First experience: T&L's Fries

My inaugural poutine blog visit was well attended, with more than half a dozen colleagues from Health Canada (yes, the irony. Please feel free to judge.) taking part in the tasting and lending their opinions. T&L's Fries sits just off Scott Street, neatly tucked in behind The Beer Store - very much out of the way for anyone who doesn't live or work in the area. There are a host of reasons I could give to explain choosing T&L's for my first blog post, but in reality there is only one - convenience. It's around the corner from work, it was hot, and it seemed like a good opportunity.

With our work set out for us, we headed out and lined up at the chip stand (some of us noting with relish the welcome sign depicting a monkey - how that related in any way to poutine, I do not know. But it immediately endeared me to the chip stand.).

I can't help wondering if it was the low rent or the hungry government workers with nowehere else to turn that drove T&L's (side note: the abundance of initialed chip stands/wagons in this city drives me nuts. Timothy & Leanne? Tommy & Lefebvre? DEAR GOD, WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!) to set up shop in such a seemingly remote space, but I won't fault them. We were hungry and they were there. What else matters?

The whole group ordered a round of poutines, save our "control group" (Matt), who chose a small bag of fries. Would the fries be as delicious sans cheese and gravy? And could the crisp factor withstand a mountain of cheese and gravy? Service was quick and efficient ("curdeous" as poutiner Mary remarked), which is all one can ask for at a chip stand -- they're busy and it's hot. The sooner they can serve the crowd, the sooner they can go in the back and stick their heads in the freezer for some salvation from the humidity (I mean, that's what I would do. And did do working the fryers at Burger King throughout high school. Story for another day -- the poutine there had orange gravy. I mean, really orange.).

Inital musings were that the poutine was "good". Keep in mind, we were all extremely hungry and the smell was mouth-watering. So a mere "good" didn't satisfy my criteria.

Fries: Decision split. Clearly a matter of opinion, half the group seemed to think the fries were wonderfully crispy and golden, and the other half were disapointed in how soggy they became partway down.
Cheese: Cheese curds were basic, but didn't have that squeaky "fresh" taste that makes for a truly great poutine. Group consensus was that cheese was seriously lacking - an abundance of fries and gravy could not make up for too little cheese.
Gravy: Beef-based with a good consistency, but again lacking the flavour that defines a fantastic poutine. The best I can say for the gravy was that it wasn't too thick or too watery - but flavour was lacking.
Presentation: Served in small styrofoam containers, I was pleased that the poutine wasn't all "top" - fries were coated most of the way down, but again: lacking extra cheese and with almost too much gravy, this was only small consolation. Bonus points to staff for heaping extra cheese and gravy into the container when one of us ran out halfway down.

Overall opinion - we will go back. But this owes more to the fact that T&L's is so close to our work and less to the fact that it was in any way a remarkable poutine. Service and poutine were satisfactory but standard. Stomach pain and lethargy reigned all afternoon (admittedly normal after a poutine gorge). Many thanks to Jen, Mary, Jerri, Matt, Michael (doubly for the iPhone pics), Steve, Marc and Ian for joining me in my first expedition. Please don't sue me if you gain 80 lbs by end of summer.