Poutine on The Ritz

DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image

Gastro pubs and takeout joints alike are hopping aboard the gravy train

Last fall, Cathy Hudson, Sam Tamoto, and Jeff Baron flew to Toronto to meet Ryan Smolkin, the founder of Smoke's Poutinerie -- the most exciting thing to happen to cheese curds since Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet.

"We knew we wanted to open a restaurant of some sort (in Winnipeg), and we heard there was a franchise opportunity," says Hudson of the two-year-old chain that serves 20-plus varieties of poutine. Over the course of a belt-busting weekend, the trio hit all six Smoke's outlets in Toronto, and sampled everything on the menu. Twice. (Hudson assures us that we haven't really tried poutine until we've tried it with beef chili, tomato salsa, jalapeño peppers and guacamole.)

After witnessing 3 a.m. lineups on Dundas Street for Philly cheese steak poutine and curry chicken poutine, Hudson & Co. came to a conclusion: "Omigosh, we have to have this in Winnipeg."

Next month, the first Smoke's location west of Ontario will open at 131 Albert St. "It will be a quick-service restaurant, primarily takeout, with seating for around 15 people," Hudson says, adding that the toughest part of the job so far has been learning how to spell "poutinerie."

"We'll see how things go, obviously, but we're already hoping to have at least two more (in Winnipeg)."

Poutine, a calorie-rich comfort food traditionally consisting of french fries, gravy and cheese curds and commonly associated with greasy spoons and chip trucks, is currently enjoying a rebirth as an au courant dish in gastro pubs and fine dining establishments across North America. One restaurant in Quebec City substitutes a red wine sauce for the gravy, while Chicago's The Gage dresses its version up with "nibbles of elk meat."

Not only is a Facebook group actively lobbying to have April 11 declared National Poutine Day (hear that, politicos?) but a serving of poutine recently had a starring role on the TV show Iron Chef America.

Last month, Montreal chef Chuck Hughes defeated perennial champ Bobby Flay, largely on the strength of a poutine appetizer Hughes prepares at his own resto, Garde Manger. "It's definitely not what you would think for Iron Chef, but I couldn't go there and not do it," Hughes said, after the judging.

And so, to toast the pending arrival of Winnipeg's first all-poutine, all-the-time eatery -- and to honour Chef Hughes' culinary achievement -- we decided to hit the streets, to see what sorts of poutines (poutiniia? poutinae?) are available around town. Here's a taste of what we discovered...

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca

TERRACE FIFTY-FIVE,

55 PAVILION CRES.

Lobster poutine, the brainchild of Chef Simon Resch, has been on the menu at Terrace 55 for about six months. The $16 appetizer consists of bocconcini pearls, bisque and approximately 85 grams of claw and tail meat served on top of tempura-battered Parmesan fries.

"Absolutely," says manager Ian Vickers, when asked if Resch held a taste-test prior to introducing his creation to the public.

"Absolutely," says Vickers, when asked if he was one of Resch's guinea pigs.

Customers are naturally curious about lobster poutine when they spot it on the menu, Vickers says. "I'm not going to tell you that everybody orders it, but almost everybody asks about it."

LOBBY ON YORK,

295 YORK AVE.

This just in: the chicken (livers) came before the (poached) egg.

The chefs at the two-year-old Lobby on York were trying to come up with something nobody else had when they began experimenting with poutine about 18 months ago. Mission accomplished.

The Lobby on York's "modern poutine" ($8) consists of fries, cambozola cheese, and slices of pear, crowned with demi-glace. Add-ons include the aforementioned livers ($4), pork belly ($2), or a poached egg ($2).

"It's a great-looking dish, that's for sure," says a manager. "Some people get scared off when they hear the word 'liver,' but thankfully, I'm not one of them."

LOVEY'S BBQ & SMOKEHOUSE,

208 MARION ST.

Just how far do people travel for Lovey's BBQ poutine (home-cut fries, gravy, cheese, pulled pork and barbecue sauce, $8.95)?

"True story: a woman came in one night and told us that somebody had texted her from China, telling her she had to come here for the poutine," says owner Roger LeBleu, who added it to the menu a few months after he opened, as a nod to his Franco-Manitoban roots

LeBleu is fairly confident that Lovey's is the only southern-flavoured restaurant in the world that serves the concoction. "It's amusing when people from Texas are here. You see them mouthing the word a few times, before they finally ask, 'What exactly is that poo-teen ya got there?'"

RED BOOT DRIVE-IN,

1866 NESS AVE.

Fresh-cut fries or Karvys?

That's the first question owner Gord Picken asks customers who order poutine at the venerable Red Boot Drive-In. Original owner Jim Karvelas invented the Karvy, a spicy, crinkle-cut french fry, over 40 years ago. Picken now dresses Karvelas's creation up with Bothwell cheese curds and his own homemade gravy.

"We're currently experimenting with our poutine, by topping it with sour cream and/or fried onions," Picken says. "Or, if you don't like gravy, you can have it with chili instead." (An order of Karvys poutine is $7.15; poutine with regular fries goes for $5.45.)

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 9, 2011 E1