Pita & Pizza Palace

It's been almost 2 months since I wrote my last review. Because I didn't update this blog for a while, some of my friends worried that I was deported from Canada. Nope, I'm still in Canada. (I was in Japan in December but didn't find any poutine)

Pita & Pizza Palace is a family run pizza parlor in the west end of the City of Kingston. I first heard about this restaurant from my colleague, and today my adviser took me there for a poutine. I think he desperately wanted me to update my blog.

Location: 1786 Bath Road

Small: $3.99 (shown here)
Large: $4.99

When I asked for a large poutine, a girl working there warned me about the size, showing me the containers. Quickly I switched my order to a small one. Even a small one is about the same size as many street vendors (Small Fry, etc)'s size. Large can feed a family.

Overall: This has become one of my favorite poutines in Kingston. It's on the salty side but it's definitely satisfying, rather than sickening. The volume and the general quality, along with friendly service were all a positive experience.

Fries: They were fried well, leaving crunchy flavorful brown edges, yet not overcooked. They were not seasoned but the saltiness of gravy compensated this. They were on the short side, and the longest piece of fry I found was about 2 inches or so. But more edges and ends mean more gravy to coat.

Gravy: VERY dark and rich traditional beef gravy. Pleasantly salty and giving a good satisfying punch. It was also thick so its deliciousness coats all the fries nicely. The amount was a lot too. Big plus!

Cheese: A good amount of shredded mozzarella (I think). Generally I prefer cheese curds but here, the amount of cheese was impressive. It was melting away and coating all over your fries just like gravy. If this poutine was allowed to cool off and the cheese hardened, you could lift the entire poutine with a fork. That's how much cheese you get with this poutine.

**** digg it! ****



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Ben's Pub

November was a productive month for the Poutine Puritan and I reviewed a lot of places. December, on the other hand, will be a slow month since I will be visiting Japan -- a country not known for poutine. So this review is (most likely) the last review before my departure. Today, the lab had a holiday party at a cute homey pub called Ben's. Of course, before I realized that they had poutine on their menu, my colleagues were telling me that I would have to get a poutine. Yeah, sure...

Location: 105 Clergy Street East

Poutine: $4...something... (I totally forgot to remember the price)

Overall: The volume is on the modest side compared to other places that charge around the same price range ($4-something). The dish was seasoned well and the taste was satisfying. Yet, texture wise, it can be improved (both fries and cheese).

Fries: They had the semi-crunchy edges but I think they could have been fried at a slightly higher temperature, for a bit shorter time. They didn't seem to be seasoned but it was ok.

Gravy: Not a traditional dark beef gravy. One of my colleagues had a poutine too and she told me it's chicken gravy. It had a light flavor compared to dark beef kind. and it was a lot of it. It was a bit on the salty side but since the fries weren't seasoned, it was not overpowering.

Cheese: Very melty cheese, mozzarella or possibly other kind. It was so melty I couldn't tell what kind it was. The amount was on the "modest" side. Just a bit more would be nice, but again, I prefer squeaky fresh curds.

**** digg it! ****


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Limestone Garden Grill

My colleagues and I decided to go for lunch and we picked the Limestone Garden Grill (Website here). It's a cute restaurant located in between the Queen's campus and downtown Kingston. The place was packed when we were there, generally a good sign for a restaurant.

*Note* the last poutine I had was only 17 hours prior to this. I am seriously putting my best effort into this blog.

Small: $4.90
Large: $6.55 (I had a large)

Location: 175 Bagot Street

Overall: I thought that $6.55 for a large poutine was a bit on the expensive side. BUT, this initial perception was completely blown away with the amount of poutine they serve. It is GINORMOUS. This is, so far, THE biggest poutine I have ever had. I could not finish it. The large would easily satisfy 2-3 people. This is like a party platter. In terms of the quality of poutine, it was ok but nothing special.

Fries: They were fried in a light oil, such as canola or something like that, so the fries had the light flavor, which I actually liked. However, they could have been fried at a slightly higher temperature or for slightly longer to get the nice crunchy edges.

Gravy: Standard dark beef gravy. Nothing stood out to mention. There was a lot of it.

Cheese: A liberal (but not overwhelming) amount of shredded mozzarella, thus very melty. Again, melty cheese has its own goodness, but I rather have real squeaky cheese curds.

**** digg it! **


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Toucan

I exhausted all the chipwagons in the vicinity of Queen's campus, so inevitably, my "encouraging" colleagues have been asking me to try poutine in the downtown area. Although Kingston is a small city, there are many restaurants and pub/bars for its size -- I guess, I will be busy eating poutine for a while. I tried Toucan (website here), a popular Irish pub in town. I had had their food before and it was pretty descent. So my hopes for poutine was relatively high.

Small: $2.75
Large: $4.75 (I had a large)

Location: 76 Princess Street

Overall: For a sit down restaurant, a $4.75 poutine is a pretty good deal. They give you a good portion and it goes very well with beer. Yet, nothing stands out as too special besides the fries.

Fries: I liked the size of the fries. While I don't know if they were from frozen or not, they were real potatos (not the frozen fries made of fake potato flakes). The fries were slightly on the thick size and so fluffy inside. However, they were not crunchy. I would have liked it better if they were fried a bit more or at a higher temperature. They were seasoned slightly.

