0:06  
When you think of fried chicken, the first thing that comes to mind is the frying, the crispy skin and the maple sugar. At first it may seem like an odd pairing the sweet with the savory, not to mention a little kick of heat. But at the Dirty Bird Toronto, they are serving fried chicken with a hint of Canadian sweetness. They're calling northern fried. Here's Josh Scott, the CO owner explaining what northern fried means.

0:40  
We really want to focus on something northern, right. So that's what we came up with northern fried as opposed to southern fried, we want to be northern fried, right? We're up north for Canada. And with with that, we wanted to take some derivatives of maple and kind of incorporate that into the chicken. But that's kind of that kind of gives her a twist. It's you know, it's finished with that northern that northern spice. And that's what kind of we've been coming to be know for. 

1:06  
The restaurant first opened in Kensington Market at the beginning of March 2015.

1:12  
You know, we picked Kensington market. It's funny, it wasn't even originally on our top three list. And then that location came up and we all kind of went, yeah, that's the one. You know, it works. and ended up being really great to us. When we first went there, a lot of people are like, Oh, be careful. Winters are really tough in the market and a lot of business. But that winter of 2015, we had really good weather. And we just had a really good winter like it, it sustained very well until the spring and summer was really good. And like Kensington is just done last year, we wish we had 10 different Kensingtons in Toronto. Because it's a great, it's a great spot. It happened really quick, right. Before we knew it, we were looking at like signs going up to the menu going up. And we're like, wow, like this happened in under a year from when we kind of formed the company. So it was pretty crazy. And I mean, opening the doors on friends and family night definitely felt pretty crazy. We had lineups out the door the whole night. And then friends and family and then it became anybody that was in the market was just like, well, what's going on here. So we had our friends or family there and we just had randoms that were just trying to get into get a taste before anybody else, which is really cool.

2:16  
Since then, the process has remained relatively the same: dredge, fry, then sprinkle with maple sugar.

2:24  
Right out of the fryer, while it's still hot. That's when you hit it when we hit it with that that Maple blend and it kind of it kind of sticks to it right? You almost want like, if you if you were taking regular sugar and you threw it on something, it kind of it melts, right? So it kind of sticks to it and gives it that crispy sweetness yeah.

2:43  
The trick to getting the best flavors is to get the best possible ingredients. Scott and his other partners make an effort to buy locally sourced ingredients from places they trust, despite the added costs.

2:55  
How do we find our orders a little bit. So now it's not we're not just going to across the street, especially with opening this right. So it's good to use people like that we could go to another huge company, we could go to a major company and probably save a little bit of money. You know what I mean? But we don't know we know exactly what's what's going on here. We know we know where they get the birds from we know how they how they butcher it. It's butchered how we want it, it's all by hand. It's not done with the machine. So we know we're getting in. So we still have our local guys, but it's not as it was when we first saw McKenzie, Tim we were just that only small one.

3:31  
And it's that kind of quality product which makes dirtybird cook for Shawn Farquhar said, enjoy working and eating here.

3:39  
We always have like key quality to it compared to other places that have fried chicken like let's say if you go to KFC or Popeyes, or any other restaurants like those are fast food chains that sort of specialize in chicken, but it's not as good quality of chicken is the Dirty Bird. So I really appreciate about it, so whenever I come in, and I can eat it. It's like, I'm not gonna be eating chicken, like from Popeyes or KFC, where it's too much oil. It's super oily and whatnot.

4:10  
For Jackie Toledo, a chef manager, the recipes are what makes the restaurant stand out.

4:16  
I think it's different, but it's a little bit like the recipe like it's like innovative. Like the what they've done with it is very different from whatever's out there. They did a lot of research right before starting this place, or like, you know, creating this menu. So it's pretty different from what you see out there. So I guess it's why people like it, because something they're not used to so people get really attached.

4:37  
And no one is more attached to the Dirty Bird than Scott is.

4:40  
When you're the owner and you know, I mean, your bank account is attached to the business. I mean, it's it changes everything, right? Like it's different when I work for somebody, but when you're going to work for yourself it's totally it's a totally different ballgame. You'll, you know, you'll spend 16, 18 hour days on no sleep. You'll you'll just do what you have to do to get something done. Not that I wasn't. I was waiting for somebody else but I mean it's different when it's when it's your business.

5:09  
Do you regret any of that?

5:10  
No, not at all.

5:14  
Together, the workers create an environment that showcases their pride for poultry that is sure to leave you coming back for seconds.