There can be no doubt that I am a man who loves his poutine. In a lot of senses I am a purist, but when a place gets the right kind of creative I can get behind it. The Kroft in Tustin, Orange County started lighting up my social media feed months ago with some beautiful food pics. It took a while to find an excuse to get down there, but when I did I couldn’t help but make a stop.

It took a lot of chatting with the woman behind the counter, but I finally decided on the Country Fried Chicken Poutine. It came with country gravy as opposed to the usual thin beef gravy, chicken nuggets, bacon, cheese curds (because without that you can’t call it poutine) and a little bit of green onion. Oh, and of course a base of fries.

I had never had such a poutine before, but wow this was good. There was plenty of cheese and the chicken nuggets were really fried boneless chicken as opposed to the kind you might find at a fast food spot. The country gravy was really tasty, but the one thing it was lacking was the ability to add enough lubrication to the poutine. Thus, I had to occasionally grab some water to help continue moving the food down the gullet. Regardless, the poutine was packed with delicious flavor and a great balance of all of the flavors.

The only trouble was that I was alone. Had I been with others, I would have loved to try so many more things. As it was, I was stuck with just one (albeit delicious) poutine. Fortunately, there’s another location in LA that I can get to much easier should the need for creative poutine like this again.

Sometimes life beats the crap out of you. Other times, it gives you exactly what you want. So when what I wanted was some good new food in Pasadena, Spudds suddenly appeared and fulfilled the latter. You see, Spudds specializes in poutine and I am a man who loves his fries with gravy and cheese curds. Plus, as far as I know, Spudds is the only original (unlike Smoke’s Poutinerie in Hollywood, which as you probably know from reading up here has a number of outposts in Canada) poutine spot in all of the LA area. 

But Spudds is about more than just poutine, serving up real American food like burgers and hot dogs as well. I decided to get the Earlybird, which comes topped with cheese (American or Swiss), a fried egg and bacon, plus a choice of bun. Also, veggies, which I passed on. Then I went against my usual rule with poutine of getting it straight up and ordered the Sausage Fest instead. This was normal poutine, but topped with slices of beef, Polish and Cajun sausages.

Both of these were great choices. I ate my Earlybird with American cheese and a pretzel bun and couldn’t have been happier with this fast food-style burger. It’s not going to win any gourmet competitions, but it definitely hit the spot and supposedly the beef is never frozen, which is typically a good thing. Actually, if I could change anything I would have made the egg runnier, but again this has to be thought of in the fast food vein.

The poutine was definitely better than I expected. The fries were crispy, the cheese was curdy and the gravy wasn’t overly salty, which can often be a problem with poutine. On top of all that, the sausages actually enhanced the mix of flavors instead of distracting from them. It also avoided a common poutine issue of lack of gravy leading to dry fries. All of this made me a happy man.

In fact, my biggest disappointment was that this was simply too much food for one man. I couldn’t handle all that good stuff, but I know that I will be back and bring a friend to share in the joy of American and Canadian food.

What would you do if you had a few drinks and found yourself face-to-face with a menu item filled with steak and poutine for only $19.99? If you’re anything like me, you order the crap out of it. This lovely scenario is exactly what happened when I found myself at Rohrbach Brewing Company in the Gates neighborhood of Rochester. Of course, I had already enjoyed some of their beers, including their delectable Scotch Ale.

As for that steak, it was called the Great Canadian and featured a 12 oz. flame-grilled Montreal-seasoned Delmonico steak (of unknown variety), with poutine and a vegetable. Even in my state, I knew to ask what the veggie was and upon learning ensuring a swap out of veggie for their house-made chips. I ordered the steak medium-rare and awaited my feast.

I won’t go so far as to say ordering steak at a brewery was a bad choice, but I will say it wasn’t the best choice. Was the steak cooked right? Yes. Was it well-seasoned? Sure, why not. But as I ate it I was certainly jealous of the people eating burgers around me. Because in the end, while the steak was nothing to complain about, I was silly to not to order something that breweries do best. I will say, though, that the poutine was a damn nice touch and was filled with nicely crisped fries, decent gravy and gooey cheese curds.

Rohrbach was a solid introduction to Rochester, but I had bigger fish to fry. I enjoyed my meal, but had to save space for what food may come.

No trip to Canada is complete without at least one stop for poutine. Yes, even outside of the French side of Canada. The internet told me that Poutini’s in West Queen Street West had some of the best in town and I was eager to see if they could live up to the lofty expectations. Like other poutineriess, it had a few different options, but I was most intrigued by their Layered Poutine. This included an extra layer of cheese in the middle, and as much as I like bacon and other such things, this seemed best.

