Eastern Ontario Poutine Review

When we visited Calypso Water Park last time, (2013), even though we heard lots of French, I didn't realize just how FRENCH that area is.  I though everyone was a tourist, LOL.  This time we stayed in Casselman, and wow, French was everywhere.  I knew I HAD to try some "almost Quebec" poutine.

I read about a cheese co-op, St. Albert Cheese,  that was nearby.  They have a snack bar.  Perfect!  We got there a little earlier than I expected, and got told (in French) that the snack bar was still closed.  We were willing to wait the 15 minutes!  We were disappointed that the Mac & Cheese was still on the menu, but no longer available.  So we chose the classic poutine (there were many options) and nachos with chicken.

The poutine is served up pretty quick.  The nachos took a while.  But worth the wait!

The poutine was awesome....though the first French fry I took was SO hard and burnt, I was worried.  Tons of gravy.  Our only complaint was that the cheese curds were too big and didn't melt well, especially since we were outside and it was sort of cool out.  

The nachos were SO good!  Oh man.  I make nachos once in a while, but I put the salsa on the chips, then the toppings, and bake.  These, the chips were hot, the cheese was melted, and then the toppings were added (the toppings were cold, but the chicken was hot).  The salsa was separate.  It was a totally different way of doing nachos, and we all liked it--though it was harder to share (there were naked tortillas at the bottom!).  We made such a mess of the picnic table, LOL!

After lunch, we went back in for gelato/sherbet.  They were going to get ice cream, but it was Kawartha Dairy ice cream, which we get all the time. So we wanted to try something new.  The gelato cups were tiny, but SO worth it, and they really didn't need to be bigger, since you could get two flavours.  I tried dark chocolate and raspberry.  OMG.  Divine.  Others got Cookies and Cream, Coconut, Lemon, and milk chocolate, I think.  The only disappointment was the Cookies and Cream, which tasted a bit old.  All the flavours they offered looked awesome.

I think we ended up spending just under $40 for the 5 of us, and we were stuffed.  A great place for a little visit.  The store is well stocked, the self-guided tour is interesting, and the food is worth it (as we could tell by the steady stream of locals!).  If you're going up that way, stop by and visit!