There was a time when it was nearly impossible to find poutine (a Canadian dish made of French fries, gravy, and cheese curds) in Buffalo, which is funny when you stop to think about it. One would think that this city’s ridiculously close proximity to Canada would have somehow cross-pollinated foods a bit more over the years. Yes, wings have traveled in all directions, but the Canadian food favorite – poutine – remained quietly out of sight until just recently. Not only do a few Buffalo restaurants now feature poutine on their menu… there’s also an Allentown restaurant dedicated to the True North cuisine.
On Saturday, February 6, at 2pm, Allen Street Poutine Company invites you to come out and celebrate National Potato Lovers Month. On that day, the restaurant will be hosting a poutine eating contest, featuring 20 co-ed power eating poutine fans. Each contestant will be given a five minute timeframe, to devour as many “traditional” poutine orders that they can muster. There will be two rounds held, with ten people participating in each round. The public is invited to stop by and cheer on the poutine contestants as they chow their way to the finish line.
“It’s a great way to honor our star ingredient, the humble potato and we can’t wait to see if anyone will rival last year’s national poutine contest winner, who ate 22 pounds of the Canadian diet staple in 10 minutes,” said Jake Fraser, co-owner of Allen Street Poutine.
As long as we’re on the subject of quirky Allentown dishes, let’s talk about a quirky restaurant game that can also be found on the street – ping-pong! Did you know that there is a full size ping-pong table on the upper deck of the Allen Street Poutine Company? We didn’t. But apparently it’s true. So if you’re not interested in watching contestants gorge themselves on poutine, you can always escape to the upper deck to play a game of ping-pong. Here are a few more fun facts:
- Poutine originated in Quebec
- Allen Street Poutine Company (ASPC) is owned by two Canadian restaurateurs
- ASPC makes their fries and gravy in-house
- The restaurant uses cheddar cheese curds from Yancey’s Fancy out of Corfu
- Vegan and gluten free options are available, as are salads, sandwiches and snack options
For more information about Allen Street Poutine Company, visit them on the web at allenstreetpoutine.com.