Local restaurants have been teasing us with versions of poutine for years. While most are delicious, they're usually fancied-up fries, usually topped in whatever braised meat the restaurant happens to have cooked and doused with gravy from the pot. As an upgrade to cheese curds, I've seen cheese sauce, grated Swiss, even queso fresco as topping. I've rarely witnessed any restaurants around these parts actually using plain cheese curds, its customary topping.
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Now there seems to be a new poutine shop in Costa Mesa Newport Beach that apparently exists to right the wrongs of what us Californians have done to the quintessential French Canadian dish. The place is called Montreal Poutine, and from the pictures I've seen, the poutine looks pretty much like the messy, gravy-soaked pile of fried potatoes I've eaten in Canada. There are fries, a gravy that looks like it could be from a mix, and most importantly, marshmallow-sized nubs of cheese curds, which, if it's tastes right, should squeak slightly between your teeth.
According to their website, the franchise seems to originate from New York, not Canada; but it's upstate New York around where the 87 eventually turns into the 15. From there, it's a straight-shot to Montreal itself.
The store can be found at 3305 Newport Blvd., Newport Beach. Look for Biggie Baguette, which is the actual name of the place.
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.