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Eating poutine for a Montrealer is essentially a rite of passage, just like biking everywhere and spending your summer days on a terrasse. So naturally, you can't help but wonder what this Québécois delicacy tastes like in other parts of the world.
When I took a trip to Austin, locals let me know that, to my surprise, some restaurants serve poutine in Texas too — and I decided I had to try it for myself.
I checked out different places on Google and originally set out to try this greasy dish at a food truck called "Texas poutine" on Austin's ever so popular Rainey street. The name clearly made it seem like the perfect spot to get this meal. Unfortunately, when I showed up, the food truck was non-existent so it seemed like it had closed down.
That didn't make me give up on my quest though. I ended up discovering Banger’s Sausage House & Beer Garden on the same street, which had poutine on its online menu at the time.
Another bump in the road came about when the waiter told me that the restaurant had recently taken poutine off the menu, but said the kitchen was still able to make a version of it for me.
I know at home we like to put all kinds of strange stuff on poutine, from bacon to general tao, but I'm usually a fan of the classic fries, gravy and squeaky cheese. This one was topped with ham — not my cup of tea, but had to do it for the research, right?
Here's a greasy little close-up of the dish.
As you can see, it had much less gravy than we're used to in Quebec. Because of that, it didn't taste like a proper poutine from places like La Banquise.
The plan was to introduce my friend from California to Quebec's favourite comfort food, but neither of us were the biggest fans. I made sure to let her know it didn't taste anything like it does back home, though.
In all fairness, it had been taken off the menu, which should have been the warning I needed... But on a good note, the beer and fried pickles were out of this world.
Lesson learned: let's leave the poutine making to Quebecers.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
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