The Bent Elbow

Date Visited: Dinner on Saturday Feb 7, 2015
Company: Kitchener reunion with +Krystal

During a trip down to Kitchener for a birthday party, +Will and I met up with +Krystal prior to the festivities for a catch-up dinner. We were staying at a hotel in the city so after looking up some places nearby for food, we came up with the Bent Elbow. Luckily, Krystal had been there before and said the place was awesome! We walked down the street from our hotel and got a table for 4 to wait for Krystal's arrival. The place was a good size with a comfortable number of tables, most of which were already full. Our waitress introduced us to their beer bible which listed their draught and bottle selection, one on each page. When Krystal arrived, we all ordered a beer to start... it took a while to look since there was quite the selection. And because their taps are always rotating, the first one I picked was already out. I ended up getting the Wellington Chocolate Stout recommended to me by the waitress and I enjoyed it a lot.

For the menu, they have different specials everyday and everything is made in-house according to the waitress. We decided to all share a Chili Poutine to start (one of their specials) and we were told we made a good decision. The portion was hefty when we saw it and just looked incredible in general. The chili was deliciously meaty and a great pairing for the thick cut fries. There was also cheese in between the fries and layer of chili which melted nicely with the heat. It was a good size to share but got us a bit too full prior to our main meals arriving.

For my main, I got the Grilled Cheese of the Day, Brie, Apple and Ham (? from what I remember) with a Mediterranean Salad. The flavour of the grilled cheese was great, loved the sweetness from the apple. My only complaint was that the bread was a bit hard, near the end I was just tired of chewing. The salad was also great, lots of colourful ingredients in there that were fresh and not too much dressing. It would have been a better meal if I hadn't stuffed myself from the poutine and beer!

Our waitress was also the sweetest... very helpful and knew how to make conversation rather than making it awkward. It almost had a small town feeling from how friendly she was. I'm impressed that this place has only been around for like 2 years, great low key spot to enjoy some good beer and food with friends!

Food: 4/5 - Extremely fresh, creative rotating menu, and reasonable prices.
Decor: 3/5 - Liked the layout, nothing stood out too much, standard looking bar.
Service: 5/5 - Best service I've gotten.
Willingness to go back: 4.5/5 - I would definitely try to make a trip back if I was in the area!
Overall: 4/5

Website: http://www.thebentelbow.ca/

The Patty Shack

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Jan 27, 2014
Company: Dine in with +Will

I first noticed The Patty Shack while going to Buster Rhino's next door. I mentioned it to my sister and she said that her friends love that place and rave about their awesome burgers. I definitely wanted to try it out after I heard that. +Will and I met up there after work on Friday and since there was a Oshawa General's game downtown, parking was a bit difficult to find. I was lucky and happened to turn onto the right street but street parking was quite full otherwise. I went in and waited at an empty table for +Will to arrive. 

The place is kind of odd because there's 2 entrances, and 2 large areas for dining with about 4 tables in each section (lots of open space). One section has the area to order and you would think the whole restaurant is just that part, but there's section another connected also with more seating (and even more open space). Upon first glances, it doesn't feel very clean, lots of tables of crumbs on it and kind of dive-y with cheap table and chairs. They have a few large photos of their famous burgers, wings, and poutines around to help you with ordering.

When +Will arrived we both ordered 6oz(1/3 lb) Burgers and shared a Poutine and Drink. I was very overwhelmed the all the toppings and sauces you could dress your burger with. There were so many options, it was very tough trying to pick what you wanted without over-doing it. I had on mine: Golden Garlic BBQ sauce, sauteed mushrooms, pickles, spicy salsa, guacamole, and caramelized onions. I was so fascinated with all the new types of toppings I could get, I totally forgot to add good 'ol ketchup and mayo. I also got the Whole Wheat Bun instead of Regular. The wait wasn't too long to get our burgers, we were the only ones there at this point. I was surprised how thick the patty actually was, and it was cooked consistently all the way through and not too greasy. The bun held the burger perfectly and I'm glad I didn't pile on the toppings because it wasn't messy at all this way! It was a delicious and well-made burger that was the perfect size for me. I wasn't a big fan of the spicy salsa as it was really overpowering in flavour and also the sauteed mushrooms were cold, but that was all my doing with choosing the toppings. I love that you can get a totally different burger every time.