I ordered the regular size instead of their teeny weeny tiny, and watched as the lady behind the counter constructed a beautiful bowl of fries, cheese and gravy. After a few pretty photos, I took my fork to the pile of beauty and was impressed with what I found. The gravy was light without being too plain, and wasn’t too salty either, allowing the full flavor (or should I say flavour?) of the fries and cheese to do their own work. I was very happy with the extra layer of cheese, because more cheese is always good, although I probably would have still been happy with just the regular amount of cheese.

The only downside was that it got a little bit intense at the bottom of the serving. It’s to be expected, but still not ideal.

Nonetheless, I can safely say that this was the best poutine I have ever had (at least since starting up this blog, because I stupidly didn’t start until after going to Montreal). I’d recommend Poutini’s for anyone looking to take down that glorious blend of potato, dairy and meat drippings.

In the year 1915, World War I was in full swing, women still couldn’t vote in our fine country and Thyphoid Mary was doing her thing. Oh and Station Street opened in Pittsburgh. But considering the place is run by local celeb chef Kevin Sousa, it’s safe to assume the place has changed. In fact, it even seems to have changed recently, adding street food like tacos and bibimbap (both of which probably didn’t exist in the Pittsburgh lexicon in 1915) to its list already extensive list of hot dogs.

I decided to stick with the classics, starting with a Chili Cheese Dog. At Station Street the chili comes from Union Pig and Chicken’s brisket and the cheese is of the curd variety as opposed shreddings or sauce. There’s also onions, but I ordered without. I found the hot dog to have a great snap and the cheese curds were a fantastic addition. The only trouble was the chili itself, which had sizable chunks of tomato that go against my liking, as all my fair readers should know.

But the hot dog wasn’t enough, I I also needed some fries and chose to get those in the form of Poutine. Again, the cheese curds were in full use, in addition to gravy that comes from the same brisket used for the chili. It was a bit on the salty side, but the fries stayed nice and crispy through the whole eating process. Yet, the gravy was tasty and this was easily the closest to real Canadian poutine I’ve had so far.

In all, the Station Street experience treated me well, despite its obvious changes from 1915. It’s like a cool, hipster hot dog spot and is very welcome even in a city with a lot of great dogs.

Although traditionally a French-Canadian specialty, no trip to Canada can be complete without a trip to some sort of local poutinerie. Yes, a poutinerie is a place the dishes out poutine, that ingenious gravy, fry cheese curd concoction that was most likely devised as a way to survive the winter in the Great White North. And despite the beautiful weather, I made my way to Fritz European Fry House in downtown Vancouver to get poutine in me.

As an afternoon snack, I only ordered the medium and then asked the grumpy woman behind the counter if I should add anything else to the mix of fries, gravy and cheese curds. She begrudgingly told me Real Bacon (as opposed to bacon bits) was popular so I begrudgingly asked for some in my order. The result was some pretty fantastic poutine. The fries held their own against the onslaught of gravy and the cheese melted just enough to keep me happy, but not so much as to turn the whole dish into a sludge. I appreciated the bacon, but also didn’t feel that it was entirely necessary. Bacon never hurts, but in this case it didn’t necessarily help either. Poutine, however, always helps. And coming from Fritz it helps even more, even if the customer service could use a little work.

Situated right across the walking street from Pizzeria Bianco in downtown Phoenix, one has to wonder how many patrons of The Rose and Crown are people who tired of waiting for Pizzeria Bianco and decided to eat at the next closest place. We ended up in a similar situation, in which a reservation miscommunication led to us without ample room at the pizzeria. So off we went to The Rose and Crown for some British Pub food. A quick look at the menu revealed that this was no ordinary British Pub and it actually had some unique-looking options.

One of these unique-looking options was Poutine. If you know my blog, then you know I have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with poutine. I’d blame this on my Canadian ancestry, but I find no need to make excuses for fries topped with gravy and cheese curds. The poutine at The Rose and Crown was a little different than your typical poutine, signifying some sort of fusion between British and Canadian food. For starters, although I had taken the term “chips” on the menu to be Britspeak for fries, when they arrived, they really were homemade potato chips. Also, instead of cheese curds, this poutine was topped with shredded cheddar. While I appreciated the attempt at innovating poutine, it fell a bit short in the flavor and texture land. Seriously, no curds?

I followed up this appetizer with, surprise, a burger. This thing went by the name of The Crown and was topped with cheddar, bacon and a fried egg. Similar to my obsession with poutine, I am also obsessed with fried egg as a burger topping and couldn’t wait to get this thing. But first I had to order. It came with lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion, which I rapidly dismissed as I also attempted to order my burger medium rare. Sadly, I was told the best they could do was medium. It also came with a side of fries or slaw and I most certainly went with fries.

