"I dare you to read all the comments."

One place is praised for their "gritty "thousand island" sauce." What, pray tell, is "gritty" thousand island sauce. Lumpy yes (that's the "islands"), gritty no.

While i generally agree with you on this one...this past summer i was in montreal and had cheese curds as part of poutine, their late night french-fry-gravy-curd concoction that is actually quite fantastic.

I read all the comments. Sheesh, they don't tolerate topic drift AT ALL. As soon as one poster comments on cheese curds (not fried), they are admonished that Deep-Fried cheese curds are the subject, not raw ones.

Some of the town names up there are humorous too. I noticed how they posted through the Super Bowl. I guess if the Pack isn't it, they don't watch it.

Can't make poutine without cheese curds!

couldn't bring myself to try poutine...it just sounds so gross!

For Super Bowl XXXII, between the Broncos and the Packers, I had a bet with a colleague who worked in Wisconsin. If the Packers won, I had to eat cheese curds that she would supply. If the Broncos won, she had to eat Rocky Mountain Oysters that I would supply.

PCB Rob, THIS is why I'll be eternally grateful to # 7. He made a first down on the "helicopter play" and my cheesehead colleague had to eat the oysters.

It is good to have you back, jl.

You can get cheese curds at Culver's to go with your butter burger. One more reason to rate Culver's above In N Out.

Cheese curds? I thought that was cottage cheese.

The only thing I miss about not living in Wisconsin anymore is not being able to get fresh cheese curds. One summer, I drove with a friend from dairy farm to dairy farm in south west Wisconson to find the best. Love those things.

Joyce, poutine is tasty, in a "this is winter, I need something warm that will fuel me through shoveling 3' of snow off my 60' long driveway" kind of way.

I'd eat it again, I wouldn't go to Montreal just to get some.

Actually, I thought that's how creamed corn started out.

The foie gras poutine at Au Pied du Cochon is one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life. Totally worth a trip to Quebec.

Cara, you did name the one exception to my "no travel to Montreal for poutine" rule. I've been wanting to go to Au Pied du Cochon since before the Bourdain episode.

It isn't exactly a traditional poutine, though.

I tried poutine in a small stand in a sketchy neighbourhood in Hull. No seats inside, but there were two picnic tables outside, in a parking lot.

The woman at the counter turned white at my French, immediately tried a few words in English, and became incredibly happy when I said we were from Detroit, and heard she had the best poutine in town.

She gave us good, twice fried, hand cut fries with a meat gravy (pork or beef, I'm not sure, probably not lamb) and fresh curds. It was mostly mushy, with a little crisp, a little squeak and lots of tasty fat and salt.

Quite nice, but not the kind of thing I dream of (unlike skyr or the lobster soup I had in Reykjavik or Vernors or fried whitefish).

I adore cheese curds. I make an order from Wisconsin every year for them. I'll eat them plain and on fries with gravy like the Canadians do. Love. Them.

foie gras poutine

Cara, you made that up, right?

Oooo. Laura Lee, that hurt!

Hal, she didn't. Even Fodor's comments on it.

Cara, I'm jealous.

I am addicted to the poutine at Jack's Bistro. You can even substitute it with their bacon slider appetizer, which makes a perfect late night snack during the discounted 11-1am happy hour. Woodberry kitchen has tried to immitate, but their version with turkey gravy is bland, screams for seasoning, and like most of their other menu items, sounds much better on paper than what you get.

"Squeaky fresh" and a choice of ranch dressing, gritty Thousand Island or marinara--doesn't this sound like fodder for OMG?

I don't know how to embed links, but here's the restaurant's website. http://www.restaurantaupieddecochon.ca/index_eng.html#

It's under the foie menu.

And Lissa, I guess you're right, it's not exactly traditional. But foie gras makes a heavenly gravy. I enjoyed all the poutines I had up there though. What could be wrong with fries, cheese and gravy???

Cheese curds ... all of the sodium, fat and cholesterol of real cheese, without the nuance.

Is there some specific age when you start to obsess over cholesterol?

For all the food-loving that goes on here, there are way more comments about the amount of fat or salt or cholesterol in food than I would ever expect.

MD Canon, I guess the foie gras adds the nuance.

Romance is a losing game.

Cara, if there is an age where one starts to obsess about cholesterol and salt, I hope I never hit it.

I'm with Julia Child. Everything in moderation.

Cara - There is some cholestrol that is good. So I operate on the theory that if some cholestrol is good, a lot of cholestrol must be great.

But to answer your question directly, I don't think there's a specific age one starts obsessing over cholestrol. It's more like a time. I think, on average, it is five days following your first heart attack.

