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Pyat and Teddog's Very Special Lunch Time Adventure [Dec. 2nd, 2008|02:22 pm]
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Today was finally the day. [info]commanderteddog and I went on a very special lunch time adventure. There are photos!

But first... yesterday [info]sassy_fae and [info]nottheterritory showed up at my office door, and demanded I go to lunch with them. I tried to resist, but we ended up dining in the Officer’s Mess of the Nautilus.


I had a pulled pork sammitch!



Reflected in a pitted old mirror.


Curious expressions! They had pasta. Good company, and a pleasant surprise on a grey and stressful Monday. Thanks, guys.



Right, so, back to the very special lunch adventure. While I was at the convention, [info]commanderteddog messaged me to tell me about a marvelous, magical new restaurant.

A restaurant that sold only poutine.



Poutine, for the Americans in my readership, is an enchanted Quebecois dish made of french fries, beef gravy, and cheese curds all mixed together in a delightfully greasy slurry. It is protein! It is the heavy fuel that Canadians need to run cool! The surgeon general eats it for breakfast!

We tried on two previous occasions to get there. One trip was stymied by a workload dump. The second attempt got us as far as the door, where we were faced with a huge line. We stared at it for a bit, and then an employee came out and placed a sign declaring the restaurant temporarily closed. They were overwhelmed by customers.


Our trip today was more successful. The place was crowded. It was standing room only, but we got through the line in under 15 minutes. Gosh.


Raw materials. There were just under 1000 lbs of potatoes. I counted!


The menu. [info]commanderteddog got the “Montreal” (corned beef, mustard and a pickle in addition to the usual) and I ordered the “Country Style”, which featured bacon, chicken, mushrooms, and fried onions.


There were no free tables, so we took our steaming, greasy boxes of congealing wonder and scurried to the Sheraton Plaza…


… which has a nifty heated fountain…


…we made our way into the warm dimness of the PATH, found a table, and took our first look at the colon-punishing delights we’d purchased.


Mine!


Hers!

And lo, it was good. Though, curiously, I doubt I’ll have any desire (or ability) to eat poutine for several months to come. The cheering you may hear is coming from my aorta.



But our adventure did not end there, no sir! We still had to make it back to our respective offices. And there were things to explore en route. We zipped into the Eaton’s Centre, and decided to go to the highest publicly accessible spot, a strange little gallery set all by itself, apparently inaccessible.



“There’s only one direction in the faces that I see;
It’s upward to the ceiling, where the chamber’s said to be.
Like the forest fight for sunlight, that takes root in every tree.
They are pulled up by the magnet, believing they’re free.”

We went up and up, past parking garages and over a bouncy bridge…


View from the glass elevator. The crystal Christmas tree is back, and sparkly and green.


View from further up, from the old “Mews” level… but we’re nowhere near our goal!


[info]commanderteddog, looking down on creation.


This is about as high as you can go without breaking the law. We had to walk through a tiny business college to get to this balcony. The only thing here is a one room gallery dedicated to some fairly ugly art by a single artist.


Teddog considering the roof, and legends of Urban Infiltrators who have scaled it.

Thus concludes Pyat and Teddog’s Fabulous Lunchtime Peregrination.
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Comments:
[User Picture]From: [info]avain
2008-12-02 08:22 pm (UTC)

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Hey! My office is in the Eaton's Centre! I knew you were in the downtown area, but didn't think you were that close.

Where is this mystical poutine-land?
[User Picture]From: [info]pyat
2008-12-02 08:25 pm (UTC)

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It's on Adelaide - the Poutinerie. It's just north of Roy Thompson Hall.

We should do lunch. :) Or, maybe you can sneak Teddog and I into Sekrit Employee Places at the Eaton's Centre?
From: [info]paka
2008-12-02 08:29 pm (UTC)

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Alas, my lactose intolerance really went nuts before I ever tasted poutine. Oh well. The part of Canada I most want to defect to I know best is much more of an udon-and-rice sort of place anyways.
[User Picture]From: [info]pyat
2008-12-02 08:51 pm (UTC)

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Vancouver?
From: [info]paka
2008-12-02 09:01 pm (UTC)

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Best city on the entire west coast.
[User Picture]From: [info]thebitterguy
2008-12-02 08:49 pm (UTC)

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Ah, man. Come winter I'm definitely going to have to head to that poutine place.

