Poutine: Can French Fries be Sexy?

I expected this week to include a couple of different sexy San Francisco activities in it. The things that I expected to happen for me didn’t end up happening. I had planned on going to Little Minsky’s burlesque show over in the Haight on Friday because it’s always a lot of sexy fun over there. However it was rainy and gross and my date was sick so I stayed home and watched a documentary on burlesque with my new roomie instead. Then last night I went to see a dance performance called Nocturnal Butterflies which I was expecting to have a really sexy edge to it based on the description of the dance. Although there were some interesting artistic aspects to the performance, it didn’t end up having the sexy allure that had been promised in the program.

So what did happen in San Francisco this week that was sexy? Well, the funny thing about this city is that you can encounter different kinds of sexy things in places that you hadn’t even planned on going. The example for me this week was a decision to do lunch at The Salt House over in the SoMa. This is a fancy schmancy restaurant that’s overpriced but delicious. I ordered an appetizer that I wasn’t familiar with called poutine. Then, true nerd that I am, I came home and learned all about what poutine is.

It turns out that poutine is a French Canadian dish from Quebec. It’s big thick fries covered in cheese and then topped with gravy. How can this possibly be sexy. Well think of it this way …

  • It’s French Canadian. It’s way sexier than plain old french fries!
  • It’s rich and indulgent. It’s not quite chocolate or a fancy wintry drink but it’s indulgent which is a little bit sexy.
  • It’s rare. It’s tough to find poutine in San Francisco. That makes it a bit of a sexy treat.
  • The ambience at the restaurant was stylish and sexy. That counts for something.
  • It’s a little bit spicy. Spice is sexy.
  • It’s a dish that’s meant to be eaten with your hands and shared with someone else. It’s not necessarily romantic but it’s a meal that involves physically sharing your food. That can be sexy.
Would I really say that poutine is a sexy dish? It’s not on my list of aphrodisiacs but it’s an interesting experience to enjoy. And it’s a good dish. And the real point here is that sometimes you find a strange hint of sexiness in San Francisco in the places where you least expect it. Sometimes it is the very fact that you stumble upon new things here from international places that is sexy, less so than the food itself. And of course sometimes the things that you expect to be sexy either aren’t or just don’t end up happening.
(On a side note, there was a group of people in the restaurant dressed as The Flintstones. Here we were in a fancy place eating a $50 lunch (with no cocktails) and there were people dressed as the Flintstones. That may not be particularly sexy but it is oh-so-San-Francisco).
If you’re interested in trying poutine in San Francisco and seeing for yourself if it can be a sexy experience then The Salt House is a good place to check out. My internet research tells me that there are only a few places in the city that have this dish; the only one I’ve found for sure online is Ame. It was also mentioned at Mission Street Food (but it was on a special menu here and it was sweet potato poutine).

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This entry was posted on Saturday, December 12th, 2009 at 10:19 am and is filed under Food / Restaurants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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