Love in the Food Court

I’m a poutine lover. An afficianado. A fanatic. But I’m no snob. I know that good poutine can be found anywhere. Like the mall.

Enter New York Fries – and the myriad of reasons you should love this food court mainstay.

Did you know that there is not a single New York Fries location in New York? Or in the United States, in fact. New York Fries is, in fact, a proudly Canadian company (although I’m not sure Bratford, Ontaro is known as a bastion of poutine gastronomy…).

How about the fact that this is a company that knows what they do well and stick to it? When they wanted to diversify, NYF launched an entirely new brand rather than muddy the menu at their core chain (hear that, Pizza Hut?). According to their website, “focusing on one product allows New York Fries to be the "fry specialist", and making perfect fries every time is why our customers continue to come back to our store.” Damn straight, New York Fries.

Plus, how can you not adore a company that refuses to take itself too seriously. Enter Gary Coleman stage right.

And finally, this is a company that makes a really, really good poutine. Crispy fries. A delicious, dark gravy that’s thick enough to stick to the potato, but not so thick that it congeals on top of the serving. And a generous serving of curds (although be warned that this is not your Quebec grandmother’s squeaky cheese – by the end of the bucket, the cheese is melted). Well worth a trip to the mall.

New! A formal rating system to try and bring some order to these reviews...

Fries: 4 / 5

Gravy: 5 / 5

Cheese: 3 / 5

TOTAL: 12 / 15

My Canada Includes Poutine

Spotted (thanks, Grant!) on the streets of Ottawa. How do I get this on a t-shirt?


UPDATE: I've just learned that there are, in fact, t-shirts! The sign is from Ottawa's Elgin Street Diner. I'm on the case...

To Market, To Market.

The Bier Markt is good for a lot of things. Beer, for example. But gastronomical hotbed it is not. And so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by what I found there on a recent outing to the resto’s newest location on King Street West – a middling offering of fries, gravy and curds packaged as poutine.

The fact is, it was fine. The gravy was fine. The fries were fine. The cheese was fine. There were some layering issues. And they could have been more generous with the gravy (ratio is important to me - take a close look at the photo below...there are some dry fries in there). But it wasn’t terrible.

It just wasn’t great.

My advice? Stick to the beer – let’s seek out a poutine that’s worth the calories.

Poutine Heads South

Today's poutine news is from TastingTable - a roundup of some of the hottest poutine offerings south of the border. Toronto Poutine roadtrip, anyone? I vote for Dallas as the first stop. Here are some of the concoctions they profile:

Dallas Bijoux chef Scott Golich's Bleu Benedictin Poutine, which features Canadian blue cheese, duck-fat-poached fries and duck-confit gravy, is served as a cheese course in his tasting menus.

Los Angeles At the meat-lover's playhouse Animal, chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo top their version with rich oxtail gravy and white cheddar.

New York City The recently opened T Poutine has gained a following for its no-frills service and DIY approach: Poutine purists can mix and match different types of fries (including shoestring), cheese, gravy and meat.

Philadelphia The "snack" of choice at the new gastropub Blockley Pourhouse is fries covered in caramelized-onion gravy, slices of short ribs and heaping chunks of industrial-orange "squeaky" cheese, a cousin to the city's beloved Velveeta.

Read the whole article here.

Poutine on Wheels!

Is poutine possibly the hottest topic in the news this week? Today's update is courtesy of Jennifer Bain at the Toronto Star: the highly anticipated Smoke's Poutine truck makes its debut this weekend.

Poutine on wheels. Whatever next?

Review to follow, as soon as I can track down that truck.

PS: Follow Smoke's on Twitter to keep up with their news.

More Poutine in the News: the new Smoke's location...

This one from BlogTO:

After nearly a year in business serving curry and nacho versions of Quebec's famous dish, Smoke's Poutinerie owner Ryan Smolkin is set to open his second location later this month directly across from the infamous Filmore's strip club at 203 Dundas East. It's pretty much smack dab in the middle of a part of the city known more for guns and girls than gourmet anything.

The location is so gloriously close to my office, I can't do anything but celebrate. And maybe go for an extra long run.

Read the full BlogTO post for more...

The Burger Shoppe: A middling showing.

There’s a lot that’s good about The Burger Shoppe’s poutine offering. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot that isn’t very good.

In the first category: cheese. Delicious, classic, squeaky cheese that holds both shape and flavour even after a short walk home with take-out. And cheese in sufficient quantity to ensure that even the last bite ends with that resounding squeak. Perfect.

Also great? Composition. Enough gravy to coat each and every French fry. A nicely layered dish. And a huge portion (good for sharing, especially if you’re pairing with a burger) – all for less than $5.

Not so great? Dramatically undercooked fries. A word to the wise: squeaky cheese? Good. Squeaky fries? Not so much.

And while the consistency – and even the colour – of the gravy is lovely, the flavour isn’t quite right. It’s trying too hard. And with a good poutine, each element should work in harmony, not in competition

There's a life lesson for you. From the bottom of a poutine dish. How about that.