The Montreal Gazette: At long last, Paris gets its first Maison de la Poutine

April 3, 2018

It’s noon on a rainy Saturday afternoon in Paris.

It’s not the usual Parisian spring drizzle, the wishy-washy kind that can’t seem to make up its mind whether it wants to stay or go.

No, today, the rain is steady and heavy, emptying the streets of the normally bustling 2nd arrondissement and beating down hard on the umbrellas of half a dozen people who have lined up outside a cheery, bright blue restaurant facade — the only sign of life on rue Mandar on this particular afternoon.

Four months after its opening, it’s still common to see lines of hungry guests queued up outside La Maison de la Poutine, one of the buzziest dining addresses in the city right now.

As Paris’s first restaurant dedicated entirely to that most Québécois of dishes, it’s gained the attention of food bloggers, mainstream media and the gastronomic elite alike, who seem amused at the novelty of it all.

Were someone to tell me eight years ago, when I first arrived in Paris as a Toronto expat, that a poutine restaurant would generate this much hype, I would have scoffed given the reaction I used to receive after describing the contents of Canada’s most iconic dish.

More at https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/at-long-last-paris-gets-its-first-maison-de-la-poutine