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.
