This week is Canada Week in Indiana, and the Consul General of Canada will be touring the state. In recognition of the celebration, today’s installment of NorthEATS Indiana will look at a Canadian staple that is becoming more popular in Fort Wayne, especially this time of year.
Poutine isn’t the healthiest food.
Everyone makes poutine a little differently, but it has three basic ingredients.
“Your traditional poutine is French fries, gravy and curds, and it’s great,” George said.
Maybe not the healthiest ingredients, but a delicious combination. The warm gravy melts the cheese curds over crispy fries, and most people who try it come back for more, says Bo Gonzales, the owner of Bravas Burgers on Fairfield Avenue.
“We sell a ton of them. It’s probably our second-best seller after the bravas, is poutine,” Gonzales said.
"People love it, especially late at night, the people that are coming in and drinking late, it's something hardy."
Bravas used to only sell poutine on the winter menu, but people continued to ask for it all year, so Gonzales decided to keep it on the menu permanently.
The consul general says it’s perfect as a winter meal.
“If you’re out in the snow and cold like you are today, this is the food you need to warm you up and give you energy to get through the rest of the day,” George said.
While French fries, gravy and cheese are the traditional ingredients, some chefs add their own spin. Gonzales is Spanish, and the menu at Bravas is inspired by Spanish cuisine. His version of poutine--although a traditional Canadian dish--is no different.
He uses potato cubes instead of long, thin fries. That’s the Spanish influence in the dish.
“That’s what patatas are,” Gonzales said. “That comes from patatas bravas in Spain. If you order patatas in Spain, it’s going to be cubed potatoes 90 percent of the time.”
He tops the potato with cheese curds and gravy. Every restaurant uses a different gravy recipe.
“I would say one of the key ingredients in ours is some good Worcestershire sauce,” he said. “That’s what kind of gives it its, I think, its flavor.”
Other restaurants add meat to poutine, like Main Street Bistro and Martini Lounge in downtown Fort Wayne.
“How we make ours here is it’s made with our house-cut fries, it’s topped with our braised pork shoulder, and homemade brown country gravy and melted Wisconsin cheese curds,” says Rachel Hossler, the general manager of Main Street.
She says many customers don’t know what it is or even how to pronounce it, but it does sell well.
“People love it, especially late at night, the people that are coming in and drinking late, it’s something hardy,” Hossler said.
Trolley Steak and Seafood on the north side of Fort Wayne serves the Canadian dish on their lunch menu, and Mad Anthony’s sells it in their Fort Wayne, Auburn and Warsaw locations.
Consul General George hopes to see it catch on in Indiana.
“Maybe this could be the new food craze for Fort Wayne,” he said. “Canadians will flock to Fort Wayne for good poutine.”
And with those three ingredients, poutine becoming a staple in Northeast Indiana should be all gravy.
Correction: An earlier version of this story listed an incorrect name for Bo Gonzales. It has been corrected.
