Go on a poutine crawl

“The gravy is insanely rich, and honestly, it’s a little too much combined with the doughnut fries. It’s like the two were fighting it out inside my mouth and the victor will have the honour of killing me with heart disease. I’m forcing my way through a dish I’d normally relish, and all the while the threat of painting the cafe in a vomitus reimagining of a Jackson Pollock painting looms over me. [...] On the way to the next spot, I begin to re-evaluate some of my life choices. How could something so delicious inflict such pain? How could I have thought this poutine-crawl to be remotely feasible, much less a good idea?”

“The food came out really quickly and we dug into the poutine first. [...] The poutine had small cubes of the smoked meat through the dish. It was delicious. I was worried it was going to have the consistency of Spam (not that I don’t love Spam, but Spam ISN’T pastrami), but it was more firm, smoky, and pastrami flavored. Quite good. The cheese looked like melty curds [...] The curds had a really mild flavor to them and I expected them to taste more like cheese. Fortunately, they had a great texture to them and you knew you were eating cheese – your brain can fill in the gaps.”

“A-Wow and I walked over from Rye Deli, since it’s a block away and prepared for our second course of poutine for the night. The poutine arrived first and looked stunning. When A-Wow said it was pot-roast-style, he meant there’s actually shredded pot roast IN it. Like a generous helping of it. It also had carrots, celery, onions in it – just like mom’s pot roast. The meat was extremely flavorful, which I was thrilled about. There were actual cheese curds in the dish and you could taste them!”