you have to go and if you don’t like ice cream and your’e anywhere nearby, you still have to go.
Juici Patties! Man, patties are so flaky and delicious and just mmmm. The trick is to go maybe an hour or two after they open, this way any old patties already sold out so you get the fresh ones.
To the Appleton Estate Rum Tour! We got to sample all of the Appleton products and learn about the machinery and various methods they use for making alcohol. It was a drinking and a history lesson all in one.
Here we are with some of the huge stockpiles of barrels.
And of course, the end of the tour sampling. I’m not really a drinker, but I tried a little of each for science.
YS Falls! On the last trip I went to Dunn’s River Falls and climbed alllll the way to the top. This time around, we went to YS Falls and it was a little different, but full of fun. There wasn’t as much climbing, but they had ropes you could swing off of and other ones to jump from as well as pools to swim in. There was also a zip line that went down the entire falls and back to the base area, but we did not end up doing that.
A quick group picture from one of the rocks.
This is a terribly blurry photo, but it’s all I have. My cousin of course knows all of the secret hidden places for everything. Here we are, seemingly randomly driving around in the mountains and all of a sudden - STOP! There’s the bus! and here we are, drinking soup and buying pepper shrimp. I don’t generally prefer spicy food, but screw it, I will eat anything anyway.
This is the beauty of Jamaica, just about anywhere on the road side you run into fruit vendors - all of the fruit of course is locally grown.
Off to Murray’s for dinner!
We wanted to get some Jerk Rabbit as well, but it wasn’t ready, so we went with pork, sausage, and chicken. Jerk anything is always delicious - you just can’t go wrong.
You know, I don’t even remember where this place was, or what the name is, but they are obviously well known (there is a full wall of awards). The thing is, it was located back behind some seemingly random structures. We pulled up and parked and I was like - what the heck are we doing here? We went around a giant shipping container, and there it was, a nice looking restaurant!
This seemed random enough, so I had to go ahead and get it - Jerk Pork Poutine! Ok, so it was alright, nothing amazing.
In addition to this, I obviously had to try the “legendary bbq chicken” with the secret bbq sauce. I’m not sure I would call it amazing, but I definitely enjoyed it.
Later that evening we went to the Tea Tree Creperie. The owner seemed to be having lots of fun just making crepes - doing what she enjoys.
Here are the crepes we go! Creme Brulee and Lemon Meringue! They were both very tasty and I enjoyed every bit of it.
The next day we went over to Sea Deck to eat.
Group picture, everyone smile!
Alright so, I wanted jerk chicken and I guess I am the only person that goes around and orders an entire chicken for lunch.
Escovich Parrot Fish - it looked tasty so I had to snap a picture lol.
Fried crawfish - very tasty.
After lunch, we headed back out on the boat and to an island to swim and hang out.
Always fun times at the beach! We did a little bit of snorkeling and caught a few more lobster, but nothing too crazy.
Alright, every time we go to Jamaica, my mom just has to get her drum chicken. Along the side of the road you see them grilling up chicken and they serve it with some ketchup and a slice of bread. Always a tasty meal.
So here we are on the last day and look where I am... It wasn’t until the LAST DAY that we went to an all you can eat event! This was a brunch and it was delicious!
I tasted everything at the buffet, but I ate down so much ackee and enjoyed every bit of it.
Like all vacations, they have to come to an end. One last picture in this gigantic chair in the airport before we went home.
