As someone who considers themselves a bit of an expert on Canadian fast food, I'll admit Mary Brown's was a major blind spot in my culinary knowledge.
This famous Canadian food chain is super popular with east coasters and Canadians outside the Atlantic, so I recently decided it was about time I gave it a try.
According to its website, Mary Brown's Chicken was founded in 1969 in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. It slowly grew to become an institution for Newfoundlanders and has since opened up locations across Canada, from B.C. to Ontario.
Matter of fact, it claims to have one of the country's most famous chicken sandwiches, The Big Mary, which it says was voted as "Canada's best."
Moreover, when I recently published an article detailing my favourite chicken sandwiches in Canada, I was inundated with responses chastizing me for leaving out Mary Brown's. So, there were plenty of reasons for me to check this place out.
I walked to a nearby location in Toronto and ordered a Big Mary Sandwich, a portion of Taters and the Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie.
Foodies, here's how it went.
The Big Mary Sandwich
The Big Mary sandwich.
Price: $7.99
First off, the Big Mary really lived up to the hype.
I thought the chicken was juicy and just perfectly spiced. It was crispy, despite the overabundance of mayo and lettuce, and made a satisfying crunch with every bite.
The bun was perfectly paired with the ingredients and didn't get soggy despite having a pickle on the outside.
My biggest complaint would be that there was a bit too much mayonnaise — but I'm also famously a skeptic of sauce, so take this feedback with a grain of salt.
Score: 5/5
Taters
A container of the Taters
Price: $3.19
Mary Brown's got famous for selling "chicken and taters," so it just made sense to try these as well.
Taters are fried potato wedges — or "jojos" as I grew up calling them — and they are really, really good. To the point where I was asking myself, "Why don't other fast food chains make these?"
They were crispy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside, which really is the ideal French fry in my books.
They were, admittedly, bit on the salty side, but that's always better than being under-seasoned.
I didn't have any ketchup to dip them in, but that didn't stop me from nearly eating the whole container.
Score: 4/5
Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
The Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie.
Price: $1.99
Lastly, I had the Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie, which was a deep-fried little pocket of exactly that, strawberry filling along with a cream cheese filling.
It was tasty, although it was probably the low point of the meal.
The filling tasted more artificial than anything else I ate and while it was warm and sweet, it made me think of the crappy food you'd get at a fair.
Score: 2/5
All in all, though, I would say that Mary Brown's genuinely exceeded my already sky-high expectations.
Every bite of the main course was amazing and I plan on making Mary Brown's my go-to chicken place. Or, at the very least, I will alternate it with Popeyes.
I suppose that's the Canadian difference!
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