What are all of the cool kids eating in Montreal?  Poutine!  It’s pronounced “poo-tin” which in some circles translates to “big mess”.  The delicacy was invented near Montreal back in the 1950’s.  It’s not exactly certain who is really responsible for it, but we do know for sure that it originated in Quebec.  When you visit Montreal it seems to be everywhere.

This is where we decide to have ours.

With a name like Poutineville, and excellent reviews on trip advisor, we are all in.  As journalists we feel it’s our responsibility to eat it and report back.  Let me say upfront that this is not an investigative report, and we are in no way on any sort of mission to sample and find the best poutine.  Montreal is a diverse city with varied food choices so we do not limit our food experiences in the name of science or journalism!

For the uninitiated, poutine is a dish made with french fries and cheese curds and topped with gravy.  This description sounds pretty disgusting to me, but poutine has evolved into something a little more sophisticated over the years.  In fact, it’s been reinvented as a trendy eating concept where people can even design what they want in their dish.

It’s hard to decide, but the build your own menu is too complicated and we opt for the Poutineville house specialty.  Here is their description: Hand crushed potatoes, with fresh cheese curds and mozzarella, topped with home cooked braised beef and red wine gravy.

We get the large and share.  Is that a “big mess” or what?  We add a salad and it’s more than enough for us to eat.  I didn’t expect to like it because the concept didn’t really excite me, but the potatoes are crispy, the curds are squeaky (as they should be) and the braised beef is moist and tender.  We don’t plan to have it again before we leave Montreal, but we are happy to have eaten it and filed this report.

Coming up in my next post, more miles and smiles on the bike and lots of pretty pictures.

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