Have you ever asked yourself what people around the world snack on? Often when I'm noshing on mac and cheese, or at the counter waiting to pay for bacon sliders, I find myself wondering what I'd be munching on if I were somewhere else. In Québec, I learned all about poutine, the dish that began as a regional snack and is now the leading comfort food in the Québecois diet.

What is poutine, you ask? In its most basic form: French fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy. We realize that this might not sound so appetizing, but you're going to have to take our word when we say it's a must-try. Strongly associated with late-night drunchies, and fat storage for Québec winter, poutine is not for the faint of heart. Or for those on a diet. But, if food is your thing, The Squire recommends trying not only the classic poutine (poutines are now available in numerous variations, adding ingredients from marinara sauce to foie gras), but knowing what to look out for in a great one.

A perfect poutine is one that contains: Fries that are soggy enough to absorb the gravy but crispy enough to be delicious, gravy sauce (with room for variation) that is thick and hot enough that it can melt the cheese, while still leaving some curds firm in the plate.

Poutine's dubious history makes this munchie all the more intriguing. The first poutines arose in Québec, but there are many unconfirmed claims as to its inventor. The street legend goes as follows: some time between 1957 and 1964, a man walks into a diner. He orders fries with the popular frite sauce, and sees cheese curds, a Québec staple, sitting on the counter. He asks for them together. When the owner of the restaurant hears the request, he is thought to have responded with the following: "ça va faire une maudite poutine!" ("that's going to make a damn mess!")

A few Québec townships hold claims to poutine, but Drummondville's seems to be the most credible. Jean-Paul Roy from Drummondville claims to have been the first to create the dish in 1964. Accordingly, he had a homemade sauce that was slathered on the fries that were sold in his restaurant. He also sold bags of cheese curds, which are widely popular in the region. When he noticed that customers were adding the cheese to the sauce and fries, he made the combination a regular menu item. His restaurant Le Roy Jucep, still stands on its original spot along Drummonville's main road.

If you're looking to get a taste of the classic poutine with a classy twist, Patati Patata is the place to be. This tiny diner is full of character, and its menu goes beyond the realm of French fries, serving solid and yummy burgers (tofu burgers also available). Their classic poutine ($4) is a must try. The fries are fresh-cut, and the cheese curds are perfectly fresh— not over-humidified like those that have clearly been stored away for weeks. The poutine sauce is what makes Patati Patata something special, because it is made not just with gravy, but with a mix of chicken stock and wine. Wine in the sauce is Patati Patata's signature variation, and is not something The Squire has seen anywhere else in Québec. It is done fantastically here, and makes for a finger-licking cheap eat experience.

But maybe you're looking for a late-night snack; that's the only time The Squire actively craves fried potatoes, cheese and gravy... And late-night is the only time classic poutine might not be enough. Enter La Banquise, 24 hour poutine joint, which serves twenty two takes on the Canadian fries. If you've seen Bourdain in Québec, and were curious about the "T-Rex" (with ground beef, pepperoni, back and hot dogs) or the "Kamikaze" (merguez sausages, hot peppers, Tabasco), La Banquise is where he tasted them. At $8 for a large, two or three hungry people can share a Bacon poutine. Although this add-in should be anything but rare, few poutine places in Québec offer it. Perfectly smoky, the bacon added just the right meaty flavor to an already delicious snack. The Squire highly recommends it.

Last but definitely not least in our top three poutine list, is Maamm Bolduc, a hip diner on a neighborhood corner. Their menu, containing eight variants, demonstrates the chef's devotion to the dish, although the selection pales in comparison to La Banquise's, for the obvious reason that the latter offers three times the menu. All other things being equal, Maamm Bolduc's poutine is impressive, with an outstanding and extremely flavorful sauce, which the first-rate French fries stood up perfectly to. The cheese curds are also delectable; and given the way all three ingredients marry perfectly in Maamm Bolduc's poutine, it is no surprise that this poutine joint has been a Québec favorite for the past forty five years.

Oh! And if anyone is trying to charge you more than $10, beware. You are either paying too much, or are about to be presented with enough food to feed a forest-clearing lumberjack for a day.

The Ivy League usually calls to mind beautiful campuses, extra smart students, gothic architecture, and astronomical tuition prices, but the students that attend these eight schools in the northeast are also part of their surrounding communities. The cities differ widely from each other, but they all influence and contribute to the lifestyles the students enjoy.  And part of the student experience is eating; these are young, hard-working kids after all, and their minds are always on the next meal.  If you’re new to the area, touring college campuses, or just looking for a different place to try over the summer, check out the restaurants below from your favorite university.

