Mitzi's

Mitzi’s Chicken Finger Restaurant
250 St Mary Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3C 0M5
(204) 943-9770


January, 2010

I often hear locals refer to Mitzi’s as having the best chicken fingers in the city. Owner Shirley Eng guards the secret to her chicken fingers tightly as she personally prepares the breading and dredging of 850 pounds of fingers each week. Impressive. The chicken fingers comprise 80% of the orders off of Mitzi’s menu, which is incredible. Mitzi’s is a Chinese restaurant but Eng introduced chicken fingers two decades ago and the demand requires that this alien intruder remains on the Asian menu. The remainder of the menu does not have a lot to offer, but it doesn’t seem to need so, since most of the customers don’t look past the fingers anyway.

The obligatory sweet and sour dishes appear, which can be ordered with shrimp or chicken. Mitzi’s also offers a number of teriyaki dishes and combinations, although the last time I checked, teriyaki isn’t exactly hardcore Chinese fare either. A few other assorted dishes appear on the menu, but largely, the selection is very limited.

Mitzi’s has a full bar and offers most of the usual cocktails but they have a very limited wine list—I wouldn’t exactly call it a list since it only includes two selections: Domaine d’Or red and white. The expected Tsingtao Chinese beer appears on the menu, which I recommend with the food. Diners who want a little more substance can opt for the Bass Ale—otherwise just go with cognac that requisitely appears in Chinese bars.

To the food, the teriyaki dishes come in heaping proportions and have more than enough to share between two people. Whatever meat you order comes with heaping sides of bean sprouts and mushrooms, on a bed of rice. Since this is a Chinese restaurant, I try a more traditional Chinese dish. The fried rice with added beef comes exactly as ordered, with no added vegetables or sides, although a smattering of eggs helps hold the rice together. While many Chinese restaurants saturate their fried rice with oil, Mitzi’s has just enough to keep the rice moist and flavourful. I find the meal a touch too salty and a bit overgenerous with MSG. A few more strips of beef and some of the ubiquitous bean sprouts would add another dimension to the adequate but unspectacular meal.

Most people come here for the chicken fingers so let’s move there. The chicken strips come from white meat and bear a light coating of crispy breading. Many restaurants hide the scant strips of chicken by indulging in a parka-thick coat of batter to fatten the end product. Mitzi’s applies the perfect layer of breading, which the ideal crunchy layer. However, the tiny strips look nakedly thin in the light breading. Starting with larger strips of chicken would give more substance to this meal. Because the miniscule strips don’t have much bulk, they can be easily overcooked and dry, as white meat has a great propensity to become. Alas, most of our strips indeed come overdone. Neither the breading nor the chicken meat is heavily seasoned. While I like having foods that show off their inherent flavours, Mitzi’s fingers simply taste bland. A honey-dill dip normally accompanies the chicken fingers. This creamy dip doesn’t have enough honey to give it desired sweetness, and not enough dill to bring out an herbaceous persona. The dip is little more than a creamy sauce that acts to add moisture to the dried-out fingers. Sadly, product falls far short of living up to the reputation of having Winnipeg’s greatest chicken fingers.

Many of Winnipeg’s Chinese restaurants can appear dumpy, old, poorly maintained, or even unclean. As a clean and orderly restaurant, Mitzi’s rustic interior doesn’t evoke a sense of fear in touching the chairs or tabletops; however, I wouldn’t comes to Mitzi’s to relax with a nice glass of wine and soak up the atmosphere either. The servers bounce around busily, and while they adequately perform their functions, there’s a lack of intimacy, friendliness and warmth that normally accompanies good service. Locals may bestow status to Mitzi’s of having the greatest chicken fingers, but I recommend sticking to the Asian selections.

** /5


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