Hey, you working in TO at all in the last two weeks of the year?
[User Picture]From: [info]pyat
2008-12-02 08:52 pm (UTC)

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I am, but it's not clear what the schedule is yet. I should be in one or two days at least between Christmas and New Year, for example.
[User Picture]From: [info]anidada
2008-12-02 09:39 pm (UTC)

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Did they make onion ring poutine? If so, I'm totally going there sometime. This is almost as good as having a baked potato shop.
[User Picture]From: [info]pyat
2008-12-02 09:39 pm (UTC)

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I don't think they do... but I bet they would if you started a petition!
[User Picture]From: [info]anidada
2008-12-03 12:21 am (UTC)

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Oh, I'm sure if I just suggested it, they'd go "hmm..." as do most people who don't shudder in horror.
[User Picture]From: [info]summerfields
2008-12-02 09:52 pm (UTC)

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When Craig and I come to visit in February, we shall meet you for lunch.
That poutine looks...amazing.... mmmmm...

See you then!
[User Picture]From: [info]pyat
2008-12-02 10:03 pm (UTC)

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Okay, then! I should be ready for another dose, by then.
[User Picture]From: [info]summerfields
2008-12-02 10:10 pm (UTC)

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If not Poutine, then anything else that you recommend!
Craig hasn't really been to Toronto, so we need to go and play there for a while!
[User Picture]From: [info]cargoweasel
2008-12-02 10:24 pm (UTC)

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Ah poutine, the food whose deliciousness rises in direct proportion to the drunkenness of the eater.


[User Picture]From: [info]ronyon
2008-12-03 03:24 am (UTC)

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"Ah poutine, the food whose deliciousness rises in direct proportion to the drunkenness of the eater."

I come from the home of Goetta,a place where having a late night 3way means eating a chocolate spiced Greek spaghetti sauce with noodles and sharp cheddar, after midnight.These foods are primo drunkenness grub, and the flagship foods of Cincinnati.
That being said the Poutinerie needs to bring itself to our Queen City. We will open it with open arms!
Oh yeah, Goetta-too hard to explain, look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goetta
Suffice to say, I like mine crispy.
[User Picture]From: [info]mrs_dm
2008-12-03 01:38 am (UTC)

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I always thought the Eaton Centre looked like a Cathedral of Consumerism (if our modern religion is consumerism, which some say it is).
[User Picture]From: [info]pyat
2008-12-04 05:38 pm (UTC)

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It sort of is, definitely. But consumerism is a chaotic religion, and its gods (WalMart, Sears, etc.) don't like to share. The new trend in Consumerist Cathedrals is the big box warehouse in the middle of a parking lot.

Sigh. At least in a mall, you could enjoy the art installations.
[User Picture]From: [info]mar2nee
2008-12-03 03:09 am (UTC)

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ewwww..
(to the poutine)
[User Picture]From: [info]pyat
2008-12-04 05:39 pm (UTC)

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What's wrong with...

No, no, nevermind. It IS pretty gross. I can't really defend it.
[User Picture]From: [info]mar2nee
2008-12-04 06:07 pm (UTC)

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plus, it's anti-veggie. Despite the involvement of veggies.
[User Picture]From: [info]kisekileia
2008-12-03 04:22 am (UTC)

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I did not realize how far up you can go in the Eaton Centre!
[User Picture]From: [info]pyat
2008-12-04 05:39 pm (UTC)

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You can get even higher with a grappling hook... or a custodial key. There are cat walks running along the roof.
[User Picture]From: [info]lee_in_limbo
2008-12-03 05:13 am (UTC)

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I haven't had a good poutine in a little while. I may have to visit that place before it goes out of business.

Lee.
[User Picture]From: [info]pyat
2008-12-04 05:40 pm (UTC)

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Lemme know if and when you do!
[User Picture]From: [info]girlydoll
2008-12-04 05:35 pm (UTC)

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Wow, that place looked crowded, love the guys in suits eating at the table.. LOL.

My fav place is a little Crepe place just around the corner from the downtown Holiday Inn, about four blocks up from the dome... it was really good. But now there is a new place to try, although I might want to wait a year or two for the buzz to die down, I don't like to wait when I am hungry :P
[User Picture]From: [info]pyat
2008-12-04 05:36 pm (UTC)

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Actually, the crepe place is where Teddog and I ended up the previous week, when we couldn't get into the Poutinerie!