I also ordered a Regular Poutine but while we were waiting, we changed our minds and wanted to get Pulled Pork. Unfortunately they said that they didn't have Pulled Pork so we got the Patty Poutine which is a regular poutine but with their famous Gardillic sauce on it. It was $1 more and they didn't charge us for it. The Poutine was in a large take-out container and just bathed in gravy and sauce. The Poutine was very addicting, the Gardillic sauce added a whole new element to the flavour and didn't really taste like poutine! The fries were soft (not too crispy) but it was hard to think about the fries with all the sauce on top. The gravy also covered all of the cheese curds so they were all melted, just the way I like it. Perfect for sharing!

Food: 4.5/5 - They know what the people want and how to satisfy our cravings! :D
Decor: 1/5 - Leaves a lot to be desired.
Service: 3.5/5 - Awesome service, helpful, and didn't charge us for our poutine order change :)
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Would be my top choice for a burger in Oshawa, mostly to try the toppings.
Overall: 3.5/5
Website: http://thepattyshack.ca/

Great Burger Kitchen

Date Visited: Lunch on Saturday Sept 28, 2013
Company: Casual outing for a meal nearby with +Lilian, +Will, and his brother.

+Lilian and I had just come up from Oshawa, and were going to meet up with +Will and his brother for lunch near his place before heading out for our separate plans in the afternoon. We had originally planned to get Thai, but +Will wasn't exactly sure where the restaurant was located so ended up wandering and finding out that it was closed. We were at Church and Front so I suggested Great Burger Kitchen for lunch. I had only gone once before, late at night after St Patty's Day and really enjoyed their poutine, so I wanted to try it again to see if it was as good as I thought it was.

GBK is a promoter of organic and locally sourced food, the beef they use is also from naturally raised cows in Ontario. Their prices are pretty decent considering this. They have a range of different burgers and poutines to satisfy anyone's  preferences. For me, all of options looked delicious. Their menu is right on the wall beside where you order in large font which makes things easy for customers to read, but not so much decide what they want. They also offer a Burger/Poutine of the Day which is written on a blackboard below the menu and outside the restaurant that always looks appealing every time I walk by.

After we placed our orders at the counter, we found a booth to sit at. The restaurant isn't huge but it has enough space as only about 1 out of 5 tables has been occupied both times I've been here. Ours orders were made at a reasonable time by the one server at the counter, and we were called up one by one for our various foods. I ordered the Greek Burger with Feta, Tomato, Red Onion, and Tzatsiki. The bun was grilled lightly and the patty was cooked perfectly, it was just a classic and simple burger (with Greek toppings). The burger tasted great and the toppings were refreshingly fresh. In addition to the burger, we also got poutines to share. We got the Mexican Poutine with Salsa, Cheddar, Guacamole, & Sour Cream. This was basically having nachos, but with fries instead of chips. +Lilian pointed out that this was probably the healthiest poutine ever... due to the lack of gravy. There was a nice surplus of toppings for the fries but they still remained crispy. We also got the Poutine of the Day which had Bacon, Jalapeno, Salsa, & Cheddar. This was somewhat similar to the Mexican Poutine but with more of a kick of flavour. Both were good, but I probably wouldn't get them again in the future, need some sauciness to the poutine IMO.

Overall, this is a great place to come if you want something more than just a fast food burger, and are willing to spend a bit more time and money. I think it's still a great deal for what you're getting here because it's definitely cheaper than going to a sit-down restaurant. It supports the local farming culture and you can tell that a lot of work as gone into making your food for such a small place.

