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