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| - Wow. When people say, "Be prepared for a wait", they ain't lyin'! We wandered over to La Banquise on a Monday mid-morning, after a grueling hike up Mont Royal. We were sweaty, probably stinky, and absolutely hungry.
Everybody said that THIS was the place to go for your poutine fix. And they were right - the sheer variety of poutine plates boggled the mind. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
There was quite the line when we arrived, which we expected. It wasn't horrible - we were all inside the establishment, instead of trailing out onto the street, as I'd heard can happen. The front register area was kind of a cluster, because there's one door with a random glass piece in front of it, which meant that people had to step to one side or the other to enter, which caused a bit of a bottleneck. The register was also right there, so people who were ordering their food to go would end up blocking those entering or exiting.
The host stand is partway into the lobby area, and though they were packed, the two working the stand did a good job of keeping everyone in line and handing out menus to those who needed some reading material while they were waiting. Their menus aren't quite as bad as something like the Cheesecake Factory, but they're close.
So many poutine choices!
We were taken to a table on the patio (no alcoholic beverages allowed out there, in case you're curious), and a waitress was standing next to us before we were even settled. We both ordered water (I tell you, that hike to, up, down and from Mont Royal was beastly!) and set to trying to decipher the menu.
We eventually decided: La Mart (hot dogs, bacon and mushrooms) for me and La BOM (bacon, onions, merguez sausage) for him. It sounded good at the time. We briefly contemplated having "true" poutine - nothing cluttering the original version - but neither of us ended up doing that.
We endured quite a wait for the food, but given the place was packed to the gills, it didn't much surprise us. But once the food finally came out, we were stunned. We'd seen plates pass us by - the small variety and the large variety - and made small remarks about each in turn, but once they were set down in front of us...wow. The small was HUGE!
Needless to say, neither of us were able to finish our meals (and I absolutely had eaters-remorse afterwards, knowing that all that walking/hiking and my 3+ mile run around Mont Royal were basically negated by that one plate).
But...I mean. It was pretty tasty. I love hot dogs. I try not to. The French fries were perfectly cooked, the gravy was tasty without being overly salty, and the mushrooms added a nice texture without detracting from the plate. Plus, the cheese curds were melting and gooey, and the perfect complement to all the other stuff going on on top of my plate.
Meanwhile, the hubs was slowly plowing through his plate as well. He enjoyed his, but did remark that the merguez sausage was a little too overpowering for the dish. He snagged a couple of my hot dog pieces and said that he would have preferred that. Conversely, I snapped up a merguez sausage piece, and thought that the bite from the spices really woke up the dish.
To each their own, I guess.
Anyway - the waitresses were all super friendly and accommodating, which was nice. I know they were busy running hither and tither, so the fact that they didn't rush us along or make us feel unwelcome in any way was nice.
If I wasn't at my poutine-capacity (for the rest of my life, I think), I'd absolutely consider going back to La Banquise to try the original version.
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