Wing Night @ Victoria College

APRIL 2013

It pays to have friends in the right places. My buddy, fellow wing lover and former staff member Chris B was working at Victoria College University back in April just before the end of the school term. They were having a wing night, and he invited me and Jasmik to come down and partake in the event.

Victoria College is one of the Federated Colleges at the University of Toronto. It's one of the oldest colleges formed back in 1836 and it's history and connection to UofT is long and complicated and I'll let you read about it on wikipedia. It's dinning hall, Burwash, was built in 1913 and is a beautiful example of neo-gothic architecture.

And they have wing nights. Actually, they only have 2 a year, so it's a big deal.

Burwash dining hall is run by Nathan Barratt seen in the above photo, who has revamped a cafeteria that was often noted as one of the worst on campus into a place students look forward to eat. And if he looks familiar, it's because he used to be one of the sous chef's in my building and was famous for his suicide sauce at our wing nights.

Above you can see the students grabbing the naked deep fried wing, and the 4 sauces available to toss them in: Honey Garlic, BBQ, Frank's Hot Sauce, and of course, Nathan's "Insane" hot sauce.

We grabbed our food and made our way to the Harry Potter-esque seating area. Chef Nathan cleared the High Table (usually reserved for Professors and College big wigs). What an honour.

Here's Chris on the left, Jasmik in the middle, and Chris' co-worker John - all of us enjoying the bounty of wings.

Here's my plate tray and the heaven I was about to partake in.

Above was real Coke. My dinning hall switched to some generic swill that I just cannot stand. This was great. And what is wings without some veggies and dip? And AYCE to boot.

The wings themselves were simple, but superb. Perfectly crisp, and the meat was tender. You could tell the meat was fresh. These were actually delicious just on their own.

They were a large wing - but not mutant large - just the right amount of meat and skin. They were deep fried and tossed with a light seasoning.

Of course, they were even better with Nathan`s Insane Hot Sauce. Its thick, its full of flavour, and it has a great kick. This is a real suicide sauce, but you still get the levels of chilies, spices and other flavours. It`s good, and it burns.

Chef Nathan came by to check on us and we mentioned we wanted to get more wings, but the lineups at that point went out the door. Moments later, Nathan came back with an entire serving tray for us. That is having friends in high places!

It was gluttonous, but it was soo good. Each bite as good as the last.

And then Nathan brought me a jar of the suicide sauce. This meal could not get any better!

In the end, we were full and had many bones. At the table, others that had joined us indulged me in the last wing night at Vic, where they made a bone tower.

Fortunately someone had a photo of it on their phone. Yes, that`s on a caf tray and yes, it had a flag.

Not to be left with nothing to show, we created out own tower. What it lacks in colossal-ism, it made up in beauty and determination. Or whatever, it's a tower of bones.

In the end, a great time was had be all, and there wasn't a hungry soul at the table. It truly was a feast that I won't soon forget. Thanks to Chris for having Jas and me, and for Nathan and all the preferential treatment.