Poutine is a Candian dish that originated in the French-speaking areas of the country; when and where it came to be are mysteries. The dish consists, au minimum, of french fries (frites), gravy, and cheese curds. But it’s often supplemented with other things; in fact, you can add almost anything to a poutine. I was first introduced to it by my friend Barb in Ottawa about ten years ago, and then had my next poutine in 2012 when biochemist Larry Moran (of Sandwalk fame) took a group of us over the border into Quebec for the dish.
I’ve had it twice on this visit, the first time at the Elgin Street Diner in Ottawa. But there is no substitute for going to a place that should be called Le Roi de Poutine, otherwise known as La Banquise in Montréal, which claims it has the best poutine in Quebec. Well, I haven’t tried them all, which would be a herculean task, but it certainly was the best poutine I’ve had to date.
Here’s the place, open 24 hours, with my friends Claude and Anne-Marie posing in front. They kindly took a day off to show me around Montreal (more photos later), as well as serving me a fantastic meal in their home the night before.
The poutine menu is extensive (English version below). I had the Elvis, with ground beef, green peppers, and mushrooms as extras, while Claude had “The three meats,” with added ground beef, pepperoni, and bacon. That one must be locally known as “heart attack on a plate.”
Anne-Marie can’t digest the stuff, and so had a club sandwich. Note “La Fred Caillou,” which is the local traslation of “Fred Flintstone” (“caillou” means “pebble” in French). It has four kinds of meat.
Here’s my poutine, which is the SMALL SIZE. It was delicious. Claude photographed me taking the photo below; you can see that portions are not small at all!
And Claude’s “three meats” poutine:
La Banquise was nearly empty when we entered at about 11:15. By noon it was full of happy Québécois chowing down plates of poutine. Many got the large size, and I don’t know how they could finish it. I surreptitiously took photos of people nomming poutine:
This large-ish guy had both a poutine and a hamburger!
Fresh orders of poutine, ready for delivery to expectant customers. Note the Mexican-style poutine with guacamole and sour cream.
Warning: if you don’t like this stuff, we needn’t hear about it in the comments below. And, as usual, you’re fobidden to act as Food Police, pointing out the unhealthiness of the dish or its inimical effects on my arteries. Bon appetit!
the pulled pork was amazing too. its been almost 2 years since my visit that I apparently will never forget.
My mouth is watering like Homer Simpsons.
😋
You should try Smoke’s Poutinerie next time you come to Ottawa.
Yes!! And our senators have just completed a report on the havoc that our food guide is having on our nutrition. They are pointing to the morning fruit juice ritual and claiming it is, in part, the cause of our obesity epidemic. Geesh.
Hmm, I’m struggling with the concept. Surely the point of chips (as we call French Fries here) is to be crisp, and smothering them with anything, especially gravy, kinda makes them soggy. Or maybe I’m not understanding Canadian food.
There’s a Peruvian dish, lomo saltado, that also calls for french fries in a sauce-laden stir fry. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomo_saltado. Two of the three pictures have the fries on top – one even has skinny fires, McDonald’s style – the third has them swimming in the sauce, and that’s the only way I saw it when I was in Peru.
You have to eat it fast! Much like eating cereal. Once you pour the milk the race is on.
You need an Obol!
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That’s cheating!
Why didn’t I think of that? So simple.
Crisp?
I’ve never had crisp chips/fries. I suppose ones that aren’t very thick might get crispy if fried long enough, but I wouldn’t consider that a defining characteristic.
Chips are fantastic with gravy, also mayonnaise and curry sauce, but not at the same time.
Yes! But curry in mayo is wonderful! So is chipotle hot sauce: divine!
Around 30 years ago they called it a “Fix” at the gas station diner in my hometown (central NB, just south of QC).
What a menu … It’s hard to choose!
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Where’s the duck confit poutine? That’s the one I’d really like to try.
I love merguez sausage though. There is a fabulous specialty grocer near me that, among many other wonderful things, makes a fabulous merguez sausage. And they always have a self serve keg of beer to help you enjoy your shopping. That considerably better than any xian description of heaven I’ve ever heard.
I’ll have a merguez poutine too, please.
In Montreal, the best “poutine au foie gras” is probably that of Le Pied de Cochon. This restaurant is really specialized in “[highly palatable] heart attacks on plates”.
The word “poutine” does seem an appropriate description of the dish.
It’s not Drumpf making people want to go to Canada, it’s posts like this. You should charge the Canadian tourist board money!
I look forward to real poutine in the future. Found it on a menu in a place in either Banff or Jasper, but they used melted cheese and not cheese curds.
There are many variants of the idea. A brew pub here in Albuquerque has poutine burqueno which is fries, red chile gravy, green chile, onion, and melted cheese.
