#quebec poutine

This past weekend marked the 4th Annual Poutine Festival in Drummondville, Quebec. Located in Woodyatt park, the two day festival featured not only poutine tasting from four different ‘poutiniers,’ but live music by Quebec artists as well as local vendor booths in a carnival style, all in a family atmosphere. On Friday the doors opened at 5pm and hosted 3 live bands, and on Saturday there were 4 musical acts, as well as an appearance from the well known Quebec children performer Shilvi. As fun as that all sounded, we weren’t there to see bands we never heard of, or to purchase stuffed animals, we were there with one singular agenda; scarf down some of that maudite poutine. Now I personally only had one poutine from Drummondville, from Roy Le Jucep, who claims to be the originator of the poutine, and I was so disappointed because not only did their curds squeak worse than car breaks that need to be changed, their sauce tasted like Alphaghetti’s. After doing some research, I found that Drummondville is known to have a more sweeter sauce, but that still shouldn’t ruin the experience of Quebec’s culinary pride as it’s also about the cheese and fries as much as it is about the gravy.

We weren’t thrilled about the twenty dollar entrance fee, which didn’t include any vouchers for poutines; this was going to be one pricey Saturday afternoon. Things didn’t get any cheaper when we saw the charges for parking, which was also not included in the admission. After driving around the outskirts of the venue for 2 minutes, we luckily stumbled upon this:

We purchased our 20 dollar bracelets, and had to walk through a security checkpoint; maybe people were bringing something other than their stomachs into the venue, two officers ensured that they wouldn’t.

We arrived just past 4pm, and there were already over a hundred people inside. Children were sitting around the stage with their parents being entertained by Shilvi.

After checking out our surroundings, we shortly made our way over to where the poutines were being sold. There were a lot of serious eaters around, like these guys who even have t-shirts of poutine printed on them. They run a site dedicated solely to poutines from around Quebec and feature hundreds of them on their site http://www.mapoutine.com.

We started in the order that they were presented to us, beginning with Chez Ben from Granby.

Chez Ben is pretty hard to drive by without noticing, as they have a massive neon sign of a man with fries and burgers in his hands. Next to him is another sign saying that they have the best poutine. I’ve never been to Chez Ben before but heard a lot about it, so I was really happy to try their poutine.

Not only did they offer the friendliest service as they had two really nice vendors in front who made us me feel very welcomed, but they also had a very solid poutine. The fries were delicious, even on their own, the gravy was excellent, although there could have been a bit more, and the curds were fresh and tasty. This was a pretty good poutine, and so whenever I visit granby next, I look forward to trying their Italian poutine.

Chez Ben: 8.0/10

The next poutine comes from a fromagerie in Drummondville called Lemaire.

I was anticipating that tomato inspired sweetness in their sauce, so it wouldn’t come as a surprise. What really caught me off guard was the taste of their fries which were dry along with a strong aftertaste. The cheese was no better, similar to Roy Le Jucep’s, but not as squeaky. They also had no choices, as they only offered one kind of poutine; pepperoni. The pepperoni was actually a decent topping, it works well when paired with fries and gravy, but not in this poutine.

Frommagerie Lemaire: 3.0/10

Just a little under 50 KM from Drummondville is Victoriaville, and to represent the city was Max Poutine, who has a special named after the nickname of Victoriaville called Victo (a poutine topped with ribs). They also had another one with popcorn in it, but they told me this one was their specialty.

Unfortunately, there was nothing special about this poutine. The wavy fries were quite good on their own, they were crispy and enjoyable, but it was the overly liquidy sauce that brought it down, along with the ribs which were very overwhelming. The taste of the ribs on their own wasn’t even that bad, it just didn’t work on this poutine; I would take a traditional over the Victo any day, and because I liked their fries, I would be willing to go back to Max for their traditional poutine. Though this one was a step above Lemaire’s, it still was not to my liking; it really made me forget that I was eating a poutine and I didn’t like that, especially at a poutine festival.

Max Poutine: 4.5/10

And lastly, there was Monsieur Poutine, from Sherbrooke, QC who gave us the option of having a traditional or Western poutine.

Given the fact that our last two poutines digressed from the traditional and weren’t working too well for us, we decided to stick with a regular, plain good ol' poutine. The cheese curds were excellent, they had a sharp taste to them that really stood out, the fries were almost as crispy as Max’s, but once again, the sauce was a failure; it was sour and tasted stale.

Restaurant Monsieur Poutine: 3.5/10

After cleaning up the poutines, we made our way over to the voting booth, where we had to put our hand on “Le Grande Livre De La Poutine” and vote, similar to taking an oath in court. We voted Chez Ben for this year’s best poutine.

In conclusion, I wasn’t very impressed with the festival. Though I don’t regret going by any means as I did have a fun time, I wasn’t pleased with driving over an hour for the poutines that were served with the exception of Chez Ben’s. There could have been more vendors, and because there were only four to choose from, I think that they should have probably sold hot dogs or hamburgers as well, even though it was a poutine festival. We both parted feeling like we hadn’t really gotten our fix, and that is why on the way home, for good measure, I thought why not stop off somewhere in Montreal and enjoy the poutine that I’ve grown to love. My girlfriend and I have tried several times to go to Poutine Lafleur, which was always closed every time we tried to eat there and what was worse is they don’t have a phone line so I could never reach them. I heard about Poutine Lafleur from all over the internet, and mostly everyone says that it is the best poutine in Montreal. Surprised that I never tried it, I thought it would be fitting for a day like today. We decided that since it was still early, we may just have a shot. And there it was, in all its glory, sign shining in the sun, and open.

Poutine Lafleur definitely holds one of the best poutines that I have had in Montreal. Their dish reminded me how lucky we are to have such a great example of what Quebec culture prides itself on. I am aware that various areas of Quebec hold some great poutines, but at the same time I also feel that we are very fortunate to live in the heart of such a great and fulfilling dish that comes from a wonderful culture.

Poutine Lafleur: 9/10

Now is a very good time to hit the gym!