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Tag: PoutinewithPurpose

Poutine with Purpose 2019

Oh My Curd – if you follow me on social media, you may have noticed a lot of posts about poutine this week; I’m an official Poutine Pusher for #PoutinewithPurpose again this year! This is my favourite food week in the city & I’m so excited to be included in this weeks events.

Calgary’s Poutine Week is the seven days of the year you can eat poutine guilt-free! Why? Every poutine sold at participating restaurants provides a meal to a youth in need thanks to Mealshare YYC! In 2018, Calgary Poutine With Purpose sold 11,000 poutines and Victoria sold 2,050 helped thousands of youth in need. We’re hoping to break that record again this year & today is the last day to help us make that happen (unless you head out to Canmore for 514 Poutine – they extended theirs until tomorrow! Bonus poutine!)

It’s easy to get involved:

  1. Find a restaurant or poutine you want to try at poutinewithpurpose.com
  2. Eat poutine.
  3. Provide a meal to youth in need
  4. Tell everyone!

This week, I tested 4 of the 90+ participating poutines. If you need some help narrowing down the list, here are my thoughts on the four poutines I tried.

Citizen Brewing Company

Tender beef meatballs, mushroom gravy, squeaky curds, sour cream, & dill top the best crispy fries I’ve had in a long time (& I put away 8 poutines at the Gravy Bowl, so that’s saying a lot!). Inspired by his grandma’s perogies, chef Brad nailed it with this entry. It’s even baby approved!

If you haven’t checked out Citizen Brewing yet, you’re in for a treat. Not only is the poutine fantastic, but they’ve got a great selection of beers on tap, friendly staff, lots of board games, & a wicked patio when the weather finally cooperates. We loved their Monday $5 pint deal,& I’m definitely going to be checking out Thursday ladies night with my girlfriends soon!

Calcutta Cricket Club

I’m continually impressed by everything that comes out of the kitchen at Calcutta Cricket Club. As I’ve come to expect from this cosmopolitan Indian spot, their poutine this week is spicy & full of flavour.  My mouth is watering again just thinking about it!

I met a girlfriend for happy hour at this trendy spot on 17th ave. Their lamb curry poutine features tender, braised lamb shoulder, tomato aioli, mint raita, green onion, fries, & cheese curds. I loved how the spicy tomato aioli worked as a stand in for gravy. It has so much flavour! & the mint raita is the perfect compliment, helping cut the spice down a notch, while adding a ton of additional flavour.

On top of the delicious food (we ordered a few favourites from their happy hour menu – it’s a fantastic deal!), the ambience & service are spot on. They’re also baby friendly, which has been an amazing perk for us since Annika’s arrival in July.

Anju

I am always excited to see what Roy’s going to come up with. We’re longtime Anju fans, as all my friends & family well know. It’s my number one suggestion for anyone who loves flavourful, inventive, delicious food. Honestly, I could go one for days about everything I love about Anju, but I think there are at least 5 previous blog posts about just that subject, so I digress.

Enter the Cruel Skintentions Poutine: Kennebec Fries, Fried Chicken Skin, Spiced Curry Powder, Cheese Curds, Sriracha Chicken Gravy. Yeah, you read that right, Chicken Skin (cuz poutine isn’t naughty enough on its own 😉😂). These guys know the way into this girl’s heart, that’s for sure. This a fairly simple Poutine with Purpose entry for Anju, but it hits all the right notes for me in terms of flavour. I loved the hint of spicy from the sriracha chicken gravy.

Since N was back in town, we couldn’t resist ordering a few of our standby’s too (Crispy tofu, oxtail tortellini, gochujang wings, in case you’re curious. 😉 ) It was a fantastic way to spend a Thursday evening as a family. Thank you so much for hosting our whole crew!

514 Poutine

Our family has a running joke that our car can’t drive past Canmore without stopping in for poutine, so when 514 Poutine showed up on the list of participating restaurants for @poutinewithpurpose, we knew we’d be making the trip. 

This is the most authentic Quebecois poutine in the West. It takes me right back to living in Montreal. The cheese curds are the real deal, the gravy is delicious – with a balanced flavour that holds its own without taking over – , & the fries are crispy on the outside & soft inside. All this is why we love visiting 514 Poutine, but the real reason we keep coming back are the friendly owners. They never fail to make us (& Odin!) feel so welcome.

