Poutine: Corner Burger's Homage to Canucks

What do all of these things have in common?: Celine Dion, Chris Benoit (RIP), Leonard Cohen, Steven Cojocaru, Corey Hart, Caroline Rhea, and Dick Pound, the former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency. 

Yep, all these mofos come from Montreal.

Sounds like a big list of LAME, if you ask me.

But Corner Burger has decided that another Montreal export is the wave of the future—they're serving NINE different types of Poutine, as well as four Americanized ones for babies who get freaked out by the idea of squeaky cheese curds.

Essentially, Poutine is a pile of artery-clogging goodness; french fries covered in gravy and topped with fresh cheese curds.  Many people refer to it as a dish that looks like vomit on a plate, and it's obviously not the most healthy thing in the world to eat—but maybe you could just close your eyes and accept that you've given up your New Year's Resolution to lose weight by now anyway.

We entered Corner Burger with the sole purpose of trying these new concoctions that owner Hilda Hampar has so much confidence in, she even hung a sign outside of the restaurant heralding their presence. 

Outside, on a trash can, I was delighted to see my old friend Kook:

As we entered Corner Burger, we were greeted warmly. So warmly, in fact, I wasn't even annoyed by a toddler that was running around the restaurant screaming "NO!" over and over again.  No means no, right, kid?  Stick to your guns!

We ordered the Classic Poutine ($6.50):

And the Poutine Bolognese ($7.00):

As a Poutine virgin, I gotta admit: I was skeptical.  I love cheese, and I love fries, but gravy?  Not so much.  Also, would it be soggy?  Would I end up with a pile of slop that I'd have to eat anyway just because I promised Erica I'd do a post on this shit? So much anxiety over some goddamned cheese curds.

Anyway, I have to say that I overcame my gravy-induced panic attack as soon as the Poutine(s) landed on our table...and both were pretty good. I preferred the Classic to the Bolognese, but what I liked the most was that the fries in both dishes were *still* cripsy, even when covered in gravy. 

What I also appreciated was that the waiter seemed genuinely interested in what people thought of the poutine—the dude asked everyone in the restaurant how they liked it after they were finished.

We skipped the dessert option (sweet potato fries with cinnamon sugar and maple syrup? My dentist would kick me in the face), but made a mental note of the Recession Special (2 burgers, 1 order of fries, and 2 sodas for $15) for a later date.

So if you're rambling along 5th avenue, drunk, haggard, and looking for a calorie explosion to the face, stop by Corner Burger for some Poutine.  Thankfully, Corner Burger hasn't taken the Montreal influence too far—you won't have to listen to Celine Dion harping about "touching her like this" and "making love just for fun" or "love touching us one time and lasting for a lifetime"....the radio is not tuned to soft rock or adult contemporary up in here.

Corner Burger
381 Fifth Avenue (at Sixth St)
718-360-4622

[ed. note: While I'm thrilled to hear that the Poutine was poon-tastic, I gotta pipe up here and say that I'm really not a fan of Corner Burger. I've never dined in at the place, but I've ordered from there twice: once I stopped by and ordered food to go and once I ordered delivery. On both occasions I had a bizarre, passive/agressive exchange with the woman there (I assume the owner, referenced above) when ordering. I also found the food to be screamingly mediocre, and WAY over priced. For a burger, a chicken sandwich and two orders of fries it was over $30 bucks. I'm a major burger girl...I LOVE the shit out of them, and theirs was just meh for me. Just my two cents].