Poutine (pu: ‘ti:n) – noun (Canadian) a dish of chipped potatoes topped with curd cheese & a gravy sauce
Poutine originated in Quebec in the 1950’s. There are several stories about how it started, but I’ll share the one told to us by a lifelong Quebecois: A chef went to the market and was carrying around a sack of potatoes. He only had one bag, so when he bought cheese curds, they just threw them on top of the potatoes. The chef thought ‘Hm, this could make an interesting dish.’ Later, the gravy was added to the recipe &, as they say, the rest is history.
I was skeptical, at best, about poutine before our visit. As a lover of all things french fries (I have a detailed Top Five ranking system of my favorite fries in the DC area), it seemed like any sort of loaded french fry concoction should be awesome. But I wasn’t convinced. The cheese curds I could certainly get behind. But the gravy? I don’t know about that.
For our first ever sampling of this classic Quebec delicacy, we headed to La Banquise for what is supposed to be Montreal’s best poutine. The restaurant seemed promising: a nothing fancy, mostly French-speaking, cash-only establishment that offers 28 different types of poutine.
We settled into a booth & skimmed the French-language menu. We finally settled on sharing a small (“small” being a relative term) classic poutine & a salad (for good measure). We also ordered two local Montreal beers, because what’s fries with gravy without something to wash it down with?
We didn’t have long to wait before our massive, heaving pile of artery-clogging goodness arrived. Honestly, it looked even more disgusting than I thought it would. B was excited though & dug right into the cheesy, gravy-y mess. I stabbed my fork into the pile & hesitantly put the first bite in my mouth, catching a drip of gravy on my chin.
‘Not horrible,’ was my first thought.
“Not as bad as I thought it would be,” I said to B, who was now happily digging in.
“Are you kidding?,” B said. “It’s great!”
Leave it to a man who eats healthier than anyone I’ve ever met to enjoy french fries with cheese curds & gravy.
La Banquise
Plateau-Mont Royal Neighborhood
Corner of Christophe-Colomb & Rachel Streets
Open 24 hours
@restolabanquise
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