La Banquise

Generally, "the best" of anything is really subjective, especially when it comes to food.  So when the poutine at La Banquise was dubbed "the best" by Travel & Leisure Magazine in 2009, the moniker stuck.  I'm sure there are those who will argue against it, but for me, I had to see for myself.  However, with kiddies in tow, we were not going to visit the place late at night nor intoxicated.  Hence, we went for lunch instead.  Lame?  Yes.  But we really had no choice!

So getting straight to the goods, we decided to get La Mart sporting hot dog wieners, bacon and mushroom as well as the standard fresh-cut fries, gravy and legit cheese curds.  If one was looking for all of the right attributes for a good poutine, this one had it.  The fries were good, albeit not crispy enough for us, and the gravy was thick and flavourful (although a touch salty).  Furthermore, there was a good amount of squeaky cheese curds where half were melted (which was a good thing).  Was it the best I've ever had?  Actually not, but it was good nonetheless.

For my main, I decided to give the Sheppard's Pie a go and it was definitely unique.  It was a whole lot spicier than I imagined and there was a considerable amount of whole rings of onion which made things a bit pungent.  The ground beef was tender and moist though while bathed in flavourful gravy.  I found the mashed potatoes to be a bit watery though.  Unfortunately, the dish was fairly cold in the centre.  Costanza went for the Breaded Chicken Burger and it was totally forgettable.  Consisting of a frozen patty that was deep fried aggressively, this ate worse than something we would make at home.  The picture to the right is actually the kid's cheeseburger (because the chicken burger didn't look all that good).

Elaine decided on the Banquise Burger with mushrooms, fried onions, Swiss cheese, spicy sauce and the usual produce.  Compared to the chicken burger, this one was much better with a meaty hand-formed patty which was flavourful and well-seared.  Add in all of the other ingredients and this was a tasty concoction.  Viv chose the Chicken Club Sandwich that sported big chunks of chicken breast, bacon, lettuce and tomato on whole wheat.  Although we appreciated the big chunks of breast meat, it was dry and chewy.  The bacon was crispy though, so that was a positive, but the dry chicken made the sandwich hard to eat. Overall, we thought the food at La Banquise to be average at best.  The poutine was good though and satisfied our cravings.  Not the best in our opinion though.

The Good:
- Solid poutine
- Inexpensive
- Open 24 hours

The Bad:
- Average to below-average eats
- So-so service