On poutine.

[randomness]

This Buzzfeed post has been making the rounds. The comment thread that followed was pretty epic. Two questions I had after reading the thread:

Is the poutine at Saus in downtown Boston any good?

Have the Belgians learned to make poutine with their excellent frites, and if so where can one try them?

I can answer the first question fairly easily and inexpensively, and intend to go over there myself.

For the second, there is the internet. Four years ago, someone asked "Ou en Belgique peut on manger de la Poutine, LE plat québécois par excellence?" on Yahoo! Answers France, but all they got was a recipe. (Other Google hits are mostly about Vladimir Putin in Belgium, not helpful.)

So perhaps not.

Comments

[awfief.livejournal.com]

http://www.yelp.com/biz/saus-boston?q=poutine seems to state that the poutine is good, FWIW.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had a look at that. I think the only way to find out is to give it a try.

[merlinofchaos]

My understanding from the Belgians and Canadians I work with in the Drupal community is that Belgium doesn't understand poutine. I don't recall seeing poutine in restaurants when I was there in 2006, but that's been quite some time now, and they *do* try to be cosmopolitan.

What I do remember was a Belgian moving to Canada and commenting specifically on the poutine. So my guess is the answer is, or at least was a few years ago, no.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Yeah, one of the few poutine-related sites I found obviously based in Europe was http://lapoutine.fr/, which actually sells poutine kits to customers in Metropolitan France and Europe. From this I infer restaurants which make the stuff aren't common, because if there were there probably wouldn't be enough of a market for a kit you make at home to support a site like that.

It's too bad, because the Belgians really do a great job making frites.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

That's a bad sign for me because my expectations are pretty high. Some of the best poutine in Quebec is in fact from fast food joints, with Chez Ashton a famous example.

I do agree about the foie gras.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

How is it possible that a Belgian frites place has existed in Boston since 2011 and we did not know about it?

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I too am mystified by this.

Wanna go?

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Definitely!

[a-dodecahedron.livejournal.com]

Makes me want to try Wayfare Tavern, but I'm not ordering the poutine.

Greenburger's has poutine only occasionally as a special, but it's delicious.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Makes me want to try Wayfare Tavern, but I'm not ordering the poutine.

Yeah, that's probably wise. They should really learn to make the original before screwing with it.

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

Wait for meeeeeeeeee!

...don't, really, but now I wanna come out there and Eat All The Things.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

I had the poutine at Saus yesterday and I quite enjoyed it. I'd've liked the gravy to be more beef and less … brown. Poultry? … but it was damned tasty.

The waffle I had was lovely, too.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Waffles too! What's not to like?

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I just tried the falafel there last weekend! Didn't get to the frites, though. Going to have to give them a try.