Featured Restaurant: T-Poutine
GutterGourmet — February 23, 2010
Clockwise from top: Classic Poutine, Cochonnet Sandwich, Exterior.
New York’s poutine scene. Always Hungry has done a poutine tasting in Brooklyn, covered the fabulous smoky meat version at Mile End, and sampled Hotel Griffou’s duck confit-covered gourmet rendition. Of course, the ultimate is the foie gras-covered poutine at Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal. But French fries covered with cheese curds, all smothered with brown gravy, “Classic” poutine, that’s the best bet at T-Poutine on Ludlow.
First Look: Mile End
GutterGourmet — February 01, 2010
Top: Mile End’s Smoked Meat Sandwich Bottom left, Exterior. Right, Jars of pickled cabbage.
Like the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton introducing traditional American blues to a new generation in the 60’s, sometimes it takes a foreigner to make you appreciate your own culture. So, maybe it’s not crazy that a French Canadian can make New Yorkers remember what the soul of a great Jewish deli is all about. Mile End (named after a neighborhood in Montreal) in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill is faithfully recreating Schwartz’s Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen much the same way that Hill Country recreated Lockhart’s Kreuz Market barbecue.
AlwaysInvestigating: The Kapsalon
Arthur Bovino — July 20, 2009
The Kapsalon. An epic name with Alpha and Omega connotations. Sandwich? Candy bar? Cocktail?
Actually, The Kapsalon is a kind of Dutch poutine made in an aluminum to-go container. It consists of a base layer of French fries, “shawarma,” sambal and garlic mayonnaise, topped with two slices of cheese. It’s baked or broiled then covered with shredded lettuce and tomato. The Kapsalon isn’t a light meal (see video) so the gravity of the name is appropriate, if not ironic, considering the meaning.
Supposedly, The Kapsalon was invented between 2000 and 2002 at a restaurant called El-Aviva (right, ‘A’) in Delfshaven, a borough of Rotterdam. In Dutch, “kapsalon” actually means “hairdresser.” The name is said to originate with a hairdresser from a salon called Kapsalon Tati (right, ‘B’), inspiringcities.org noted:
“They used to order shoarma [sic] with chips. Later they wanted to add cheese and sauces. When they sent people over to the shoarma-restaurants they said: ask for a Kapsalon and the shoarma sellers will know what is meant.”
The craze took off in Rotterdam but doesn’t seem to have crossed the Atlantic (despite the cool name). New Yorkers interested in trying an authentic rendition face the challenge of finding a place stocking the uncommon combination of gyro meat, French fries, cheese slices, mayonnaise and sambal, that also has an oven. One workaround is a restaurant serving gyros (meat) and burgers (fries and cheese slices).
Our New York City rendition of The Kapsalon (shall we call it The Hairdresser?) was made by Sam (left) of Buona Journata, the Mediterranean halal food truck on the corner of West 28th and 7th Ave., in Chelsea. He was happy to recreate it with chopped gyro meat for $5 (cheaper than the €2.50-€5 the dish is said to cost in Rotterdam). Garlic mayonnaise and sambal were replaced by halal cart white and red sauces. The dish wasn’t baked (Sam has styrofoam containers), but the idea was conveyed.
The Kapsalon isn’t that different from a typical lamb platter, but melted cheese does make it special, like a spicy gyro cheeseburger on fries. It would be perfect after a night out but it’s not something you’re likely to follow with another meal or activity soon afterward.
AlwaysPartying: Poutine Tasting (Park Slope, Brooklyn)
Josh Kaplan — June 26, 2009
Wednesday night at the Australian Park Slope gastropub, Sheep Station, Chef Martine Lafond (a Quebec transplant) held a Poutine tasting in honor of “La St. Jean Baptiste,” (Saint Jean Baptiste Day, June 24th), a national holiday of Quebec that celebrates French Canadian culture.
Poutine has been on the rise around the city. Draft Barn threw a disco fry tasting this week. TPoutine is supposed to open on Ludlow soon. Even the swanky Hotel Griffou makes poutine with duck confit. This Canadian junk food classic, (French fries cheese curds and gravy) is said to have its etymological roots in the Quebecois slang, “une maudite poutine,” which describes what it resembles, “an unholy mess.”
Of the three poutines at the tasting —Classic, Chicken and Peas, and Italian— the first (above) was the best. Fries were bathed in a straightforward pan gravy and topped with five curds— salty, chewy bites reminiscent of mozzarella balls. There just weren’t enough curds.
Click for AlwaysHungryNY.com's poutine pictures and descriptions >>
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