In Springfield, IL you can get a variant that they call a horseshoe, which is a slice of bread with various meat choices, covered in fries, and a cheese sauce.
Used to go to a restaurant near our house that had a dish called an Alameda pileup that was a beef burrito covered in fries, melted cheese, and green chile sauce. The restaurant is gone, but we still make it at home every now and then.
It is all good.
I love green chile sauce/salsa
Oh, yeah, I forgot to say that if the poutine dish, cheese curds and all, is stuck into the oven to heat up, then the curds tend to melt. Still tasty though. Brie, blue cheese and gruyere cheese can be added too!
I do prefer having the cheese curds intact…. it’s kinda like using sea salt crystals and getting a flavour burst, now and then.
Blue cheese, oh yeah! 🙂
I’m going to start referring to French fries as ‘American poutine with ketchup’
Good fun reading the menu!
Great poutine joint! Never could figure out though why they called it “La Banquise” which means sea-ice in English. Anyone see the connection?
It was originally an ice-cream shop.
I have eaten (tried) poutine only once, back in the days when poutine was only poutine. I like cheese curds, I like french fries, I like gravy, and I LOVE french fries and gravy, but I wasn’t too keen on poutine. I’m pretty sure, though, that I could go for more than one of the modern variants.
One thing about Quebec that I love is the food. Even in the little logging towns you can get excellent french cuisine while Montreal is famous for smoked meat sandwiches and chinese fondue, among other things.
Since the dairy industry in la belle province has been protected from imported competition for some time, almost all the cheese in Canada is made there. As a result, cheese curds (which are really gross on their own) are cheap and widely available. The invention of poutine was almost inevitable.
It would be wrong to describe poutine as a national dish though. Some canucks like it, but just as many hate it. Same goes for flipper pie and moose stew.
Nanaimo bars on the other hand…
Wisconsin-made cheese curds are lovely — whether fried or au naturelle.
Yours looked great Jerry, but I think I involuntary drooled on my keyboard when the picture of the “3 meat” poutine came up!
Assume this is basically a traditional workingman’s lunch, and if so I think I find the Swedish moral equivalent, stekt strömming med potatismos (fried herring with mashed potatoes) a lot more appealing.
Sounds wonderful! (Though tres malheureusement, herrings are bad for (my) gout.)
I didn’t see the vegetarian option. Musta been on the other side of the menu.
Look again – the first listed under the “Our Extraordinaires” heading – with vegan sauce!
Spectacular! That three meat poutine in particular looks spectacular, although I usually prefer just pulled pork on mine.
So that’s how a poutine is supposed to look. I only remember it from when the Swedish chef made it live in Montreal. 🙂
Isn’t that cultural appropriation???
I’d write an angry letter to Kermit, I’m sure you’ll get an apology and a bunch of flowers. He’s a nice frog, after all.
Chips with everything – seems very British!
Surely they have a venison poutine with elk (moose)? That would be a bit more ‘native’!
These dishes all look fabulous. I’d like to try the guacamole poutine. Someone posted a link at your previous food post, about the Works joint. I’m intrigued by their poutine with bbq brisket. https://www.worksburger.com/Menu.aspx#
It’s called The Longhorn.
The “suspicious sausage” (a Blackadder reference, think “horses”) poutine looks dangerously edible.
Looks so good I’m going to try to do this at home! Guacamole and sour cream! Yum!
Our local restaurant has poutine, with seared fois gras on top! Delicious!
Ooooh, I hope I get a chance to try poutine in situ someday. La Festival and La Matty look particularly good to me.
Looks deelicious ! what is it with oversize Portions in North America ? last time I was in the States and ate at a Restuarant I had to ask them to reduce the amount by half,if I ate like that normally ,I,d be about 300+lbs.lol
I think it’s a quantity vs. quality cultural thing. Not sure how it originated. (I am a USian; but I have traveled outside the US very extensively.)
In my experience, people outside the US (I’m primarily thinking of Europe) tend to want fewer things (or less of something) but for it to be of very high quality.
Americans tend to want a lot of whatever it is. Big house, many large cars, lots of expensive toys, tons of food, etc.
True story: At one workplace, a while back, my colleagues invited me to accompany them to lunch out. I asked where they were going and they told me (chain pizza place). I asked whether it was any good. Their reply will live in my memory for my entire life: “No, but you get a lot to eat.”
Sort of like losing money on each unit but making up for it with high volume sales.
It baffles me.
I still wonder about these “high end” poutiness. As a native Quebecer I still think of poutine as the “expensive” item at a place that sells 79 cent hot dogs, not these fancy ones with all the other stuff.
The Swedish chef may not be culturally appropriating, but that restaurant is gentrifying!
I don’t necessarily regard that as a *bad* thing, mind you.