Gravy: Traditional dark beef gravy and thick. Very similar to other places. Good flavor and reasonably salty. Yet, nothing stands out.

Cheese: They use shredded Jack cheese. It is an interesting twist as Jack cheese has more flavor compared to squeaky cheese curds whose flavor is very mild. It's good because it adds another layer of flavor. HOWEVER, it wasn't a lot. I would have liked it more of it.

**** digg it! ****


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Grad Club

I have been pressured to review more poutine by my encouraging (a.k.a. pushy) colleagues. Being a push-over, I was going to sacrifice my health even further but then my health sacrificed itself with a nasty flu. My appetite was lost but now it's found -- and my colleagues have resumed pushing me. As we had a visitor in the lab, we went out to lunch to Grad Club, one of the restaurants/pubs on campus. Of course, being a professional poutine critique (or a whimpy pushover), I needed to try their poutine.

Poutine: $5.25 (...i think)

Location: 162 Barrie Street (Corner of Union and Barrie)

Overall: INSANELY SALTY. This reminded me of poutine from Bubba's in the hub, which salt-burned my throat. Actually this was the 2nd time I've had poutine at Grad Club and they were consistently on the salty side. With a sprinkle of chopped parsley, the poutine was presented well, but the fresh look betrays the incredible amount of salt. With the small fry within 2 minutes' of walk, you can absolutely skip this poutine -- unless you have a pitcher of beer to wash down your throat. This is the first poutine that I COULD NOT finish. Had it been less salty, it would have been decent.

Fries: They were fried very well with crunchy edges all around but were salted way too liberally. Are they trying to cure the fries??

Gravy: A lot of dark beef gravy, and it is very thick. Although the flavor of gravy is good, because of the overpowering saltiness of the entire poutine, the gravy was getting a bit too much to my taste after three bites.

Cheese: A combination of real cheese curds (they weren't particularly squeaky) and shredded melty cheese (chedder and mozzarella??). I really like this combination and the curds were actually big.

**** digg it ****


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Shawarma Shawarma

This is a small take-out restaurant on my way to Queen's campus. I always wondered what the hell Shawarma was (my colleagues kindly educated me that it is a middle eastern sandwich and it is similar to gyro). Anyway, I noticed on their store front window that it says "large poutine $6" and I needed to try it. But after hearing about schawarma and other forms of middle eastern sandwiches, I couldnt just order a poutine... so I had a chicken schawarma and poutine.

Poutine $6.00
This place has one size yet, advertising that "large poutine $6", which I found is a bit misleading.

Location: 163 Division St

Overall: For $6, the serving size is similar to that of Jimmy's or the Small Fry's small poutine, and these places charge only $3.25. Thus, in terms of mere quantity, this is absolutely overpriced and NOT a good value. HOWEVER, if you want to try poutine with unique gravy, you might want to check this one out... at least once. Their gravy is very original and spicy (not hot). But that's the only thing that interested me. But overall, this poutine, you can definitely skip -- get the shawarma instead.

Fries: Not cooked well. They are just about to be crunchy but not quite reached the optimal point of crunchiness... They were in the fryer for a long time but came out very pale. Presumably the cooking temperature was on the low side. This made the fries cooked thoroughly yet the edges were kind of "spongy" rather than crunchy... Not good... They were seasoned liberally with salt, thus on the salty side.

Gravy: this is the only thing that stood out. Traditional beef gravy yet, the flavor is very "middle-eastern" with a lot of spices (not hot). A burst of those spices in is quite pleasant, actually. This gravy is on the salty side as well thus, the fries and gravy together make the overall poutine salty but not unbearably salty (i.e., Bubba's in the hub).

Cheese: they are big chunks and very melty, about 2-3cm3. They remind me of mozzarella. I saw them measure the amount of cheese. Very good method of standardization. but I think other things (e.g., how the fries are cooked) need to be prepared with more care rather than the amount of cheese.

**** digg it! ****


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Updates

After the first review, I re-visited a few places to check their product consistency.

The Small Fry: Best Value, Good Quality
my colleagues and I have gone back to this place several times and their poutine is generally very good and considered one of the best so far. Fries are generally well cooked, although when they are busy during the lunch hours, the quality of fries (how they are cooked) may fluctuate... sometimes they are overcooked or undercooked. However, the value is always good: they serve a good portion size of fries with a generous amount of curds and their homemade gravy. So far, this is the only place that uses real squeaky (i.e., fresh) cheese curds.

Jimmy's: OK deal with some inconsistency
Their poutine is essentially the same as that of the Small Fry's, same gravy and same squeaky cheese. Yet, their quality is, somehow, not the same as the Small Fry's. The last time I had their poutine, the fries were really bad (mixture of ready-to-burn and completely undercooked soggy fries), and the gravy was burned a bit.

Bubba's in downtown (not the one in the hub): Good fries and Good gravy
Their fries are consistently good. Well cooked and crunchy enough. A generous amount of gravy and cheese is also a good selling point of this poutine; yet, the cheese is the melty kind, rather than squeaky. That is the only negative so far -- well that and I wished their price was slightly lower.

**** digg it! ****