Poutine is sadly not a common dish at the diners and burger joints of greater L.A. If you’re unfamiliar with this touchstone of Quebecois cuisine, the basic formula is a plate of french fries, chunky cheese curds and a thin brown gravy.
The gravy should be hot enough to melt the curds so you get a gooey pull of cheese with every forkful of fry. Like the chili fries of L.A.
’s classic burger stands, Poutine is best enjoyed by fork. Also, like chili fries, this messy dish can be an indulgent side to a burger or a meal in itself. Since originating at diners in rural Quebec in the 1950s, poutine is now common throughout Canada.
Menus at many poutineries often include embellished versions, supplemented with toppings or transformed by subbing the gravy for another rich, heavy sauce. (Montreal’s Au Pied de Cochon, an icon of Quebecois cuisine, famously serves a foie gras poutine that melts in your mouth and travels directly to your arteries.) Attending college in Montreal in the early 2000s, I probably had it once a week, sometimes as post-bar drunk food, but often as a part of a bigger lunch or dinner (RIP to my early 20s metabolism).
Every burger place, kabob shop, deli, diner and pizzeria had at least a simple version of poutine. Even Canada’s McDonalds has a poutine that’s hard to resist. “Do you want to upgrade your fries to a Poutine?” [ think about it for a 10th of a second ] “Yes.
Yes, I do!” For years, when people asked me if there was poutine in L.A., I wo.