Food: 4/5 - Fresh, natural, and organic! Delicious AND you don't feel as bad eating it. 
Decor: 3.5/5 - Small but local favourite feel to the place.
Service: 3/5 - Good wait time.
Willingness to come back: 5/5 - I'm totally a fan of GBK, definitely would come back! So much more to try.
Overall: 4/5
Website: http://greatburger.ca/

Toronto Poutine Fest

Event: Toronto Poutine Fest 2013 presented by Joylister 
Location: Beer Academy 

Time & Date: 5PM-10PM on Thursday Aug 22, 2013 
Price: $35 for all-you-can-eat poutine and three craft beer samples.

I happened to be one of the lucky ones to get tickets for Poutine Fest TO. Tickets sold out in two minutes but fortunately I got mine exactly when they went on sale at 11AM, two weeks prior to the event. It was the first Poutine Festival in Toronto, so it received a lot of media coverage even though it was run by a small start-up company named Joylister. There was a bit of negative press also due to the fact that tickets were oversold and some had to be refunded, but mostly because it sold out so fast/site crashing. +Will and I were the only ones out of our friends who were able to get tickets and I was even skeptical about going at first until I heard others were interested. Tons of foodies packed in the Beer Academy waiting in line all night to get poutine didn't sound that appealing to me, but to my great fortune, the event ran flawlessly.

I got off work at 5PM in Scarborough and had estimated arriving downtown at 6:30PM. Right when I was leaving work, I checked Twitter and Instagram to see what was going on in the Beer Academy and it seemed like there was a hold-up of poutine being served and a huge line to get in, just great. Will's lucky enough to live right beside the venue, one where we pass by on a daily basis but have never gone in. According to Will, it had gone though renovations recently and he wasn't sure if it was opened again. Once I arrived, we walked down the street and luckily, there was no one in line! We gave the door people our tickets, got our IDs checked, received wristbands, drink tickets, and a voting card, and off we went. There was a map of the everything on the back voting card which included both a bottom and main level, the place was unexpectedly massive. So with our empty stomachs and hungry eyes, we went to try all the poutines! Here's my ranking of the five that were offered:

1. Pulled Pork Poutine from Lou Dawg's http://www.loudawgs.com

I'm not sure if I was just starving when I got there and this was the first poutine we had, but this was my favourite of the night. The pulled pork was tender, sweet, and delicious. The cheese curds were perfectly melted between the gravy and the pulled pork they loaded on. The chicken gravy was a nice light complement to it as it didn't weigh you down after eating it and keeps the focus on the meat. The fries were also deliciously crisp with nice flavour from the peel.

2. The Works Poutine from Poutini's House of Poutine http://www.poutini.com

I was surprised myself how much I enjoyed this simply made poutine topped with sour cream, bacon, and chives. It was like a baked potato poutine basically. The bacon was nice and crispy and the sour cream was chilled and didn't melt with everything else. I think it was the gravy that did it for me on this one, it was the best flavour of them all. The cheese curds were also huge as seen in the picture. After the top layer though, I didn't bother with the rest of the fries as it was very heavy.

3. Duck Confit Poutine by Coquine http://coquinerestaurant.com

So this was the overall winner of the night voted by all the attendees! It was no question, the most 'foodie' and somewhat pretentious of all the poutines, with duck confit, smoked provolone, and brie topping the fries. I will admit that it was a complicated and well-thought out dish. The brie melted smoothly into the fries while the provolone had larger cubes. I would have liked a stronger taste of the duck, although the gravy thoroughly ran to your fries at the bottom of the cup. The fries were the thinnest of all of the poutines and there were pockets of saltiness from some of them. It stood out from the other poutines and the cheese was fabulous, so I can see why it won.

4. Butter Chicken Poutine from Great Burger Kitchen http://greatburger.ca

I was very excited for this poutine as I love anything Indian infused with other foods but was let down by GBK on this one. I've actually had poutines at GBK before and they were absolutely delicious. This on the other hand, was a miss on a great idea. The sauce was extremely creamy but had little flavour overall. I couldn't even tell it was butter chicken while eating it. The cheese also had little flavour and seemed like random pieces just there that didn't quite fit.