I'm astonished there are people who don't like cheese curds! What's not to like? To me they taste like ... well .. fresh cheese! If you're ever in Seattle, stop by Beecher's at Pike Place market and check out the cheese curds there. REALLY good. (Then get some of the mac and cheese and you can die fulfilled. But that's a different topic.)

Bucky,
I just saw your comment about the Super Bowl bet you made. You certainly had the better end of that deal. I think I'd rather try the cheese curds than RMO.

Also, I liked your answer to Cara. I haven't had a heart attack, but since my docs harp on ME about salt and cholesterol, I might as well take their advice. Sometimes.

Psh! Thanks to my mother and her family history, I'm on Lipitor and I'm only 28. That's right, 28. So for me, Cara, the age at which I started to care about cholesterol was 27.

So, what's the difference between the mozzarella sticks that we see on every bar-food menu in town and cheese curds? Fried cheese is fried cheese, ain't it? I seem to remember a segment about cheese curds on a Food TV program, probably Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.

Cara - since I have good genes and don't really eat fried foods - haven't reached that age yet .. luck!

But there is an age when you do start talking about not being able to see the menu anymore and that appears to be one day over 40!

Dottie, those moz sticks are made from fake cheese. Curds are real cheese.

Huge dif. Just like neither tastes like fried brie.

Joyce, Joyce, Joyce. Not being able to see the menu is an advantage, if the wait staffer is cute. You can ask them to help you with the menu.

Dottie -- You don't necessarily have to eat cheese curds fried. I don't think I ever have, actually; I think I've only eaten them fresh. And man they're good that way.

OMG ... I'm just catching up a bit. Which Buddakan?? I love the one at Chelsea Market, NYC, and have heard that there are a couple of others.

I assumed OMG was referencing the classic Cheap Trick album.

Lissa,
That is what I kinda thought as well, but that is Budokan. Maybe there is a Buddakan also?

Cheap trick indeed. I think Dylan did a live album there too.

grrrrr... playing with my new netbook computer but my giant fingers aren't cooperating

Several artists have done live records from there, the Japanese love American music.

Curiously, Cheap Trick Live at Budokan was a single record, but the 30th Anniversary release is like 4 CDs and a DVD. I saw an ad for it on Amazon the other day.

I still think it was a cheap trick that they (Cheap Trick) got to play Budokan!

Surrender!

I guess I spelled Budokan wrong. Apparently there are some restaurants spelled the way I spelled it. The live albums recorded there are kind of funny because they Japanese audiences are insanely enthusiastis. Cheap Trick didn't really break big until that album. Woo hoo. "Big in Japan" has a weird kitschy ring to it. But as Nigel Tufnel said, "It's a fine line between clever and stupid."

I guess I spelled Budokan wrong.

There is more than one way to Romanize Chinese. It wouldn't at all surprise me if that's true for Japanese as well.

I've been poking around the internets waiting for the chicken to finish, checking out Buddakan. I've been to the one on at Chelsea Market (where, a year ago, I had one of the top three meals of my life!), but there are apparently two others, in Philadelphia and Atlantic City. It is owned by a restaurant group, Starr Restaurants, which runs 16 places, including the Morimoto outlets in Philadelphia and NYC.

So, I'm wondering what we think about "restaurant groups?" A lot of us like the idea of supporting locally owned one-or-two-of's (so long as they're good) over against the chains. My guess that has a lot to do with an appreciation of the personality of the local chef and/or owner over against a Chili's or TGIF where no one cares who's running the grill station. I love what Crazy Man group has been able to bring to the table in Baltimore, but then I get on a plane and read full page ads in the airline magazines for a group of dozens of places around the country and it quickly becomes clear that the chefs named in the ads can't possibly have the creative control they want. (Or maybe there is an angle to this that I just can't see.)

So, my sandy friends, what do we think about groups??

You have, heard, of course, that Nigel and pals are back in the studio?

Japanese to English should be pretty standard. Hirigana has exact equivalents in their Latin phonetic equivalent set called Romaji.

MD Canon, I think MUDs are a lot more fun if you play with a group.

Lissa, no, I hadn't heard. We can look forward to more Spinal Tap???

You got it, Dahlink.

MD Canon,
Those restaurant groups that have a big-name chef at the helm perhaps have that chef design the menu and the recipes so that no matter which one you visit, the food would be the same as if the big-name made it?

Maybe that is what they hope you will believe?

Regarding the poutine discussion, this looks interesting.

Kate -- why would you want to ruin some perfectly good poutine by adulterating it with vegetables like that? ;-)