Butter Paneer Poutine at Naanolicious

Butter paneer poutine #yegfood

A photo posted by Paula E. Kirman (@livingsanctuary) on Apr 5, 2016 at 12:01pm PDT

One of the favourite menu items at Naanolicious is the selection of poutines. You can get fries with butter or curry sauce, or you can add meat or paneer. I added paneer to my butter sauce, and the result was a rich, decadent treat. The fries carried the sauce quite well, and were literally soaked in buttery goodness. I could only finish about half because it was so rich. Fortunately, Naanolicious has take-out containers!

Beef Short Rib Poutine at Kids in the Hall Bistro

After a rally at City Hall last week, a group of friends decided to have lunch at the closest restaurant available: Kids in the Hall Bistro conveniently located right inside City Hall. A program of E4C, Kids in the Hall teaches at-risk youth the hospitality business. The food is prepared and served by young people. I had the beef short rib poutine, without the cheese since I have an issue with that. What I got was a generous meal of pulled beef in a rich gravy on top of thin, crispy fries. I actually ran out of fries before I ran out of meat. It was filling comfort food.

My Poutine at MyFries

Semi-vegan poutine at My Fries. #yegfood, a photo by raise my voice on Flickr.

MyFries is an Edmonton-based fast food/casual restaurant that serves up poutine in many different ways. The fries are baked, not fried, making for a healthier experience. The cheese curds come from Quebec and they make their own gravy. However, customers can top the fries with basically any combination of meat, cheese, sauce, and veggies available, along with being able to choose from some pre-established options like donair, pizza, and pulled pork.

I opted to build my own with fresh guacamole (very fresh and chunky), salsa (medium spiced), sauteed mushrooms (delicious), and homestyle gravy (unique). I did not opt for cheese or a protein. The fries themselves get their flavour from the toppings and taste very bland and starchy on their own - MyFries does offer fries on their own, so I would recommend a dipping sauce. Otherwise, it just felt like I was eating a combination of a lot of different, albeit delicious, ingredients without any real cohesion. The portion is also huge - I could not finish my regular serving.

On the other hand, my dining companion raved about his donair fries, topped with donair meat, sauce, diced tomatoes, and cheese. He had a large and found it very filling - more so than a burger and fries.

MyFries is a really unique concept - the food just did not really "sing" to me. However, people who love poutine should definitely check it out.