Harvard University – Cambridge may not be a huge city, but it hosts two major universities, Harvard and MIT, so it has to have plenty of dining options.  Plus, if you feel like you’ve exhausted what Cambridge has to offer, Boston isn’t far away.

• UpStairs on the Square is a great new American and Italian restaurant, perfect for a romantic date or dinner with your parents while they’re in town visiting.  It has two different dining rooms: the first floor is the Monday Club Bar, which has an ever-changing seasonal menu of “casual haute cuisine,” and the second floor is the Soirée Dining Room, which is more upscale with a menu prepared by chef Steven Brand and his staff with seasonal and local ingredients.
• If you’re looking for something different, try the Afghan food at the Helmand Restaurant.  The rave reviewed dishes are pricey but well worth it especially considering the comfortable atmosphere and their famous flatbread that’s baked in their wood-burning oven.
• Cambridge doesn’t have a place in the pantheon of great Southern cuisine cities but local restaurant Hungry Mother represents its Virginia roots well.  Boasting a rich dinner menu with multiple courses, a massive drink menu, and a late night menu (10:30pm-1am), there is something for everybody.

Columbia University – Columbia may be way up in Harlem, but students have access to all the wonderful international cuisines and glamour prevalent in New York City.

• For breakfast, try the freshly baked pastries at the Hungarian Pastry Shop where Columbia students come to study or socialize.  There’s even seating outside for beautiful summer mornings.
• If you’re looking to dive into the ethnic cuisine of NYC, go to Zoma for some excellent Ethiopian food.  If you’ve never had Ehtiopian, the experience itself is unique and exciting.  You’re encouraged to eat with your hands by mopping up your food with injera, a traditional spongy bread.
• Tom’s Restaurant, famously used for the exterior of Monk’s Diner in Seinfeld, has been a mainstay for Columbia students since the 1940s.  The menu features classic American food and students come in droves at 3 a.m. for a milkshake and fries with gravy.

Princeton University – Princeton students may spend most of their time chowing down at the ten “eating clubs” on Prospect Avenue (they also drink beers at each club for their Prospect 10 tradition), but even the laziest students like to venture into town for some variety.

• Late night, Elements is a great place to refuel for brunch.  It’s pricey but they serve fresh, light salads, as well as heartier fare like their French toast with Vermont maple syrup, bacon, pecan, and vanilla ice cream or their steak and eggs with “48 hour” short ribs, fried eggs, and home fries.
• If you’re looking for something a little cheaper or just craving a big sub, Hoagie Haven is the perfect stop.  It’s been around since the 1970s and features a huge variety of hot and cold hoagies and sandwiches, including the Heart Stop, made with cheesesteak, bacon, and eggs.
• For dinner, local Princetonians rave about the fresh, delicious sashimi and sushi served at Ajihei Sushi.  It’s tricky to find but worth seeking out.
• And for dessert, head over to the Little Chef Pastry, which has an unbelievable selection of exotic cakes, tarts, and pastries that will satisfy any craving.

University of Pennsylvania – Philly may not always be sunny, but U of P students still love getting off campus for some of the delicious eats the city has to offer.

• Bui’s Lunch Truck posts up basically on campus, and it doesn’t go unnoticed.  It draws students from all over for delicious breakfast sandwiches at very reasonable prices.
• The Reading Terminal Market, located near City Hall, is a must-see for newcomers to Philly. The massive, warehouse-like building is filled with vendors and places to eat from Amish markets to bakeries to restaurants and this maze of wonders has something for everybody.
• And if you’re going to be in Philly, one of your first priorities should be eating a cheesesteak.  Everyone’s heard of Pat’s and Gino’s, but locals favor Jim’s Steaks.  It’s been open for over 70 years, and desperate out-of-staters can order the famous cheesesteaks shipped to them overnight.
• Whether it’s for dinner or just a late night slice, Lorenzo and Sons is the best pizza place in town.  Located on South St. in a little hole-in-the-wall, this place has great sauce and toppings and it stays open late for all those partying students.
  

Cornell University – Ithaca may be in the middle of nowhere in upstate New York, but this little college town has some great food.

• College Town Bagels is the local favorite for bagels, including specials like Long Island honey wheat and spicy Italian as well as artisan breads and sandwiches.
• For the environmentally conscious, the Ithaca Farmers’ Market is a great place to eat.  Everything that’s sold there from Sri Lankan food to burritos is grown within 30 miles of Ithaca.
• If you’re looking for something a little spicier, try Taste of Thai.  The large interior has an authentic, comfortable atmosphere (food is served in elegant Thai-design china), and the food is very reasonably priced.

Yale University – New Haven’s claims to fame are the invention of the hamburger, the lollipop, and the world’s best pizza.  Those are hotly debated assertions but the quality of the food available to Yale students is not.

