Monday 4 December 2006

O'GRADY'S TAP & GRILL

Coming back from doing a video for the band LISP over at UofT's New College, I took my time coming home, walking through campus, remembering the good times I had in my undergrad. I decided to hit an old pub favourite and grab some wings before I headed back home.





As I have indicated in previous posts, there are several 'haunts' that I commonly went to with friends for pub grub. There are about 5 staple pubs that UofT students attend: Ein-Stein's, Ferret & the Firkin, The Madison, Ye Olde Brunswick House (or the Brunny as it is more commonly known) and O'Grady's. I didn't go to O'Grady's until my second year, after hearing it had excellent nachos. After that, I fell for the place. Its a typical Irish pub, with sports everywhere, pool tables and a DJ on the second floor, and lots of space to enjoy a pint.


Lots of campus has changed in the short time since I finished at UofT, so it was time for me to check in and see if the chicken wings were still as good as I remembered.




THE SCORE

SIZE of WINGS: large
HEAT: 8.5/10
WET NAP FACTOR: 4.5/5
PRICE: $8.95 for 10, $16.95 for 20, $25.95 for 30, $39.95 for 50
or a platter of 50 with fries and onion rings for $44.95

EXTRAS Info

SAUCE CHOICE: mild/medium/hot/suicide/honey garlic/mango/Lemon & Spice
SIDES: celery and carrot sticks (no dip), add fries $2.95
WETNAP: 3!!!
DEEP FRIED, GRILLED,
BAKED, BATTERED:
deep fried, suspected grilling
WING NIGHT: Sunday & Monday after 5pm 1/2 price



sorry about the picture - place was dark, flash on camera too bright



Well, I was pleasantly reminded at how good a place this was. The wings came out and instantly filled my nostrils with the strong smell of suicide sauce. The wings were big - very large. They were decently meaty and had a reasonable crisp to the skin. The wings were soaked in sauce, about perfect for me in terms of how wet this type of wing should be.



The suicide was a good suicide. Sinus clearing, burn my lips sauce the way a good suicide should be. It was a great buffalo-style flavour filled with chili pepper flakes. In The Score, I mentioned
that these wings are deep fried, then suspected grilled. I say this because there is just something different about the wings. They are deep fried, but there is one last touch to them other than the sauce, and the best I can guess is a toss on a grill to give it a slight smokey/burn taste.

The only complaint I had was the asking of a Coke and getting a Pepsi. I'm a loyal Coke drinker, but I can drink Pepsi (I'm not a fanatic). But I like to be informed that that 'we serve Pepsi, is that ok?' No one would go to McDonald's and ask for a Egg McMuffin and get a Croissantwich and not think anything of it? Would they? ~ did that even make sense?


Anyways, the bottom line is - the wings were great. Not perfect, something was missing of which I just can't put my finger on it, but a damn fine wing that will satisfy college kids and wing lovers alike. O'Grady's still got it.

**** out of ***** flappers



O'Grady's Tap & Grill
171 College Street
ogradystapandgrill.com

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Jeff, I'm enjoying my reading,

I went to McDonald's once and ordered a VegeBurger (not knowing that they no longer served them) the kid just looked at me and said ok. Then he served me one of those grilled vegetable deli sandwiches! UGH! No wonder they didn't last on the menu! IMAGINE!

Anonymous said...

O'Grady's on college one of the best top pubs in Toronto. Finally under new management they got a beautiful website www.ogradysoncollege.com

Lord of the Wings said...

Thanks Anonymous - I hope the new management can only improve on things. This was a cherished hang out. I do like the new website!