|
It's about time a Quebecer brings them to Toronto. So far only Costco used real chunky gouda cheese curds, and the same recipe they server in their Quebec stores. The gravy wasn't that great though.
I'd like to see what kind of fries this new place uses.
On a side note... has anyone read this article in the STar yesterday?
http://www.thestar.com/article/530474
| quote: | The war of the curds
A victor is revealed in the long-standing battle to be declared creator of Quebec's famed poutine
Nov 08, 2008 04:30 AM
Marion Kane
Special to the Star
The all-Canadian controversy surrounding the origin of poutine has simmered for decades, occasionally boiling over into a food fight.
Finally, it has been resolved.
On a gloriously sunny fall day, four of us set out to find the answer: myself, my bilingual brother and filmmaker Eric, and two francophones: Eric's girlfriend Claire and camera-woman friend MarieJosee.
We were trying to solve the debate over where, when and by whom Quebec's famous roadside fast food concoction was invented.
Any poutine pilgrimage worth its salt must begin in Bois-Francs: the bucolic, verdant countryside dotted with dairy farms, villages and small towns an hour or two's drive northeast of Montreal.
We have three destinations: Le Roy Jucep restaurant in Drummondville, still alive, hopping and billed on its website, menu and awning as "Plus que l'inventeur de la poutine" ("More than the inventor of poutine").
Next stop, a vintage diner on the small highway that runs through the tiny town of Victoriaville. Max Poutine, a humble eatery, makes no claim to have invented poutine but is a must-visit, with more than 50 versions of the popular dish on its menu.
Our third stop is Warwick, touted by many as the first place to serve poutine in 1957 at a café then called L'Ideal and later renamed Le Lutin Qui Rit (The Laughing Elf). Sadly, this main-street restaurant is no more; its location now a charity shop for children's clothes.
Both claimants to poutine invention are no more. The owner of Drummondville's Le Roy Jucep, Jean-Paul Roy, died a year ago and Fernand Lachance, proprietor of the defunct Warwick café, passed away in 2004. But we have clues, witnesses and evidence that are key ingredients in what turns out to be a successful search.
At its most basic and in its original version, poutine is simply this: hot french fries topped with cheese curds then doused in gravy, referred to in these parts as "la sauce."
At Le Roy Jucep, our source is the affable, chatty and bilingual Daniel Leblanc. He's the long-time manager and now owner of this spacious, bustling establishment that was Quebec's first curbside diner and takes up almost a block.
This spot is known for its excellent burgers, hot dogs and other traditional fast-food fare – but especially for poutine. We order the day's special: Trio de degustation, a poutine tasting trio, for $9.99.
One is your basic and perfect rendition. Piping hot, crispy home-made fries on which magnificent local white cheese curds melted, all soaked with a light but flavourful gravy made, Leblanc says, from Roy's original recipe.
The second is a veggie version, featuring the three key ingredients, plus chunks of tender-crisp green peppers, onion and tomato.
The last is a superb Oktoberfest poutine, with slices of grilled sausage added to the mandatory three-ingredient mix.
Leblanc relates how a customer accidentally invented poutine one busy Saturday in the late 1950s.
"It was a gentleman from Montreal," he explains. "He had the newspaper in one hand and was eating fries with gravy with the other. There was a gallon container of cheese curds on the counter and he asked the waitress to add some curds to his dish of food."
The creation only appeared on the menu as poutine in 1964 after the owner gathered his staff together and asked them to come up with a name for what had been a popular item for several years.
"Somebody said it should be called poutine," he says. "Poutine was slang for the English word "pudding," which our grandmothers used for food that was a mixture of things all put together."
Leblanc is adamant that Warwick's claim to poutine creation is false.
"I have newspapers that prove we were serving it in the 1950s," he continues. "What Fernand Lachance made in 1957 was not poutine. It was just fries with cheese curds."
At Max Poutine, we're tucking into a couple of versions including the house special. The poutine Special Max is divine: your basic poutine crowned with thin slivers of sautéed beef, plus chopped green peppers, tomato, celery and onion.
As we leave, Claire chats with an elderly man seated at the horseshoe counter. It seems he knows Eddy Lanaisse, reputedly the inventor and first man to eat poutine at Lachance's Warwick café. He hands us a napkin with Lanaisse's phone number scribbled on it.
We feel compelled to eat poutine in Warwick, our last stop. At a large cheese shop, milk bar and poutine emporium on the edge of town, we try poutine Galvaude. Rough translation: knock-out poutine. The addition of unappetizing sliced chicken and canned peas is our first poutine disappointment.
We head home, napkin in hand, to phone Lanaisse at his Warwick home.
Through a translator, Lanaisse claims to have been the first man to eat poutine. However, he admits that his version, eaten in 1957 in that Warwick café, was simply french fries topped with cheese curds, no sauce. He says he has witnesses and evidence.
Nevertheless, the winner is Le Roy Jucep, the Drummondville eatery where you can chow down on the original poutine any time, complete with mandatory sauce, and especially at the second annual poutine festival to be held at the end of next August.
Watch the video version of this poutine pilgrimage at marionkane.com.
|
___________________
Short time TA, Long time Guver, Good time giver.
|
