“We said if we didn’t win this year we would retire,” says Jason Bourgoin, manager of Bubba Ray’s, a sports bar with an amazing focus on the chicken wing. There’s something about the wing that just goes hand-in-hand with beer and the big games on multiple high definition screens. “No one should be able to beat us. We really are a wing house.”
There’s no denying that. Just look at the huge variety of combinations available when you order. To start off, there are six different wing sizes and types of chicken alone: three non-breaded and three breaded. The non-breaded include the so-called university wing, a leaner chicken limb, where you get 16 or so in a pound. Also non-breaded is the original---more like 10 per pound---and the hot and spicy wing. In the breaded category you’ll find the mega wing---perhaps taken from the chickens you see pumping iron at the gym on a regular basis, garlic breaded wings and the popular boneless edition: breaded white meat.
Add to the wings 10 dry rubs, including sea salt and pepper and Cajun flavours, and 60 sauces---available on the wings or on the side---that include Frank’s RedHot Gold Fever and Buffalo Sauce, as well as in-house flavours Maple Barbeque, Honey Awesome, East Meets West, Lip-Licking (Honey Garlic/Barbeque) and Garlic Butter & Parmesan.
“It’s sort of like a game now,” says Bourgoin. “People come in and think, ‘I’ve never tried this kind before.’”
Of course, there are also those who like a little extra heat. Bubba Ray’s has hosted hot sauce challenges, where people can come in and try a variety of blisteringly spiced wings. If you choose the Death Sauce you have to sign a waiver. That may seem like an overreaction, but Bourgoin says it’s not: “It blows people’s faces off.”
1st Runner-up: Your Father's Moustache 2nd Runner-up: Oasis Pub & Eatery