poutine – The Concordian

By Alex Hutchins and Jacob Carey

Tasty food reccs for broke students

Restaurant Nilufar

1923 Ste-Catherine St. W.

Falafel wrap, Moroccan chickpea soup, and lemonade trio ($4): 8/10

The warped floors, low ceiling, and limited space really add to the dive-resto vibe at Nilufar, but do not let it’s slightly-lacking aesthetic fool you. The falafel balls themselves have just the right amount of crisp before they give way to a warm explosion of flavour, and the cool veggies add the perfect crunch to every bite. The soup’s soft chickpeas, lentils, celery and onions all blend together beautifully, with just the right amount of cilantro. This was particularly impressive, since I’m not one to enjoy cilantro (it tastes like soap). Moroccan soup was my choice of the day, however there are four other options: lentil, barley, vegetable, and spicy Tunisian soup. The lemonade is the standard drink of choice, while the staff cycle out alternative juice options from day to day, such as peach, lime and pink lemonade, all of which pair beautifully with the meal.

Souvlaki George

6995 Monkland Ave.

Poutine ($9.20): 6.5/10

A few weeks ago, we recommended Souvlaki George as one of the few spots around Loyola to grab some grub. While poutine is by no means their specialty, being a Greek restaurant and all, it was still surprisingly unimpressive. The first major flaw: no napkins or takeout utensils to eat the poutine with, and trying to eat greasy fries with two plastic knives chopstick-style seriously hindered my ability to enjoy the meal. Secondly, the fries were very soggy. While this may not have occurred had I eaten at the resto, the short walk back to campus should not have brought about that much sogginess. Honestly, the best part of the whole dish was the gravy; its savouriness cannot be disputed. While the gyros, pitas and plates are probably delicious, if you’re looking for some poutine, I’d suggest going elsewhere.

Café Bistro Bano

6929 Sherbrooke St. W.

All-dressed chicken schnitzel sandwich ($6.29): 7.5/10

Café Bistro Bano may be easy to miss as one walks down Sherbrooke St. W., but its quality of food should not be overlooked. Just a three minute walk from Loyola campus, the Persian restaurant provides a cozy eating space that feels like home with its unique wall decor. The chicken schnitzel is the most popular and recommended dish, and provides clientele—mostly Loyola High School and Concordia University students—with a satisfying bite at a low cost. The crispy chicken breast in ciabatta bread makes for a nice crunch that is complemented by the lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and spicy sauce. The fries are mediocre, although soup or salad can replace them as a side dish. However, the dessert is shouldn’t be skipped. The homemade cheesecakes are fantastic and the truffles are a must-try.

Parma Café

1202 Bishop St.

Chicken cutlet panini ($10.25): 7.5/10

Located two streets over from Concordia’s downtown campus, Parma Café is an Italian bistro with a wide selection of food options. The modern set-up with soothing decorations and a friendly staff makes for an enjoyable dining experience. The deep-fried chicken cutlet panini comes with grilled eggplant, lettuce and homemade mayonnaise—all flavours that enhance each other beautifully. For an extra dose of flavour, don’t be afraid to add another layer of cheese. The restaurant offers several variations of paninis, salads, pizzas and pastas, as well as the specials of the day. Their desserts range from cannolis and brownies, to cookies and nutella horns, all with a home-style touch. These are best alongside one of Parma’s espresso-based beverages.

Feature photo by Alex Hutchins

Montreal, brace yourselves for seven days of glory. Prepare yourselves for one of the greatest weeks in our history. Montrealers, raise your forks together for what is going to be greatest culinary experience of your life. Let us celebrate our national treasure with nothing less than pride and dignity. Montreal, get ready for Poutine Week.

You read right, Poutine Week; one week filled with events, culinary treats and great parties for the decadent, saucy, cheesy delight that we Quebecers have the honour of representing. Montreal is filled with poutine gems and this week they’re all getting together to celebrate the dish that has made them famous. The event is organized by Montrealer Na’eem Adam.

“Basically, 30 restaurants are getting together and making an amazing poutine that will be available at all of these restaurants for [roughly] $10,” said Adam in an interview with The Concordian. Restaurants will also be selling half portions of this poutine for only $5.

Adam is the social innovator that was behind Burger Week in September, which was a huge success. This time he knew Montrealers expected more.

“After Burger Week, we wanted to take it to another level, and that’s poutine,” said Adam.

