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
Tel: 503-224-5626
Website: paddys.com
