A Damn Fine Mess! Chez Ashton Quebec City, Quebec

So somewhere in the 1950's some French-Canadian guys were making food to watch a hockey game. A restrauant owner was asked to throw together some items into a bowl, to which he replied, "It will make a damn fine mess!" and Voila! Poutine was born! I have to say that this has recently become a new favorite of mine. A real killer winter comfort food. Too bad it is a very regionalized dish and is hard to find outside of French-Canadian provinces. Let me give you the run down on Chez Ashton Poutine. It was reviewed as one of the top Poutines in Quebec city. Ashton's has a couple locations there. The one I ate at is in the big mall just west of the Old City.Ashton's is just a type of fast food chain. Mine was a food court location in fact. They offer all kinds of burgers and sandwiches. I had the sliced chicken sandwich and found it to be very tastey, but the Poutine is the real star of the show and the real reason I came. They offered several variations of Poutine in a couple different sizes. I tried the traditional, but you could get Poutine with sliced sausage, peas, chicken, etc. Poutine begins life as a bowl (usually an aluminum foil bowl) of handcut french fries. Then throw on some white cheddar cheese curds. These MUST be fresh!! Most "good" highly rated Poutines will use curds from THAT morning. If they audibly "SQUEEK" when you bite them, then they are fresh enough. Now, cover the whole thing in a pepper gravy type "sauce". You can buy this sauce as a packet mix. St. Hubert's makes a good one. The sauce is key and can very from diner to diner. I found the sauce at Aston's to be hearty and full of flavor. It had some peppery qualities to it and did leave a little zing as an afterthought. It's piping hot and kind of softens the curds into an ooey, gooey mess...just as the original creator declared nearly 60 years ago. If you make it up North into the French provinces, you must try this! Overall, Chez Ashton's get 4 props out of 10. I mean it's basically just a French-Canadian McDonald's. However Poutine gets a full 10 props out of 10!! It's my new winter football food!