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! ****

Bubba's Pizzeria (King St E & Princess)

After a huge disappointment at Bubba's in the hub, I needed to try the original Bubba's poutine. This is where I have been told to get poutine from, so my expectations were high.

I have to admit that I did have a beer beforehand but I don't think it did anything funny to my evaluation. I am a professional poutine critique at this point. I only had a small poutine and right after I placed an order, I thought I should have gone for a large one but then I watched the guy fix my poutine.... he put some fries in a cup almost halfway then press down with cheese... then a ladle of gravy... then he repeated the whole process. Thus, there was a layer of cheese curds! What a deal... mmmmmm

Location: 349 King St E, Kingston, ON

Small: $5.95 (shown above)
Large: $6.95

They also have chicken and italian poutine, which I will have to try at some point.

Overall: this was a good poutine and I liked it. This is definitely one of the best poutines (in Kingston) but I think there is still room for improvement.

Fries: They were fried very well but not overcooked. This makes the fries to stay nice and crunchy and prevents them from becoming soggy with gravy. They were seasoned pleasantly. Fries alone were very good. My favorite.

Gravy: Dark thick meat gravy and A LOT AND LOT, yet not overwhelming. The flavor is pleasantly strong. Salty enough to have a satisfying punch but not too salty like the other Bubba's. Because the poutine here is served in a cup, gravy slowly drips down in the cup, coating fries with its deliciousness.

Cheese: A hidden layer of cheese (well, I saw him fix it so it wasn't hidden to me), so there was a lot of cheese altogether, which is a good deal. Although it wasn't the squeaky kind and very melty. I really like the hidden layer and the sheer quantity of it, and melty cheese is nice but i would have preferred the squeaky kind. Had it been the real squeaky curds, this would have been the ultimate poutine in Kingston.

**** digg it! ****


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Bubba's Pizzeria (at Princess and Division)

I didn't update the blog for a while as I was not feeling too well and I didn't want to bias my evaluation (stuffed up sinuses affect taste and smell eh!). But now I am back. After evaluating the chip wagons around campus, I thought this was the time to test other places around downtown Kingston.

Bubba's Pizzeria , or simply Bubba's is famous for its poutine (ironically, I have not heard anything about their pizza. But for a longtime NY resident, any non-NY pizza sucks anyway). I've been told by many people "Oh, you have to try Bubba's poutine." There are two branches, one in lower downtown and the other is in the hub. The one I tried is the one in the hub, near the corner of Princess and Division streets

Small: $5.31 ($4.00 from 11am to 11pm)
Large: $6.64 ($5.26 from 11am to 11pm)


**by the way, I forgot to take pictures... I was too thrilled to get "Bubba's poutine"**


Overall, despite its reputation for a good poutine, I didn't like it much. First of all, for the amount of money you pay, the serving size wasn't too satisfying. Second, I found the fries and gravy to be sub-par. However, I'm sure the experience is much better when stumbling around drunk at 2 am.

Fries: VERY soggy. They weren't fried well. It's mysterious because the fries were fried right after my order was placed, yet they came out so soggy. They didn't have the nice crispy edges. I was completely turned off by it.

Gravy: Traditional dark meat gravy and it's very thick, and A LOT, which I really liked. However this gravy was sickeningly salty. After finishing the entire poutine, I almost felt that the back of my throat was salt-burned.

Cheese: Squishy yet melty at the same time. Not overpowering but good amount on top of the fries. It was well balanced. about 1.5 cm3


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The Small Fry

I wasn’t going to get poutine today but after having some beer (don’t you love the British influence in Canada? People drink during working hours. Love it), I needed to get something so I almost compulsively got a large poutine.

The Small Fry is a chip wagon parked in front of JDUC building on Queen’s campus. I noticed that one of the menus says “Jimmy’s” and the prices of the poutines are identical to those of Jimmy’s that I already wrote about. Later confirmed by one of my colleagues that The Small Fry and Jimmy’s are indeed related.

