The Olympics are finished. Curling was hot, a Naperville skater was a heartthrob and a few turncoat Blackhawks players earned gold for our neighbors up north. You're left hungry for more. Here to soak up that craving: poutine, Canada's favorite big plates of cheesy, gravy-soaked fries, perfect for post-Vancouver hangovers. (And yes, we know they're from Quebec. We didn't think you'd mind.)
Chef David Carrier's mother is Canadian, so he honors her the best way a chef can: with the power of the cheese curd. At his Lincoln Park boîte, his traditional version uses roasted chicken to create savory, gravy-smothered, hand-cut french fries that are dotted with cheese curds. Which reminds us: Mother's Day is right around the corner.
Four Blackhawks players competed for hockey gold yesterday (unfortunately, three were playing for Canada). So another good Chicago-Canuck mash-up is in order: Chi-Town Poutine, Italian beef gravy poured over fries topped with melted mozzarella and aged Parmesan. (Basically, like a green card marriage between an Italian beef sandwich and poutine.)
Curds. Let's face it: not the most delicious-sounding food product around. So in Ontario, they substitute the odd Quebecois cheese with good old-fashioned shredded cheddar—and that's how they're served at the Logan Square hangout. So, yes, Chicago has been sucked into the Great Canadian Territory Cheese Wars.
Small Bar's new weekend brunch, with gravy-smothered sausage biscuits, is all well and good on a Sunday. But when you're looking to sop up the booze from the night before—and it's a Tuesday—nothing satisfies quite like that same sausage gravy, smothering a bed of salty hand-cut fries, and proving again that gravy cures all.
Looking to the Great White North to inspire decadence will only get you so far. But add in a bit of the French Quarter—spicy tasso ham, the porcine pride of the bayou—along with your gravy and cheese curds, and suddenly you're a candidate for Canadians Gone Wild.