Poutine Week has been all over social media sites for the past few weeks. It seems everyone is preparing for the first ever Poutine Week in Montreal.

Adam and his team have been organizing it for quite a while, and events posted on Facebook are already gaining popularity. Events featured during the week include Poutine Week team dinner, hockey poutine and even a poutine jog.

“We don’t want anyone feeling too unhealthy during the week, so we even organized the poutine jog, so that you can still get that exercise in between poutines,” said Adam.

Needless to say, this is an ingenious idea that has found it’s one and only true home: Montreal. The idea and the organization behind it was absolutely spot on, and, like Adam hoped, brought this event to a whole other level. We can only hope to see this will become an annual event.

Poutineville does it like no other

Poutineville is notorious for having one of the greatest and most innovative poutines in the business. Owner Kosta Kariotakis couldn’t contain his passion when describing what he’s done with the famous poutine.

Poutineville provides a quite modern yet equally old school setting, which seems to be the norm for many restaurants in the Plateau nowadays. Nevertheless, it provides a comfortable atmosphere where one can enjoy a few drinks and a world class poutine, which is exactly what Kariotakis wanted to achieve with Poutineville.

“We want customers to have the best possible experience when coming to Poutineville,” said Kariotakis.

Over the years, Poutineville has developed different types of poutines around the core of what most of us know to be poutine. This has enabled him to discover a mix of ingredients that will literally make your mouth drool. Here’s the secret behind their success.

“What you know as poutine is smoked meat, bacon, cheese. What we’ve done here is that we’ve given the French Canadians poutine, with Greek food. We take poutine, and we add filet mignon, we add beef. No one else has poutines like us,” said Kariotakis.

There’s no doubt in my mind, especially considering my Greek origin and my personal love for Greek food, that this is an idea that has changed poutine for the better. However, the boys over at Poutineville took it to another level for Poutine Week, and the hype for this particular poutine had already exploded on the Twittersphere. They call it the General Tao Poutine. This monstrous platter of fries, sauce, and General Tao can be called nothing more than a masterpiece.

Some of the ingredients in this particular one includes sesame seeds, scallions, General Tao sauce, cheese curds and home crushed potatoes. It had been making headlines before it was even featured in their Beaubien location, receiving a spot in the “top 10 must go places for Poutine Week” on mtlblog.com.

Some other classic Poutineville poutines are on special this week in honour of Poutine Week, such as the cheeseburger poutine and the infamous braised-beef poutine. Just repeating that in my mind stirs my stomach.

Poutineville is located on 1348 Beaubien E. St., 1365 Ontario E. St., and 99 Charles Lemoyne

There is nothing ordinary about Burger Bar’s poutine

As if it was necessary to have an excuse to eat more poutine, our glorious city is home to the first ever Poutine Week, going on right now all over town. Thirty restaurants are offering up their french fry creations for the occasion, with innovative recipes inspired by international cuisine, post-inebriation needs and twists on the classic.

I decided to venture to Burger Bar, somewhere not far for Concordia students. Their featured concoction, the Hangover Poutine, consisted of king oyster mushrooms slopped in with the traditional fries and cheese curds, slathered with gravy and truffle oil and topped with a fried egg. The whole thing was served up in an iron pot. It was big enough for my two friends and I to share for dinner and be full enough not to entertain dessert.

The truffle oil and mushrooms added an earthiness to the greasy dish. The flavours were unexpected but married perfectly with the poutine, adding that hint of je ne sais quoi to the classic Quebec meal. The mushrooms provided a meatiness that is so necessary to late night food, but without the aftershock of heartburn that frequently accompanies smoked meat or hotdog poutine binges.

The egg on top is what made the poutine live up to its name. For some inexplicable reason there is nothing more satisfying than the combination of potatoes and egg after a night out.

The key to the Hangover Poutine experience is the blending of all the flavours. For optimal enjoyment cut the egg into bite-sized bits and thoroughly mix the fries with the mushrooms and cheese until it’s all a melted slurry.

My one criticism is that the heaviness of the fried egg made it sink to the bottom of the dish, so that at the end all that was left were chunks of egg white gone soggy in the gravy.

I would wholeheartedly recommend a trip to Burger Bar, especially if you’re looking to soak up all that leftover alcohol you’ve just consumed at one of Crescent street’s numerous bars.

The Hangover Poutine will cost you 15$ and some instant artery clogging, but it’s delicious and it really hits the spot.

Burger Bar is located at 1465 Crescent St.