Where can I find poutine in Salt Lake City?

January 23, 2006 8:47 AM

Where can I find Poutine in Salt Lake City?

A Canadian friend longs for this back-home delight. I'm thinking that at least one of the resorts may have this Northern Delicacy(?).

posted by neilkod to food & drink (24 comments total)

I have no idea if it is sold anywhere around SLC, but here are some other options: make it, buy a mix or get him hooked on Utah fry sauce.
posted by necessitas at 9:04 AM on January 23, 2006

Never heard of it, never seen it here, but now I WANT SOME.
posted by skrike at 9:24 AM on January 23, 2006

Good luck, I can't even find it in Buffalo, NY!

It is really easy to make, though.
posted by Kellydamnit at 9:38 AM on January 23, 2006

It's fries, gravy and cheese curds.

These ingredients aren't available?
posted by jon_kill at 9:47 AM on January 23, 2006

ohio writes "That stuff is beyond disgusting. I'm sorry, that just added nothing to the conversation, but I couldn't choke down more that one bite."

Ya but was that one bite in Utah?

Second the "it really easy to make. Even at to go fast food places just ask for the (pseudo) gravy on the side and then pour it over your fresh curds on your fries. The fresh curds is the hard part, ideally you want them to squeak when you bite into them before you put them on the fries.
posted by Mitheral at 10:02 AM on January 23, 2006

It amazes me that so many Americans seem to have an automatic gag reflex when they discuss poutine. I mean, fries, gravy, cheese, all staples of the American diet. It's accepted enough in Canada that you can get poutine at McDonald's or Burger King. Amazing how much tastes can differ when you cross a border.
posted by PercussivePaul at 10:09 AM on January 23, 2006

Buy St-Hubert chicken gravy online. Buy curds - I'm not sure if it's hard to find curds for sale outside of this area (QC/E Ont). Make good fries. Put half of the fries in a bowl, sprinkle with some curds, put the rest of the fries on top, top with the rest of the curds and then dump a bunch of gravy on top. Yum.

Otherwise, if there's a foodcourt kind of fast food place that specializes in fries, then they may be able to put something together for you though it would be unlikely to be true poutine.
posted by mikel at 10:11 AM on January 23, 2006

Plain chicken gravy will do in a pinch, but une vraie poutine uses poutine sauce, which mixes some barbecue spices in the chicken gravy, the sort of tangy sauce you'd find at a rotisserie chicken place. (It's no coincidence that the standard powder-mix poutine sauce in Quebec is that of St. Hubert, which is a rotisserie chicken place.) A poutine-lover from Quebec will appreciate the difference. (A poutine-lover not from Quebec is probably accustomed to just plain gravy.)

Also, here's a couple discussions about putine from the blue.
posted by mendel at 10:12 AM on January 23, 2006

"Putine"? Crisse qui pisse! Poutine.
posted by mendel at 10:14 AM on January 23, 2006

Ok, I should clarify that I want to take said friend to a restaurant and surprise him. I dont want to try and make it, no matter how easy it may be. I want to go to a place where it just unexpectedly shows up on the menu.
posted by neilkod at 10:21 AM on January 23, 2006

The hard part is finding good curds.

Good means fresh. If they've been frozen, or even chilled too deeply, they won't squeak and the texture will be off. Cheese curds will make or break your poutine.

None of those yellow curds, either. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Plain white cheese curds.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 10:22 AM on January 23, 2006

For some reason I think a ski resort restaurant might do this.

You might ask this SLC discussion group, ostensibly devoted to music but really talks about everything:

http://therocksalt.net/forumcation
posted by craniac at 10:25 AM on January 23, 2006

A bit of a drive from Salt Lake, but my in-laws live in Utah, near SLC, and they always get amazing cheese curds from Cache Valley Cheese in Logan. Most locals should be able to tell you where to get Cache Valley Cheese fresh, or other locally-made fresh curds. I always thought it a bit strange that Utahns like cheese curds so much (though they did convert me to curd-ism), but you shouldn't have a hard time finding good curds in Utah.

As for it magically turning up on the menu, your best bet is probably to find a sympathetic chef at a funky restaurant who is willing to make it special for you. What you probably should be looking for is a restaurant in SLC with a Canadian chef.
posted by JekPorkins at 10:32 AM on January 23, 2006

You might want to Craig's List in SLC. More locals then on MeFi.
posted by voidcontext at 11:05 AM on January 23, 2006

I'm sure this is horribly not authentic, but as long as we're on the subject of making it yourself, tater tots with fresh mozzarella and instant gravy is fantastic.
posted by rxrfrx at 11:21 AM on January 23, 2006

There are a number of dairies that have fresh cheese curds in Salt Lake. And organic milk.
posted by craniac at 11:33 AM on January 23, 2006

I'm sure this is horribly not authentic, but as long as we're on the subject of making it yourself, tater tots with fresh mozzarella and instant gravy is fantastic.


Wrong.
posted by jon_kill at 11:59 AM on January 23, 2006

Sorry to derail, but what exactly is cheese curd? I've always wondered.
posted by necessitas at 1:39 PM on January 23, 2006

Cheese curd essentially is fresh cheese before it has been pressed into a block and aged.
posted by Mitheral at 1:43 PM on January 23, 2006

Wrong.
posted by jon_kill at 2:59 PM EST on January 23 [!]

So that is authentic? Excellent.
posted by rxrfrx at 3:31 PM on January 23, 2006

I tried to find/make poutine for a Canadian friend (and for my own curiosity) last year, and came up empty. I thought San Francisco had everything, but apparently not poutine. Cheese curds alone were unattainable. I don't know how much easier it could be in SLC. Good luck.
posted by team lowkey at 4:15 PM on January 23, 2006

I know cheese curds are easy to find in SLC (best if you go to Logan or Beaver and get fresh ones, but semi-fresh are in stores everywhere) but I've eaten just about everywhere here and never heard of poutine.

Having heard of it now, I WANT some, but I doubt you'll find it here.
posted by mmoncur at 4:24 PM on January 23, 2006

So that is authentic? Excellent.

Banquise on Rachel and Le Fontaine, Montreal.

That's it, that's all.
posted by jon_kill at 7:49 AM on January 24, 2006

Damn. You guys have got me wanting to try this. (In mid-Ohio, thinking of a road trip...)
posted by alumshubby at 10:44 AM on January 24, 2006