The Works

Another review from poutine adventurer Jen from Prescott, Ontario. This time she headed into Ottawa to find this pail o' poutine. Read on...

While eating at "The Works" in Ottawa recently, I had the chance to try out their poutine. They offer three variations on the theme and I settled on the "Ex-Montrealer" version. It comes with smoked meat on it. They served it up in a metal bucket and the portion was generous. There was an abundance of fresh curds and the sauce was pure perfection. The addition of smoked meat was just the right touch with out being cloying. It was hot and tasty to the bottom.


This is definitely a five out of five curds dish. Everyone at the table had a bite and agreed. I would certainly order this one again!

Thanks for this Jen. I'll definitely have to give it a try!

The Works is open Sunday-Saturday 11 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. at various locations around the Ottawa area. To find one near you, click here.

To see their menu, click here. Note: poutine listing is the first thing on the first page of the menu. Great choice!

Cornwall Speedway

At the Cornwall Motor Speedway last Sunday, we stopped by Norm's French Fries...


...where Richard and I each ordered a poutine.


They were making them fast and furious! (Note the bags of frozen fries under the counter.)


Too bad about the frozen fries...but the curds were real and plentiful and the gravy was to my taste and not too salty.


The view of the track from the poutine was fine. We both gave it a 3 out of a possible 5 curds. Just okay.

Cornwall Motor Speedway is open every Sunday in the summer and the racing starts at 6 p.m.
Cornwall Centre Road, Cornwall, ON K6H 5R5
Telephone: 613-938-3945
For more info, click on their website: Cornwall Motor Speedway

Food Fight!

Man jailed for assaulting ex with poutine

By KATE MCLAREN, QMI Agency

TIMMINS, Ont. -- A Timmins man has been sentence to four months in jail for theft after dumping poutine on a woman's head and running off with her purse.
David Birch, 25, was sentenced Tuesday in Timmins provincial court.
The woman was an ex-spouse.
Court heard Birch entered a business in Timmins on May 20 at 3:30 a.m. where he encountered his former spouse.
Due to previous convictions, Birch was prohibited from having contact with her at the time.
The two argued but after the argument, the victim asked Birch to hold on to two poutines. Birch subsequently dumped one poutine over the woman’s head.
He then snatched the victim’s purse and fled the establishment. The purse contained valuable items, including bank cards and house keys.
Birch was apprehended by police several days later and ordered to return the items to their owner.
Duty counsellor Calvin Ferrier, who represented Birch during the proceeding, advised the court that the couple would like to reconcile.
“I’ve spoken to the victim, who would be happy to have the accused back in her life providing he pays her the money he owes her,” Ferrier said.
Assistant Crown attorney Dale Cox pointed out that the accused is still prohibited from contacting his former girlfriend.
“He’s been in court with alarming regularity,” said Cox.

Source: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/07/21/14778181.html

Poutine at Home

Here is my friend Gordon preparing poutine for friends visiting from the U.S.A.


He and his wife Natalie are now poutine ambassadors, spreading the poutine word to our neighbours to the south.


Well done guys. Looks like a five out of five curd effort!

Actor John Leguizamo and Poutine

John Leguizamo, best known for his autobiographical one-man comedy shows, including 1998's Emmy-winning Freak, and films such as Moulin Rouge and Ice Age, was in Montreal recently for the Just for Laughs Festival. Here he is with Montreal ambassador Daniel Baylis trying poutine for the very first time. (He is introduced to poutine at 3:15.)

Kosher Poutine

My friends Gordon and Natalie brought over their 13-year-old friend Rachel. She was visiting from Maryland and had never tried poutine before. Oh my!


Rachel's request was to have kosher poutine and it was a fairly easy task. I found a tin of brown, mushroom gravy, added curds and fries and voila! Meat-free poutine.


The gravy tasted really nice. Not too salty. I think I'd buy it again, instead of purchasing the so-called "poutine" gravy they sell at the grocery store. And I think Rachel really enjoyed her first taste of the stuff.

Jos Patate

On a rainy day recently, Richard and I headed over the bridge in Hawkesbury, Ontario to Grenville, Quebec.


When it's sunny, Jos Patate has an incredibly long line up so today was the day to try their poutine.


Richard and I ordered a medium to split.


Luckily, because of the rain, there was plenty of seating available.


The poutine was pretty good. Great curd coverage. Nice, warm gravy. All round, pretty darn good.


We both liked it and agreed it was a little above average and gave it a 4 out of a 5 possible curds.

Jos Patate, 29 rue Maple, Grenville, QC, J0V 1J0
Phone: 819-242-1059

College View

This review just in from my friend Jen and her boys Jacob and Joshua who live in Prescott, Ontario.

College View is a little ice cream shoppe across from Kemptville College, Kemptville. I wish I could say we were pleased and excited to share however that is not the case this time.


For one, the fries, although fresh, were heavily coated with some kind of batter. I personally don't much like coated fries as I believe that a properly cooked potato will stand just fine on its own. The container was close to tiny for a "small" and made of cardboard. Your fingers were not protected from the hot contents and nor would they stay hot for long in thin cardboard.


Joshua's first words after his first bite were "salty gravy" -- strike three. There was not an abundance of curds either. So, all in all it was a most disappointing poutine experience. One out of five curds.