• For early mornings, get your caffeine fix or a quick bite to eat at the peculiar Koffee on Audobon.  It’s located in the arts district and has a very bohemian atmosphere, not for everyone, but the drinks are excellent and they have freshly baked muffins and bagels.
• Those interested in the history of the hamburger should definitely check out Louis’ Lunch, the self-proclaimed “Birthplace of the Hamburger Sandwich.” Featuring a beautifully simple menu that maintains the integrity of its origins in the late 1890s, this is definitely the place to go for lunch.
• Dedicated to sustainable, eco-friendly dining, Bespoke is a great dinner spot.  The menu offers delicious farm-to-table dishes like horseradish-crusted salmon with garlic-spinach puree and pistachio-crusted pork loin with roasted tomato puree, potato gratin, and garlic mint oil.

Dartmouth College – Hanover may be one of the forgotten Ivy League cities, but it was ranked the second best place to live in America, and it certainly is no slouch in terms of culinary delights.

• Partake in a Dartmouth tradition (since 1947) and order from the breakfast menu all day at Lou’s.  The menu features great breakfast items with a Mexican twist including the Chipotle turkey hash and the breakfast quesadilla.
• For lunch or a lively diner (there’s often live music) head to Molly’s Restaurant and Bar, a local favorite that has brick oven pizzas, fresh pastas, and a famous half-pound burger.
• Like Ithaca’s Farmers’ Market, Zins at the Hanover Inn offers excellent Upper Valley cuisine using locally produced ingredients.  Zins serves a wide variety of dishes from fresh seafood to regional game, like duck and quail, and the wine selection is extensive.
• For a good college dining experience, The Canoe Club is the place to go.  The décor is rife with iconic Dartmouth memorabilia, there is always live music, and the food is regional and fresh (the Canoe Club Shellfish Stew is a favorite).
  

Brown University – Rhode Island may be tiny but its claims to fame include the highest number of coffee and doughnut shops per capita in the country and the third most restaurants per capita.  Doughnuts aren’t for everyone (although the Rhode Island police must be happy) but Providence has a wide variety of cuisines to please any taste.

• For affordable, delicious, local, and vegan-friendly food, AS220’s artsy atmosphere and neighborhood feel are a perfect fit for any Brown prospective.  The staff is extremely understanding of all allergies and is willing to adapt and change items on the menu to suit special needs.
• La Laiterieis a great lunch spot, serving seasonal influenced bistro-style cuisine in a personally designed, rustic interior.  Doubters should know that part owner and chef, Matt Jennings, earned a nomination for Best Chef in the Northeast in the 2011 James Beard Restaurant Awards.
  • No trip to Providence is complete without an elegant meal at Al Forno, an authentic Italian restaurant that uses a wood-fired grill and locally produced foods.  Delicious dinners include Roasted Honey Glazed Duck Leg and Grilled Sausage or Roasted Gorgonzola Stuffed and Bacon Wrapped Veal Cutlets.  For dessert try the Plum Jam-Filled Crepes with Crème Anglaise.

www.thedailymeal.com

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=5597

http://www.articlealley.com/article_108023_26.html

It’s the Top – Banking on Swiss Cuisine

Fondue, raclette, and cured, air-dried meats … to outsiders Switzerland might seem to be a backwater place when it comes to culinary matters.  Way off the mark because it’s not just about the meat and the cheese.  In terms of quality, value, and consistency, only Japan can compare.

Swiss cities are vibrant centers of both old and new gastronomical excellence.  Due to their affluence, the Swiss can afford to buy the best.  For the same reason, the Swiss travel frequently around the globe and return with knowledge of the finest cuisines, both west and east.  These days you are more likely to find better Italian restaurants in Switzerland than in Italy, like Ristorante Italia in Zurich, Ristorante Scala in Bern and Gatti’s in Basel. The superiority of these establishments to most others in their home country is not only due to the influence of the Ticino, the Italian speaking region, but also to greater governmental controls over products.  Swiss ingredients are often fresher, subject to reliable and honest inspection, and prepared under the watchful eyes of Italian chefs who traveled north to get away from corruption.

 A recent scandal broke out in Rome when it was revealed that a number of top restaurants were helmed by folks from nations other than Italy. The food?  Italian as interpreted by a cook from Istanbul or Dakar.  It wasn’t xenophobia. The question asked was whether Italian food could be prepared by someone lacking the Italian home cooking traditions.

