Smoke's Poutinerie (Granville)

*Restaurant is permanently closed*

While surfing around Facebook, I often look at pictures of food people post.  Yes, that does not sound like much of a surprise.  However, one thing that really caught my attention was the Mac n' Cheese Poutine that Sean posted from Smoke's Poutinerie.  Sadly, his description wasn't exactly flattering (they used Kraft Dinner).  Of course that didn't deter me from finding out for myself how bad it really is.  So I met up with Vandelay at the Granville location.  At first, we were impressed with the variety.

I got the Smoked Meat Peppercorn Poutine.  When I popped the top off the take out box, I was hugely disappointed to see several slices of deli smoked meat staring at me.  So instead of a smoky meatiness, all I got was slimy, wet and salty slices of meat.  That was really too bad since the gravy was actually quite good.  It was thick, rich and peppery.  There was a proper amount which caressed each cheese curd evenly.  As for the cheese curds, they were good and squeaky.  We found the fries to be a shade too dark and dense.

As for Vandelay, he got the Steak Peppercorn Poutine as well.  We didn't plan on having the same gravy, but the counter person got confused with our order (I originally wanted the Montreal Poutine).  Hence, the only thing different about his order was the meat, which was not bad.  It was tender and moist, but seemed a bit distant from the entire poutine.  It was kinda plain and really needed something to tie it into the entire dish.  Well Sean was right.  For a place that specializes in poutine, they use far too many pre-packaged ingredients where the overall product is sub-par.

The Good:
- Lots of variety
- Cheese curds are good

The Bad:
- Over-reliance on pre-packaged ingredients
- Fries are overcooked and dense