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| - First time Poutine eater, first time in Canada. Call this part of a series - "A Southerner Abroad - North of the North"
So, after settling an argument with my fiancee (I TOLD her it was poo-teen NOT poo-tyne) on the name of the dish, I settled on Poutineville as our first chance to try this regional specialty.
Why Poutineville? Several reasons: (1) my Canadian Yelp friends thought highly of it, and they know more about poutine than me; (2) it is only a short walk from the Royal Ontario Museum, which was the highlight of our Toronto trip; (3) the original location is in Montreal, so, even if this place offers unconventional variations on poutine, they obviously have a pedigree.
Poutineville is on a side street off the main drag where the ROM is. It looked pretty humble from the outside, but had a well-appointed dining room. We were greeted promptly by a friendly guy who seemed to be someone of authority - owner, GM, shift manager, something. We were seated and brought menus. I ordered the pizza pountine because everyone on here enjoyed it so much, while my fiancee got the traditional poutine, so we could say we had something closer to the "original recipe" before we started experimenting with the crispy.
The food was brought out quickly. It was pretty good! It was only the second-weirdest thing I ate on this trip, easily bested by the bizarre concoction down south known as "Cincinnati Chili" (get this - it's spaghetti noodles covered with the wateriest chiili you've ever tasted plus onions, beans, and piles of shredded cheddar).
Anyway, the pizza poutine was very tasty, as was the traditional poutine. Frankly, the cheese curds, something I'd never had before, started getting to me as I dug in, but ultimately I ate everything off my plate that wasn't potatoes - there were simply too many to eat them all.
The bathrooms are down the stairs, so a little bit tricky for some folks to get down there to use the head. The atmosphere was the sort of hip thing I'd expect from downtown Toronto - loud music videos from the 80s - present playing. I did see one where a woman was topless and uncensored, which was shocking to my Puritanical sensibilities - at least that I was seeing this at a family restaurant.
Bottom-line: Poutineville is a creative twist on this bit of Quebecois soul food - I would definitely return if I was in the area, as this place is good for a poutine-newbie as well as someone who grew up eating the stuff but wants a new take. That said, if/when I find myself back in the GTA, or in Francophone Canada, I would like to try some different poutine places also.
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