 The same goes for French dining in Switzerland.   In French speaking Switzerland there is a long tradition handed down over generations in some of the world’s finest restaurants along the shore of Lake Geneva where cascading vineyards go down to its shores.  The most famous chef in the world was Swiss:  Fredy Giradet, who went on to inspire Swiss chefs Gray Kunz and Philippe Rochat.  Chef Rochat, who runs Restaurant de L'Hôtel de Ville in Crissier, pays almost fastidious attention to detail, is willing to pay top prices (like the equivalent of $5 for one asparagus spear), and takes a seasonal approach to ingredients that are as refined as the best three star Michelin restaurants in France.

 Alongside Chef Rochat, and standing tall as one of the best chefs in Europe, is Philippe Chevrie, who is cooking at the Relais & Chateaux property, Domaine de Châteauvieux in Satigny, Switzerland’s largest wine growing municipality.  Here, in a fairy tale setting, surrounded by vineyards, long evenings of brilliant tasting menus are accentuated by the finest Swiss wines.

 The revolution in Swiss dining is not confined to the food.  Just under ten years ago a generation of winemakers, chiefly along Lake Geneva, decided to create wines to rival Burgundy, Napa, and Piedmont. Using longer periods of barrel aging, longer cellaring, and lower yields, they are producing pinot noir and unique Swiss varietals like Heida and Chasselas, for example, with long finishes and subtler flavor notes than ever before.  These are top wines for food pairing. If you haven’t heard about these spectacular wines perhaps it’s because 99% of them are consumed by the Swiss.  Now and then the Swiss producers talk about selling their wines to the United States, but then they ask: why bother?  It’s just as profitable for them to market them at home.

 Enjoying Swiss wines, though, is not confined to expensive, high end restaurants.  Wine bars are appearing throughout the country.  The misconception is that Switzerland is about beer; it’s not.  No nation consumes more wine per capita.  In Lucerne the best wine bar is Opus.   Here, along the River Reuss, you can sample and buy bottles from the best, young mavericks.  In Zurich, Park Hyatt has a wine program that is simply nonpareil as well as very sophisticated.

 Swiss wines are not the only examples of high quality.  Switzerland has the largest percentage of organic products than any other nation: 13% compared to 4% in the E.U. and about 2% in the U.S.  It’s not that organic food necessarily tastes better, but the control of the product is more systematic and, hence, reliable from season to season and year to year.  The same goes for the AOC or “controlled designation of origin” that signifies where a product comes from.  The Swiss are vigilant about the integrity of taste, convinced that where something is grown--its terroir--must be expressed and sustained.  Of course, the French and the Italians share this desire.  The difference is that Switzerland has the money, infrastructure and size to organize and implement standards.

 As a result, even traditional Swiss restaurants, informed by a farm to table philosophy, are spectacular these days.  Next to one of the top restaurants in Zurich, Kronenhalle, you’ll find the Vorderer Sternen Grill which is outdoors and by the lake.  Stand and enjoy delicious sausages and beer or wine as you eyeball the passersby.  In Bern, an old granary has been converted into an upscale establishment called Kornhauskeller serving Swiss specialities that are light on the palate.  In Vevey, which was home for Charlie Chaplin, Hotel des Trois Couronnes has a restaurant serving egli, a local lake fish that is lightly sautéed and accompanied by a Chasselas.  It’s perfect.

 When you’re not dining out in restaurants, head for the Swiss bakeries.  Breads in Switzerland - hearty, coarse grained, and with great crusts -have no rivals.  The sunflower seed breads are amazing.

 But it’s not just its’ own traditions that finds expression in Swiss gastronomy these days.  Thai, Japanese, Sri Lankan, Turkish, and Indian restaurants with great depth have been appearing regularly in the past few years throughout Switzerland.  Delicate flavors, top ingredients and authenticity make these places well worth visiting.  Switzerland is a favorite location for Bollywood movies, for example, and on top of the Jungfrau you’ll find the aptly named Indian restaurant called Bollywood.  In Bern, you’ll find Nooch Noodles & Sushi and also inside Markthalle, a large food hall near the train station, you have a wide choice of Southeast Asian restaurants.  The best of these is Tanka Kehrstaz, a unique Swiss-Japanese restaurant.

 So put down your fondue fork, pick up your chopsticks, raise a glass of Swiss pinot noir and say Bon Appetit in Swiss: En guete!

Eating in New York City

Daniel

Hype in New York often trumps reality.  No place on earth can brainwash people into thinking that the show, the art, the exhibit, the performance, or...the food is better than what you sense.  It’s like Harpo Marx and Richard Pryor said: “Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”  Armies of P.R. people make rent working long hours into the night trying to convince you that what they rep is better than what he or she reps.  The goal is to pry you from your hard-earned bucks.  How do you know where to eat in New York City with the blizzard of hype?