The burger turned out to be quite a beauty, with a shiny bun and real fries to accompany it. As I ate the burger, I delighted in the perfect crispiness of the bacon and the flavor provided by the fried egg. The cheddar was as expected and although the bun had a hard time holding its own against the weight of so many toppings, it had the support of a toothpick and lasted throughout the noshing. Also, it was tasty. The meat itself, though, was a bit of a disappointment. I don’t know if it was the extra cooking or a bad choice of beef, but I found it to be a bit drier than I would have preferred and lacking in delicious flavor. It wasn’t bad, but just could have used a few tweaks. And to end on a high note, the fries were great and really should have been used in the poutine instead of those gravy-sucking chips.

In the end, The Rose and Crown delivered most of the goods. A few changes here and there would have me singing their praises and commanding all Phoenicians to skip the line at Pizzeria Bianco and head to The Rose and Crown instead, but without those changes The Rose and Crown is just an above average British Pub.

On of the big perks of running a meat blog is the number of restaurants people recommend to me. I always do my best to check these places out, but no restaurant has been recommended to me quite as voraciously as Animal Restaurant. But Animal is not the kind of restaurant you visit every day. It resides in that level of restaurants deemed “For Special Occasion Only.” But last week a special occasion rolled around: my birthday. And to celebrate the fact that I have remarkably survived on this planet for 26 years, my perfect girlfriend wanted to celebrate by taking me to dinner at Animal. Like I said, perfect.

When I arrived, Animal wasn’t quite what I expected. First off, there was no signage (save for an old Muppets lunchbox with Animal on it) inside or outside the place letting you know its name. Also, it was surprisingly fancy-looking. I had kind of expected a badass sort of restaurant to match the name, but instead the place was kind of mood-lit and snazzy. Fortunately for me, the interior of a restaurant is of little consequence to the taste of the food.

Before even looking at the menu, I took a quick look at the drink selection. There were some unique-looking beers and since I didn’t want to cause any taste bud conflicts with my food, I ordered the simplest, called Mama’s Little Yella Pils ($5). Then we got to looking at the great selection of food on the menu. The menu is constantly changing and it looked like we had caught them on a good night. It was tough to choose from all the great animal-based options, but we finally got our choices down to five. I know five seems ludicrous, but the food here was kind of a middle-ground between tapas and entrees. We also had to be particularly picky with our choices, because the menu said, “changes and modifications politely declined.” So without further adieu, here’s what we got:

Quail Fry ($15)

The menu said this came with grits, chard, slab bacon and maple jus (not pronounced “juice” which to me would simply be syrup). Being fried, this quail pretty much doubled in size. The breading on the bird was some of the best I’ve ever had. In fact, I found myself eating the crumbs long after the bird had been fully consumed. The quail itself was pretty tasty and since quail isn’t exactly a meaty bird, the bacon was a great addition. It was perfectly crunchy and flavorful. The grits were more creamy than usual, but some of the most flavorful I’ve ever had. Finally there was the chard, which I was able to fully avoid thanks to the girlfriend.

Marrow Bone ($9)

The bone came with chimichurri and caramelized onions. Although onions are one of the banes of my existence, I decided to trust the geniuses at Animal on this one. Marrow was definitely something I wanted to eat here and I wasn’t going to let some onions get in the way of that. It also came with two slices of toast to spread the marrow on. I’m not really sure what creature the bone came from (possibly lamb?), but I do know that it would have been happy in death, knowing how masterfully its bone marrow would be prepared. The gelatinous marrow tasted great on the toast and the chimichurri had an almost pesto-like flavor to add to the jelly. I probably could have done without the onions, but they were a necessary evil for me to make my way into the marrow.

Barbeque Pork Belly Sandwiches ($12)

These little sandwiches weren’t even on our radar until we saw another table order them. Although they came with slaw, I knew I had to get some pork belly in my own belly that night. As many people know, pork belly is the basis for bacon, so you know you can’t go too wrong. Even though the sandwiches came covered in slaw, I managed to scrape all the bits of mayo-ey lettuce off of mine.

Then I got down to business. Wow, this sandwich was amazing. To start, the bun was buttery, crispy and all-around joyful. I would have been happy to eat the bun alone, but it was even better with the belly. The barbecue sauce slathered on the pork was delicious and belly itself was cooked perfectly. Sometimes pork belly can be too fatty and flavorless, but this belly of pork was like a dream come true…in my mouth. It was definitely the highlight of my meal.

Poutine ($15)

To start off I have to be clear that this is simply not poutine. Sorry, Animal, but you can’t just throw gravy, fries and cheese together and call it poutine. It’s gotta be made with cheese curds. Any other cheese just doesn’t cut it. With that said, this mix of fries, oxtail gravy and shredded cheddar cheese was still mighty tasty. The fries miraculously remained crispy through the end and the oxtail was tender and delicious. It was more of a stew on fries, which was great once I pushed the thought of this being poutine out of my mind. My only complaint was that by the end, the dish became too salty. Obviously I should expect that with such a mix of foods, but I still like to think it could have somehow been avoided.