Small: $3.25
Large: $4.00 (shown above)

Weekdays from around 9:30 to 3:30

Overall, this is my favorite so far because of the flavorful gravy and good cheese—and a lot of it. The only negative is how the fries were cooked but if I had been there during the busy lunch hours, I am sure the fries would have been better (although I don’t know if I would have gotten less gravy/cheese).

Fries: Some of the fries seemed to have been overcooked. Perhaps it was because I was there at soon-to-be closing time.

Gravy: A LOT! Small chunks of ground beef in traditional dark beef gravy, just like Jimmy’s. I didn’t notice this with the gravy at Jimmy’s (maybe because I didn’t get a lot of gravy there) but I tasted a hint of curry or some curry-esque flavor. Salty too… loved it

Cheese: Squishy and a lot of it. Again, just like Jimmy’s they were about 1 to 1.5cm3.


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Beaver Choice (aka Swedish Truck)

This is the truck with the beaver picture on its side, usually parked on Union street across from Division Street. It's very popular and always crowded with many students and staff members. You can find their website here.

Poutine here is more like an à la carte style as poutine is not listed on their menu. There are 3 sizes of fries (small $2.00 , medium $2.75 and large $3.50), gravy is $0.50 Cheese curd is $1.25 extra to the fries. But, you can simple place an order saying “large poutine.” I was hungry enough to order a large, and it was $5.25 ($3.50 + $0.50 + $1.25)

Overall it was a satisfying lunch but perhaps slightly overpriced.

Weekdays: 10am to 6pm (although they often close before 6pm)

Fries: Long and reasonably crunchy. They seem not salted. Although the poutine overall is seasoned pleasantly, it would be nice to have some extra kick of salt with the fries.

Gravy: Dark beef gravy. A LOT OF IT. This gravy has a hint of consommé-esque flavor.

Cheese: Very melty (as opposed to squishy) cheese on top of the fries. An unmelted piece I found was about 1 cm3. Although this is completely a personal preference, I think I prefer the squishy kind. The cheese here has the texture more like that of mozzarella’s.


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Jimmy's Truck (Presumably)

One of the menus says “Jimmy’s”, so I presume that’s the owner’s name. The guy (presumably Jimmy) was very pleasant and he told me that you can call him and place an order beforehand. Unlike other trucks that drive away each night, this “truck” appears to be parked permanently as the bottom of the vehicle is surrounded by lattice.

Overall, it was a satisfactory lunch/snack.

Weekdays: 9:15 am to 3pm (depending on the weather. They may close later when the weather is nice)

Location: On Stuart St, across from George St.

Small: $ 3.25 (shown above)
Large: $ 4.00

Fries: Reasonably crunchy and a bit on the salty side. They were fried well, and not greasy at all.

Gravy: It has some small chunks of ground beef and onions in it with pleasant hint of black pepper. I personally would have preferred a bit more gravy.

Cheese: Squishy curds about 1 – 1.5 cm3. Plenty of it on top of the fries.


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Fries and Prejudice

After spending 10 plus years in the States, my sorry Japanese ass was moved up to the Great White North (note: my immigration status in the US was legit. I wasn't deported, mind you). The only thing I knew about Canada and its people was that they speak funny, eh (and they make fun of my NY accent). But shortly after I moved up here to Kingston Ontario, I discovered the greatest Canadian creation of all time, Poutine.

Who would think about pouring gravy on top of french fries with cheese? If McDonald's is unhealthy, poutine is life-threatening. If these max security prisons in Kingston don't shorten inmates' lifespan, poutine surely can. There has to be a strong negative correlation between the amount of poutine one consumes and his/her lifespan. But this shit tastes good, man.

It's everywhere. The trucks that Canucks call "chip wagons" are selling poutine at every corner of Queen's University campus (ok that's a bit exaggerated) and now I need to taste them all. With all this choice, an outsider can be easily overwhelmed. This is where I come in. In this blog, I will get poutine from various places and evaluate them. Over time, I hope this will provide the definitive guide to poutine in (and possibly around) Kingston. While I will try to be as objective and scientific as possible, it's still just my own opinion.

To those who have some intractable opinion about poutine from certain places (i.e., strong preferences) it's my own preference, damn it. Get over it you hoser.