After months of hearing about La Poutine, I finally decided to check it out for myself.

Eating poutine other places in Edmonton has made me a little skeptical of how good this was going to be.

Was I going to encounter the same problems I find every other time I eat poutine? Terrible fries and bland powdered gravy, sprinkled with mere traces of cheese, often not even curds. Not good.

And seriously, you’re not making gravy from scratch? C’mon, how hard is it?

La Poutine has 15 different types of poutine and you can choose either of the 2 gravies; traditional vegan Quebec-style, or western beef. With concoctions of toppings such as chili, pizza (pepperoni and mushrooms), and BBQ chicken, I’m sure there would be something for almost anyone.

With a handle like Baconhound, you would assume I’d go with the Canadian, which is fries, cheese curds, and traditional gravy… of course topped with bacon.

And you’d be right.

Having read some prior reviews, there seemed to be a common theme when they first opened. The serving container is taller than it is wide, so there is really only topping on the top few fries. And not enough gravy.

While mine had bacon placed on top only, there was enough that some trickled down to the lower layers. And the quantity of gravy was quite large. The gravy was plentiful enough that there was actually a small pool at the bottom of the cup. And the fries were pretty good. these are fresh cut, and would be good all on their own. Those are definite positives.

I am on the fence about the cheese curds. I didn’t get any of the “squeakiness” that you should get from authentic curds, but I thought the texture was ok. But at $9.50 for a large order of what amounts to fries and gravy, is just ok good enough? And shouldn’t there be enough on there that I don’t have to ration them?

On the downside, the Quebecois gravy tasted to me like a packaged offering. It wasn’t terrible, but not great either. I wasn’t a big fan. I went with it in order to try the “traditional” version, but in hindsight I would have likely prefered the beef gravy. Then again, if that’s not homemade either…

The bacon reminded me of the weird textured bacon-like product that is commonly used by pizza chains. The taste was ok, but why wouldn’t you just cook real bacon and crumble it on top? I’m thinking if you’re specializing in one product, why wouldn’t you make everything you can from fresh?

I like the concept, and it has potential if they start making more things in house, but for now it’s only slightly better than fast food versions in my opinion.