5. Shepherd's Pie Poutine by Feisty Jack Mobile Food http://www.thefeistyjack.com

Fiesty Jack is a food truck that was located outside the venue and served from there. This was the last one we tried and were totally full at the this point. I'm not completely sure if that had anything to do with it, but we could only have about two bites of this poutine. The top was totally covered in meat that created a layer of grease before even getting to the fries. It looked very unappetizing but I didn't enjoy the flavour of the meat of it either. Wasn't for me even though I love shepherd's pie, it didn't taste like that at all to me.





I was totally impressed by Joylister from this event of over 400 participants. They had tons of volunteers keeping the event in line and ensuring everyone's happiness. I anticipated a lot of waiting around and not getting enough food or drinks, but it was completely the opposite. There was plenty of food to go around (they even had people coming around with trays of poutines), although some places ran out around 9PM. They crowded the Poutine King around 8:30PM which was earlier than I had thought but the venue was dying down at this point. They provided the restaurants with excellent exposure and the chefs were extremely friendly when they served you. Arriving an hour or two before the event start probably helped with less wait after the rush. The Beer Academy was extremely spacious and provided many areas for sitting and standing. The line for drinks was large at first, but died down quickly. They had plenty of craft beer options and provided pairings for each dish. It was totally worth the $35 for this amazing event, I'll be back next year for sure (if I get tickets)! They're also putting on other events coming up which I'd consider attending as well.

Mont-Royal Hot Dog

Date Visited: Late night meal on Saturday Aug 3, 2013
Company: Group of 6 after Osheaga

After a long, second day at Osheaga, a group of us met up at Mont Royal subway station to grab some food late into the night. As most of us spent the last hours of the night dancing away to Porter Robinson, so we weren't in the mood for walking or standing in a line-up to get into one of the more popular restaurants in Montreal. We had spotted Mont Royal Hot Dog from an earlier night and decided to walk by to see how it was and luckily for us, it wasn't busy at all.

We entered Mont Royal and we could see the menu immediately right on top of the kitchen area. They had a large variety of foods to choose from such as the famous Montreal hot dogs, breakfast, burgers, and pitas. It was a cross between fast food and a diner, with an open kitchen and many booths for sitting. We grabbed a table so I could check out the options further as there were menus on the table also while the others went up to order. A waitress meanwhile came to serve us some waters.

After I had decided what I wanted and +Will went up to order as the rest of the group did, the chef told him to order at the table. We found this a bit odd but waited for the waitress to come as she served one of the dishes our friends ordered. The food came to each individual as it was finished being prepared by the cook and left on the counter for the waitress. I was pretty impressed on how speedy they were. I ordered the Mont-Royal Poutine after seeing +Elliott's order come. I ordered the small, and I couldn't believe they had two sizes above that! The poutine was topped with hot dog, bacon, pepperoni, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms (with cheese and gravy of course). Mine had a smaller plate on the bottom for the normal poutine part, while +Elliott ordered the medium and his was just on the big plate. In terms of the toppings though, I think I still had as much as him on my overflowing plates. It was a beautiful and colourful sight of delicious fried up vegetables and meats. The vegetables were cooked perfectly with lots of flavour from the other components. I even enjoyed the bacon as they used large pieces rather than bits. There was a lot of hot dog in there, at least two whole ones but the pepperoni was my favourite part. Only complaint I had was that the cheese was cold underneath all the toppings still, it hardly melted at all. Despite that, the fries were good even though it was lost underneath the mound of everything else that will be clogging my arteries. 

Food: 3.5/5 - Hard to go wrong when the poutine was topped with all that.
Decor: 2/5 - A little run down looking but standard diner appearance.
Service: 3.5/5 - Waitress and wait time was great. Cooks didn't seem like they were fans of us though, maybe because of the language barrier.
Willingness to come back: 3.5/5 - Lots to try here and pretty good prices!
Overall: 3/5
Website: none