Flat Iron ($25)

The steak came with asparagus hash and truffle parmesan fondue. It was the last of our pre-dessert items and we were both pretty stuffed by the time it arrived. In fact, even though we ordered it medium-rare, it took a solid fifteen minutes to reach our table after we had finished the “poutine.” The steak was drenched in the parmesan sauce, but we found our way to the meat and started slicing away. The steak itself was pretty good, but I felt like it was a bit overwhelmed by the sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love combining cheese and steak, but this sauce just seemed like it could have found a better place atop some kind of chicken. Nonethless, like every other dish, it had been cooked perfectly. I avoided the asparagus, but the potatoes it came with tasted great with the sauce.

After all this, the meal was not quite over yet. We still had to find the small spots in our stomachs for dessert. We decided to try out two of the four choices. The first was the obligatory Bacon Chocolate Crunch Bar ($7). This was a slab of chocolate with little bits of bacon sprinkled across the top. I’ve had bacon chocolate before and didn’t really love it, and sadly the same was true for this bar. It had nothing to do with the bacon, though. I actually felt like the bacon was the best part of the bar, but the chocolate was just too rich for me. Admittedly, I’m not a chocolate lover, so the allure of this dessert might just be lost on me.

We also ordered the Pound Cake ($7), which came with “macerated” strawberries and cream. I don’t know what macerated means, but I’m pretty sure it’s violent and I completely condone violence against strawberries. This was definitely my favorite of the two desserts. Sometimes it’s just good to wash down a meal of meat with some fruity goodness.

Finally, we were stuffed. We had eaten the meat of at least five different animals (quail, pig, sheep, ox, cow) and so much more. Each dish was amazing, with my favorite being those pork belly sandwiches. Unfortunately, for a restaurant called Animal, they happened to use a lot of vegetable ingredients. I was able to avoid most of these, but it would have been nice to order without them. Yet, these vegetables were a necessary evil that I had to overcome in order to have one of the best meals of my life. Thanks Bina!

A few more beers into the night and not yet having satisfied my craving for poutine in Toronto, my drunken munchies search became a quest for poutine. The quest ended when we discovered Smoke’s Poutinerie in the Queens West area. This place was a chain, but still had the look of a greasy hole-in-the-wall style poutine joint. Their menu had a few different variations of that delicious treat, even one including bacon, but we decided that the traditional was the way to go. We got a large for 8 loonies and waited about 30 seconds for them to toss the fries, curds and gravy into a box for eating.

Now this was how poutine was supposed to be. The curds still retained their shapes and although the food looked deliciously sloppy, you could see exactly what you were about to eat. The gravy tasted different from any I’d ever had with poutine before, but not necessarily in a bad way. After a few bites, we decided it must have come from some sort of foul, be it chicken, turkey or otherwise. And it was delicious, chain or not. Each bite had the perfect mix of ingredients and there was enough gravy and curds in the box so that no fry went unflavored. Even though the gravy was thin, it didn’t destroy the fries completely. They definitely got a bit soggy by the end, but they retained their individuality and I never felt like they had been turned to mush.

It was the perfect treat to end a night of drinking in Toronto. Look out, French-Canada, it looks like I don’t have to travel all the way to your part of the country next time I need some poutine in my belly.

After a few drinks, our tour guide (aka the girlfriend’s bro) took us to a little hole in the wall called Pommes Frites. Here, they specialized in cones of Belgian fries served with some crazy sauces like Pomegranate Teriyaki Mayo, Irish Curry and more. These seemed all good and well, but I saw something on the menu that tickled my fancy even more: Poutine.

For the uninitiated and un-Canadian, poutine (pronounced pooh-teen) is a gloriously unvegan treat consisting of fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. This combination creates something spectacular, yet rarely found south of the Great White North. It had been a long time since I was in Canada and I was with a couple poutine virgins, so we ordered a large one to split for six bucks.

I watched as the cook scooped up some fries, grabbed some curds and ladled the gravy into a styrofoam cup. I had never seen poutine dished out in a styrofoam cup like this, but I reserved my judgment for the taste. We grabbed our forks and went at it. It was actually surprisingly good for not being in Canada. The fries maintained a level of crispiness in all that gravy and the cheese curds made it halfway into that semi-gooey state that makes poutine so good. The gravy happened to be of the chicken sort and was nice and flavorful and definitely went well with those fries.

Poutine at Pommes Frites was definitely an unexpected treat for my trip to New York. Although not perfect, they definitely did poutine justice and the place could definitely be a little taste of home for any homesick Canadians hanging out in Manhattan.