Thanks for the review, Jen. Onward and upward!

The Gage

In Chicago, right across from Millennium Park is a restaurant called The Gage.


It's actually directly across the street, so close that you can see the park reflected in its front door. I had Googled "poutine in Chicago" and The Gage popped up with glowing reviews.


And they were all right! Elk ragout poutine, delicious, creamy gravy making the curds, still squeaky in their freshness, melt a bit, all served over very good fries.

Richard loved it...


...and so did I! A definite, hands down, 5 out of 5 curds. Fantastic!

The Gage, 24 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60603
Phone: 312.372.4243
Open late, 7 days a week. Click on their website: The Gage.

Cheese Fries at Neil's

While in New York City last week, we asked a few cops where we could grab a cup of coffee -- that wouldn't cost $5 a cup -- and they pointed us to Neil's.


It was only a few blocks away so we hopped over and found the joint. Great spot.


My niece Sylvie and I split an order of cheese fries. Not exactly poutine...


...but as close as we got on this visit. Yum!

Quebec’s accidental delicacy

Over the weekend, the Globe and Mail ran this article about poutine and its link with haute cuisine. To read more, click here.

Best Poutine in the Region

Pierre Lemieux is my Member of Parliament, representing Glengarry-Prescott-Russell. Pierre visited La fritterie Miss Alfred (in Alfred, Ontario) to congratulate Suzanne and Jacques Villeneuve on having won the prestigious “Best Poutine in the Region” award. He ordered a poutine and it was immediately evident why they won! He also enjoyed some delicious home-made pea-soup and chocolate cake.

Off Manhattan Poutine

Here's what a site called Off Manhattan had to say about poutine:
Poutine—a greasy bechamel of fries slathered in gravy and cheese curds—is about as easy for an American to dismiss as curling or ice hockey. It’s just the type of handiwork we’d expect of the country that took our ham and called it their bacon.
Except that they were right: Canadian bacon does sound way cooler than ham; hockey is like a bloodier, faster soccer; and poutine? Well, it sort of tastes like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July decided to throw a joint party in your mouth. Which is convenient, because poutine goes really well with beer.

Turns out there are a smattering of places in and around New York that offer this unofficial national dish of our neighbor to the north. Here’s a list of four delicious Canadian spots to whet your poutine appetite.
To see the entire list, click here.

Kal's Chip Stand

This poutine review is courtesy of Jennifer and her son Josh from Prescott, Ontario

Living in Prescott, Ontario, it's hard to find poutine, let alone a good one. But a few days ago, we discovered an unassuming chip stand called Kal's. My son and I happened to be shopping at Giant Tiger around lunchtime and Kal's was parked right beside it. So we decided to give it a try.


Their small poutine was absolutely enormous!


We decided to share a small poutine. Very reasonable at $4.50!


The fries were hot and crisp, the sauce tasty and not at all salty, and the curds went ALL the way to the bottom of the styrofoam cup which kept everything hot to the very last bite. The curds even squeaked! We agreed that if there was a "perfect" poutine eating experience this was it. 5 curds out of 5 curds!

Thanks Jen and Josh. Kal's sounds like a keeper!

Kal's Chip Stand is parking lot of the Giant Tiger, Prescott, Ontario.
Open seasonally.

Poutine in Punta Cana

These clever young Canadians figured out how to make poutine in the Dominican Republic. You know what it's like when you have a craving...

Séguin Patate

A warm, sunny day in Cornwall, Ontario with friends meant a stop at a little seasonal joint called Séguin Patate.


Lots of stuff to choose from and a picnic table to eat it on.


But how could we pass up the poutine?


Here's Mr. Séguin Patate welcoming me. He's a cutie, eh?


Inside the busy kitchen, there was a cute cartoon advertising the St. Albert curds used on their poutine.


A lone seagull stood patiently waiting for a handout.


We split a large poutine. Jen had them add bacon, just to give it a try.


That poutine got photographed from many angles.


We dug in and had the following comments: It was on the small side for a so-called "large"; the fries were great as was the gravy which tasted of bacon; the curds weren't squeaky. All in all, a pretty good effort. 4 out of a possible 5 curds.

Séguin Patate, 921 Marlborough St N, Cornwall, Ontario
Open seasonally from spring to fall.

Smoke's Poutine

My niece Sam and her friend Ziz from Toronto sent in this review.

After an evening on the town, we thought we would check out Smoke's Poutinerie on Queen Street West.


It gets points for ambiance...a big chalkboard with plenty of chalk kept us amused while we waited to place our order. And good tunes kept us in the mood.


When we got to ordering, we skipped the vast range of poutine flavors available and went straight for the classic!


We split a small poutine and it was just the right amount of food for the time of evening. The fries were good and tasted like real, fresh cut potatoes. There was a good amount of cheese, but the gravy could have been a bit tastier. Unfortunately, the take-out container dish was too deep so the cheese/gravy didn't permeate enough to the bottom fries. But all-in-all a great place to get a good poutine in Toronto!

So Sam and Ziz, sounds like it might be a 4 out of 5 curds?

Smoke's Poutinerie has five locations in Toronto, and is also in Ottawa. Coming soon to Kingston and London. To read more about Smoke's Poutinerie, click here.