The Big Cheese Poutinerie

Pretty sure I gained 5 pounds, and I don’t know if I even ate half of my poutine. I remembered hearing about this place when it first opened. Bookmarked it and then promptly forgot about it. Groupon came along and reminded me though and for whatever the price was ($ 10?) I got 2 large poutines and 2 soft drinks. Done and done!
Naturally I waited until after I no longer worked in the area and the day it was expiring to use it. Not a problem. Got parking right out front and even though there were about 3 groups of people dining, they weren’t busy. We decided on the Philly Cheese Steak and the Maxwell Street poutines as well as their corn fritters, but it was actually a hard decision as their menu is pretty extensive. Both were really good, but the Philly Cheese Steak was my favorite between the two. Maybe they should chop up the sausage on the Maxwell Street, but the former just seemed as though it was spread out better, which allowed for the flavor to really come through with each bite. The corn fritters were alright. I only got them because I was curious if anyone can top Cobra’s, but that’s still a firm «nope».
Honestly, a small poutine is more than enough food. I don’t even remember how many meals we got out of them, and those were large, but I do remember feeling really full without it looking like I even made a dent. Even though I live «alllll the way on the southside» and this place is in the heart of hell, I’d come back. Maybe only once a year, but I’d still try them again. Also, do people realize what real poutine is? This might go overboard, but I think that’s kind of expected with their name and all. Complaining about the calories in this is equivalent to whining about greasy tacos being greasy, or a bad salad at a steakhouse. Just, don’t.

Holy gluttonous food coma!!! That’s what I’m sitting in right from the insanely overindulgent food from The Big Cheese Poutinerie.
The large sizes are so big! They may be good to share with 2 people or get the small size for just one person unless you want leftovers. Most meat poutines are $ 7.99 for the small or $ 9.99 for the large.
What did I indulge in that made me loosen my belt a notch?
Scottish Curry — Smoked pulled chicken & authentic Scottish curry sauce with green peas. My friend’s favorite of the two. The curry looked kind of like ground beef which was throwing me all off. I liked everything that was in this but it’s not a dish I would necessarily order again just because it didn’t wow me & their menu is so expansive. There have to be things that will have that special ‘it’ factor on the menu since this dish doesn’t.
Hogzilla — Root beer chitpotle pulled pork, double smoked bacon and peppercorn gravy. I preferred this of the two poutines as I love me some pig. The root beer chitpotle left a kind of strange, fruity after taste which made it seem kind of sour. I got used to it but something seemed a bit too off to us. It couldn’t have been all that bad because I kept devouring the dish. It was seriously addicting but as most poutines do, looked a hot mess.
Refillable drinks were $ 1.99 each! They had Fanta Ginger Ale which I was way excited to try. Sadly, it needed syrup and had no flavor. The pink lemonade was on point though.
Portions were huge and all of the ingredients seemed quite fresh. Service could be improved on a bit — though cordial enough there wasn’t a greeting of hello or goodbye. When the cashier saw us looking at the menu and taking quite a long time to decide, it would have been lovely if he offered suggestions instead of just staring at us.
I liked The Big Cheese but it’s definitely not an everyday type of food. Although I’m not dying to get back, I’d like to return to try their Mac & Cheese Poutine!