Paddy's Bar & Grill

Our favourite poutine reviewer, Jack D'Mestiere has been out and about, and tracked down another beauty in beautiful downtown Portland. Read on...

I met up with a fella that needed meeting up with at a joint in Stumptown called Paddy’s. Paddy’s fancies itself an Irish pub and claims to be the oldest in town. Frankly, it doesn’t seem that Irish to me—no peat fire, baseball game on a big screen, I could understand what the barkeeper said—but they do have a lot of green signs and their, what Dolly-girl would call, “on-line presence” has some Irishy looking things on it.

I slid into a seat and ordered a pint—no, I’ll pass on the Guinness and Smithwick’s and go with a good IPA from Bend, Oregon. Harumph, what’s this small glass about? That doesn’t like like an Irish beer glass—it’s only 4/5ths of a real pint… 

I perused the What’s-to-Eat and low and behold... Irish Poutine?

Well, how could I not try that? After all, don’t I owe it to Poutine Chronicles to eat it if it’s right there staring me in the face? I sure do. The server took our order—she gave me the usual look when I pronounced it pou-TIN, so I’m assuming she calls se-LIN se-LEAN. Oh well, we’re a long way from Charlemagne on the Rivière des Prairies…What’s this? Céline won the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin and now I’m ordering poutine in an Irish pub? I guess this was made to be.

The order was back in a flash. Generally speaking, it doesn’t seem like it should take too long to throw together a poutine and the fella I was meeting ordered one too, so quick as a tin whistle, there it was.

Let’s do it by the numbers: Fries—crispy on the outside, hot and tender inside. Gravy—good onion flavor (as advertised), salty, and not too much of it. It coated the fries but didn’t saturate them. Curds—didn’t squeak, but they were tasty, hot, and only partially melted. Corned beef—sure, it was yesterday’s sandwich, and it was probably not the same as mentioned in Aislinge Meic Con Glinne (which actually does mention cheese curds!), but it stood in for bacon, which, according to the fount of all knowledge (including whether it’s fount or font…), Wikipedia, is what Irish immigrants substituted for corned beef for in the US of A. Maybe Canada too. Where was I? Oh, the rating…

Amazingly, I’ll put it a squeak short of 5 curds, so 4.5 curds for Irish Poutine at Paddy’s Bar & Grill in Portland, Oregon. Nine bucks does seem a little pricey though...

Paddy's Bar and Grill, 65 SW Yamhill St., Portland, OR 97204
Tel: 503-224-5626

Website: paddys.com

If it's on Facebook, it must be true!

MarKum Inn

Ooh, it's been a while since we've had a review from Jack D'Mestiere.
It's been waaay too long Jack. Welcome back!

Me and Dolly-girl were down the valley on a Sunday for a meet-up with Beluga Slim. Yes, there was some beer drunk and some baseball talked. About 5, Dolly-girl gives me the time-to-go shot through the wave, so we saddled up and headed home. There was an empty spot in our bellies so before we left, we got a little feed-bag advice from a local: “Try the MarKum Inn & Muddy Boots Bar. They put a lot in front of you and it can’t be beat."

About 20 minutes later, we slid into a booth and looked at the Whaddaya-gots. Right away something called The Horseshoe was appealing to me just because, well, what could sound more appealing than eating a horseshoe? Dolly-girl wasn’t having it.

I looked at the menu. It mentioned four ingredients I liked: meatloaf, fries, cheese sauce, and cardiologist. “Jack, you’ll be heading in for a ream-n-clean on those stents if you keep eating like this!” “Dolly-girl, this looks to me like Cattleman’s Poutine—I owe it to Rouge to write this one up, and I can’t write it up if I don’t try it!” If those green eyes could talk, well, I’ll just leave it at that.

I ordered it. I have to tell you, it’s going to get zero curds, because it had no curds. But, when the Cookie-in-the-Kitchen decided to take a short-cut and combine the cheese and gravy, well, I have to give him some sort of credit. I dug in.

The fries were crisp right to the very end. The cheesy gravy was salty and cheesy. Of course it didn’t squeak ‘cause there weren’t any curds, but it was pretty tasty. The meatloaf? Well, I found out what they did with Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday’s leftover meatloaf—they put it in The Horseshoe on Sunday. I presume they have some sort of moving average thing going where they pour cheesy gravy over the meatloaf that's going to leave the kitchen one way or another and call it The Horseshoe. 

I guess it’s time for the curds to hit the fries. I give it 3.5 curds* where the asterisk leaves it out of the record book because of the whole no curd thing. What pulled it down? Wednesday’s meatloaf that should have left the kitchen through the other door...

MarKum Inn, 36903 OR-213, Mt. Angel, OR 97362 

Tel: 503-829-6006

Website: markuminn.com

Pop-up poutine

Air Canada has created a pop-up featuring local cuisine to entice Londoners to use the airline for travel to the Americas.

The Poutinerie will have 10 dishes that are a twist on the Quebecois dish.

They include: Miami's South Beach Pollo made up of corndusted fries, white cheese, pulled chicken and avocado, as well as Halifax Downstream Poutine which is chips, Canadian lobster, cheese curds and shellfish gravy.

To read more click here 

Arby's has poutine!

As our country’s official food, it’s no secret that Canadians love poutine.  Regardless of the current food trends, this French-Canadian classic remains on top, and quick service restaurant, Arby’s, is taking full advantage of that.

Starting off the year with a bang, Arby’s is bringing Canadians what they love for the first time ever. Made with the brand’s signature curly fries, melted cheese curds and rich, creamy gravy, consumers will only be able to enjoy this delectable menu item for a limited time, while supplies last.

If you give it a try, send us a comment. We'd love to know what you think of it.