I know one thing...this is the WRONG way to go public. This will generate so much ill feeling for the company, it's not even funny........They better do SOMETHING, or their corporate existence will be short lived.....Nothing worse than pissed off shareholders.........with imaginations.......z
September 28th, 2006 Dixie Lee Write a comment on this article ! Read members’ comments [8]
Northern Fried Grease Matt Harrison & Aaron McKenzie Fraser
One of the writers taking the plunge photo: Aaron McKenzie Fraser
Belleville's sad attempt at the South
What do you get when a chicken dances with a fish? Insane looks that question the freakish camaraderie of nature?How about Dixie Lee. Their logo is a chicken waltzing with a fish (the company uses a French maid in the Maritimes). Adorable. But what type of chicken or fish? Who knows. Not our server, because we asked. Never heard of Dixie Lee? Then head down to Somerset strip and check out what I am told is the last Dixie Lee restaurant in Ottawa.
Founded 40 years ago in Belleville, Ontario, the origins of the name "Dixie" are buried in the mists of time. "Dixie" is certainly a nickname for the southern U.S. and "Lee" likely refers to the Confederate general Robert E. Lee - the same name of Bo and Luke's 1969 Dodge Charger, the General Lee. Oddly, Dixie was the name of Daisy Duke's jeep. Daisy knocked boots with Bo and Luke - the result of the "collision" between her "jeep" and their "charger" is "Dixie Lee."
Starving when we arrived, Aaron and I greedily ordered a two-piece chicken dinner, a one-piece fish meal, plus a side of butterfly shrimp.
I picked up a drumstick and tucked in. Predictably, the skin slid off and I ended up with a mouthful of slimy skin, revealing a rubbery mass of blue-grey flesh that clung to the bone. In an act of futility, Aaron began dobbing his breast with the few razor-thin serviettes that came with our meal.
Wet, limp and bland, Dixie's "Tasty Golden Chicken" was anything but. Letting the chicken dry out, we tried the seafood. Props for the lemon wedge. It gave flavour to the fries, which we both agreed weren't half bad, but somewhat bland. Surprisingly, the fish was crispy and light, unlike the shrimp, which was mostly a thick cake of fried breading. As for the rest, the coleslaw was the same fluorescent green treat KFC spoons, the macaroni was basically limp noodles swimming in mayo, and everything was cold in the space of 10 minutes.
"You'd think that with this amount of grease they'd be cooking on the way home," remarked Aaron.
Aaron put it best: "Basically, the meal was a vehicle to get condiments into your belly." So true.
Tired and swollen, I hobbled back to work and found this southern gem which I'll end this review with: "Dixie Lee the time has come to say goodbye, Dixie Lee, now brush that tear drop from your eye. Tho' I'll leave you far behind, you'll be always in my mind and some day I'll come back, so don't you cry." -Goodbye Dixie Lee, 1917.
Dixie Lee 648 Somerset St. W. (613) 231-2349 Dinners between $3 and $10
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