—Samantha Crawford (graphic)
After being kept in endless suspense, the brand-spanking-new centre cafeteria has been revealed in all its airport-lounge-esque glory: seven food outlets and a general store. For those of us old enough to remember the Centre Caf of yesteryear, the crowded banquet-style seating feels like a distant memory.
One Centre Caf staple is still crisp in my memory: the waffle fry. With ridges ready to collect a spicy seasoning salt snowfall, the waffle fry was a must with any wrap, burger, or grilled cheese. Its chip-like shape was ideal for scooping, and its crispy surface area delivered a perforated crunch. It also absorbed more fat, transmitting the salty goodness loud and clear. Such a perfect potato was expected by many to return to what is now the Flamin’ Good Grill. Sadly, it seems we made one too many assumptions.
“Unfortunately we won’t be serving waffle fries in Mystic Market,” said Sarah Dusterbeck, Marketing and Communications coordinator for University Food Services in an email, “as we felt it was time for a change and wanted to try some new options.” These new options feature trendier foods like “jalapeno onion rings and sweet potato fries” and “complementary corn” (I’ll admit this is a nice touch), replacing the apparently dated waffle fry. The closest substitute to waffle fries are normal french fries, which cost a blistering $3.50.
You can of course get waffles and waffle cones at Berries in Mystic Market, but even if you were to put them through a seasoning salt snowstorm, they would come nowhere close to their potato counterpart. And that’s just wrong.
So is it an end of an era? Is the waffle fry falling the way of my 30-pin iPhone charger? Thankfully no—they can still be found in the Cadboro Commons dining facilities (Caps and the Commons dining room) for the first years who never had the chance to experience their legacy. But alas, it seems the new Mystic Market is too good for waffle fries.
UnwrittenRevolution, a mechanical engineer on the Uvic subreddit page, stated it simply: “I just want my damn chicken strips and waffle fries, is that too much to ask?” I don’t think it is.
Is Mystic Market too good for waffle fries? Let us know on our Facebook page, or @TheMartlet.
