La Brasserie - Vancouver's Best Poutine on Davie

This is Vancouver's Best Poutine on Davie Street Part 2 of 4.

The Best Poutine on Davie Street Part 1 of 4

The next stop: La Brasserie! For the next episode please subscribe to the Follow Me Foodie youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/FollowMeFoodie or visit back for updates!

This video blog/review/post will be the post for Monday Feb. 1 and Tuesday Feb. 2. The following is the written review as well as more details about La Brasserie that are not included in the video.

Restaurant: La Brasserie

Cuisine: German/French
Last visited: January 7, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Downtown/West End)
1091 Davie Street
Price Range: $20-30

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5 (Based on Truffle poutine only)
Service: n/a (Due to this special review, I'm biased)

Ambiance: 4

Overall: n/a

Additional comments:

• Franco-German restaurant
• Specializes in Franco-German bistro food
• Casual fine dining
  
• Seats 35, intimate setting
• Opened by brothers Michael and Stephen Wiese
• Neighbourhood gem
• Everything made from scratch
• Lunch daily 11-2:30pm
  
• Dinner daily 5pm-12am
• Brunch Saturdays & Sundays 10am-3pm
• Busy for dinner
  
• No reservations
• Offers a charity brunch on the 1st Sunday of every Month
  

**Recommendation: n/a (I've tried food here before, but I'm staying poutine focused)

The Topic: Quest for Vancouver's BEST Poutine on Davie Street

The Contestants: La Belle Patate, La Brasserie, Fritz European Fry House

4 Poutines later, the results are in!

La Brasserie was my 2^nd stop for my quest for Vancouver's Best Poutine on Davie Street!

The poutine at La Brasserie is in a different league, so I almost feel it is unfair to put it in the same category with La Belle Patate and Fritz European Fry House. For a gourmet poutine on Davie, La Brasserie seems untouchable (unless another restaurant wants to challenge them…?) However when it comes to authentic French-Canadian poutine, I’d have to give 1^st place to La Belle Patate.

Originally I was only supposed to compare the poutines from Fritz European Fry House and La Belle Patate. La Brasserie was unexpected and a last minute entry because I wasn’t aware that they served poutines until I randomly scoped out their menu while walking by.

La Brasserie offers 2 different poutines: A truffle poutine that is offered as a hot appetizer for dinner (or as a side), and a breakfast poutine that is offered for their Sunday brunch. I was lucky enough to try both! For those of you that are reading this, and did not ONLY watch the video...here's a "secret": I'm featuring their breakfast poutine in a bonus video ;)

What is Poutine?

Using the most common definition a poutine is fries, cheese and gravy. However the real authentic definition of a poutine is fries, cheese curds (specifically fresh cheddar cheese curds), and poutine sauce or “gravy”. (Some people will object to the word “gravy” – but it’s supposed to be a chicken based sauce).

On the table:

Truffle Poutine 5/6

• Fries, cheese curds, pork gravy, truffle oil $9
• Why are you paying $9 for a poutine? It’s the Truffle oil! The first thing this poutine triggers is your nose. They’re not skimping on it either. It’s seriously the first thing I could smell and I could taste it throughout too. This isn't an authentic poutine as much as it is a poutine with a gourmet twist.
• The fries are hand cut, skins on, Kennebec potatoes, and were nice and freshly fried. The fry held really well and didn't lose form or texture. This potato is rarely used for fries and I was surprised that it wasn't a Yukon Gold. To be honest, I couldn't really tell, but they became secondary to the gravy and truffle oil.
• The gravy is pork gravy that’s made in house and it was really flavourful. It had a bit of a kick to it and I’m not sure if it was just from the freshly cracked black pepper it was served with or if it was from an additional sauce...perhaps Worcestershire sauce? The gravy was the best out of the 3 places I tried.
• The cheese curds weren’t as fresh as the ones at La Belle Patate and they were using a mozzarella cheese rather than an actual cheese curd.
• If you like the stringy, ooey gooey quality to your poutine (which isn’t authentic, but still really good) then you’ll love this poutine. It’s savoury, very aromatic with the truffle oil, and has a slight kick.
• This is really the definition of gourmet comfort food or comfort food with a gourmet twist. I mean when truffle oil is an ingredient can you really lose? On the rare occasion maybe…actually no, not even on the rare occasion.
• I wasn’t a fan of how it was served though. It was all packed into a really tiny bowl so I found all the ingredients on the top. I would have liked to see a shallower and wider bowl or dish.

• Note: I had other Vancouver food blogger friends visit on a another night and they ordered this truffle poutine and didn't experience the strong truffle taste...so I can't speak for consistency.
  

Added note: This review is a little different because it was for my video blog. Therefore the food at La Brasserie was complimentary, (although I did offer to pay) but my opinions are still honest and as non-biased as I can be. The opinions and views expressed in "The Quest for Vancouver's Best Poutine on Davie Street" review and video are those of Follow Me Foodie/Mijune only. There is no paid advertising and as always I write for the benefit of the customers and not for the restaurants.