Poutine

I was sitting at the hotel bar, waiting for my french onion soup, minding my own business (since I have a hard time socializing with strangers), when a guy comes and sits near me.  We start chatting because the odds of us both being staff was 98% and it is always 'safe' to talk to colleagues.  So he drank his beer, I ate my soup and then we both finished around the same time, he and his other friends invited me to go for poutine with them.

I had no idea what poutine was, and I just had soup for dinner, but I thought - it would be good to go out and get to know some colleagues.  I was proud of myself for going out of my comfort zone.

We get to the restaurant, Frite Alors! on St. Catherine and the atmosphere was super laid back.  The place was only had 4 other people in there at 9pm on a Saturday night, but it was recommended by the hotel concierge.

Poutine La Boucane

I enjoy trying the local flavors of places I travel to, but I was a little cautious with the fries.  It turns out that poutine is french fries smothered in gravy with cheese curds.  Then you can get other varieties that also include onions, peppers, smoked meat, peppercorns, etc AND they have several varieties of mayonnaise based dipping sauce.  I do not like mayonnaise, so I did not order this - but they did have a nice variety that if you did like mayonnaise, I am sure you would enjoy the sauces. 

So they bring out my 'petite' bowl of fries.  There is no way I was going to eat the whole thing (although I was the only one at my table to not eat the whole thing and they also got small sandwiches with theirs and a slightly smaller version of the basic poutine). 

It was interesting. I liked the gravy on the fries, and I love cheese - and this was my first time having cheese curds.  My variety was extra cheese and there was also peppercorns , which I was not expecting.  I did try the variety with the smoked meat on top - it was not a lot of smoked meat in proportion to the amount of fries, but the meat had an excellent flavor.

I say give poutine a try if you are in Montreal or other areas where it is a common food, even if it is only a small taste.

The mini size was about $7, the petite ranged from $8 - $12, and the larges were a little more but I don't remember and can't find the menu.