This is their first year participating in Poutine with Purpose, & they’ve included four of their incredible poutines: traditional, extreme, meat lovers, or deluxe. We ordered the meat lovers & the deluxe & they were both incredible. I’ve always been a traditionalist, but the tender smoked meat on the deluxe may just have converted me. Pair it with a Black Cherry Cola or Spruce Beer for the real Quebecois experience.

So that wraps up my week of Poutine with Purpose. I hope you get a chance to sample some of these fantastic options & help us break last years’ record. You really can’t go wrong with this mealshare & poutine collaboration.

As always, thanks to Karen for organizing this amazing event & thinking of me as part of the Poutine Pusher team. I always love being part of Poutine with Purpose, & the fact that it’s turned into such a great opportunity to give back to our community, with the help of Mealshare, may just be the best part. Thank you also to all the restaurants who hosted me & were so open to chatting about their creations this week – you guys have been so awesome & accommodating! I can’t wait to find out who are overall winner is!

Happy Poutine Eating, friends!

Gravy Bowl 2019

It’s here! Poutine Week! As you well know, this is my favourite of the YYC food weeks, & I’ve been incredibly fortunate to join five Calgary food aficionados as Poutine Pushers. This is my third year as a Poutine Ambassador of sorts & no, the thrill hasn’t worn off. I’m super excited to get the opportunity to sample so many of this city’s fine creations.

The instagram station

Calgary’s Poutine with Purpose is the best seven days of the year, if you ask me. Why? Two reasons: Participating restaurants are competing to sell the most poutine over the course of this week AND every poutine sold at these restaurants provides a meal to a youth in need thanks to Mealshare YYC! You eat delicious poutine, & help Mealshare in heir goal to end youth hunger. Win win!

In 2018, Calgary Poutine With Purpose sold 11,000 poutines and Victoria sold 2,050, helping thousands of youth. Wow! I can’t wait to see how well this year goes!

& it’s incredibly easy to get involved:

  1. Find a restaurant or poutine you want to try atpoutinewithpurpose.com
  2. Eat poutine.
  3. Provide a meal to youth in need
  4. Tell everyone!

I kicked off my 2019 Poutine with Purpose with a Saturday full of delicious poutine at the Gravy Bowl. N was working up at site so I brought my bestie along as my date. I had to miss this event last year so I was even more excited than usual, if that’s possible. Teams made up of a chef + a Local Brewery compete in a live cook-off for best poutine.

My sweet date

The idea is that teams present to the judges, while we sample those same poutines family style. This year, guests were also handed a token to cast their vote & award one pairing the People’s Choice Award. In true Danel & Alanna fashion, we took this task very seriously. 😉

Over the course of four hours, we sampled EIGHT poutines with beer samples. Whew! It was intense, but delicious. & I have to say, I was incredibly impressed with each & every pairing. Each restaurant + brewery really brought their A game.

Our vote went to the Alberta Prairie Poutine by Elbow Room + Half Hitch We’re both suckers for crispy brussels sprouts & theirs were cooked perfectly, as were the fries. The kick from the serrano aioli took it to the next level. It turns out we were in good company since it took home the People’s Choice Award.

Smiles for Half Hitch +Elbow Room
Cleaver & Railyard dishing out poutine
Cheese stretch!

The Lamb Gyro Poutine by Yellow Door Bistro + Banded Peak took first place from the judges. With lamb gyro, halloumi cheese, a delicious herb gravy, & twice cooked fries topped with tabbouleh & garlic sauce, it was a top pick of ours too. If they were to bottle that garlic sauce, I’d be first in line to pick myself some up!

The Lamb Gyro Poutine. I missed rhe IG station on this one. I blame my food coma. Haha

I have to give a shoutout to 4 spot for the jalapeño cheese hush puppies they topped their BBQ in the Garden Poutine with. If those aren’t on their menu, they should seriously add them.

Leopold’s + Annexe (i loved this one as a dish but it was the least poutiney poutine we ate)
Cacio e Pepe Poutine by our hosts, Double Zero, + Wildrose
4 Spot + Cold Garden (hush puppies!!)

As always, I was to give a special thanks to Karen for organizing this amazing event & thinking of me every year. She puts so much time & attention into making this week truly awesome & is just such a rockstar. I can’t say enough good things about her! The fact that it’s turned into such a great opportunity to give back to our community, with the help of Mealshare, may just be the best part of Poutine with Purpose.

(Find my previous year’s posts here, including my first Poutine Crawl experience way back in 2014! I can’t believe this is my 6th year of poutine-ing!)

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