My first poutine at Fritz European Fry House in Vancouver

Fritz European Fry House, located just off Granville Street in downtown Vancouver

Vancouver may not be as well known for poutine as Montreal, but places like Fritz European Fry House off Granville Street still know how to make poutine. If you don’t know what poutine is, take some fries, gravy, and cheese and mix it.

Where I live in California, poutine is the new and cool thing to eat. You can find it on the menu of almost every gastropub. Even with its popularity, I still never tried it. I’ve had all these delicious ingredients separately but never together. I just never understood what all the fuss was.

Being in Canada, the birthplace of poutine, I knew I finally had to try it.

Vancouver has many poutineries (that’s a new word for me). Unsure which place to try, I decided to ask a few of the locals working at the Twisted Fork, a French bistro located just down the road on Granville Street. They recommended Fritz European Fry House as one of Vancouver’s best poutines.

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Interior of Fritz European Fry House

Fritz European Fry House is a no-frills fry shop just off Granville Street.

When I visited, only one lady was working. She looked like she had her hands full but worked hard to take orders and prepare the food.

The inside was small but felt large, with tall ceilings and bright yellow walls. The interior had wooden features, common in places all across Vancouver. The wooden counter, seating, ceilings, hanging lanterns, and menu made me feel like I was in a European restaurant.

You will find no tables. If you wish to stay and eat, you must squeeze onto one of the narrow, choir-style church benches. These seats can fill quickly during the lunch rush and when the bars close.

People usually eat quickly, so you can usually snag a seat on one of the benches. If not, be prepared to stand and eat.

If it’s a sunny day, you can order takeout and find a nice place to sit outside.

Another great thing about the restaurant is that it stays open until 2:00 AM on the weekends. There is no need to worry about being hungry after a long night of drinking in the city. Poutine and alcohol go hand in hand. It is the definition of drunk food.

Fritz European Fry House Menu

The menu at Fritz European Fry House is quite simple. The main items are poutine (fries, gravy, cheese) and fritz (fries). They also offer hot dogs before midnight, but I didn’t see anyone ordering these.

Most people top their poutine with one of the delicious toppings. The toppings are chicken, chili, Montreal (MTL) smoked meat, pulled pork, crumbled real bacon, soy bacon bits, extra cheese, and extra gravy.

If you need help deciding which size poutine to order, check the display on the counter next to the menu. You can view the container sizes (small, medium, large, jumbo, and bucket). The medium poutine was much larger than I expected and more than enough for one hungry person. I could only imagine trying to finish a bucket-size poutine by myself.

If that’s not enough, you can order one of 19 unique dipping sauces, including sriracha, jalapeno mustard, chipotle mayo, Cajun ketchup, and wasabi aioli.

Drinks are limited to Cokes, water, and juice.

Poutine Topped with Montreal Smoked Meat

Medium poutine topped with MTL smoked meat — Medium poutine topped with Montreal (MTL) smoked meat

With so many options, I had trouble deciding what to order. I ended up ordering a Medium Poutine (CAD 9.50 or about $6.94) topped with Montreal (MTL) Smoked Meat (extra CAD 3.00 or about $2.19).

A good poutine starts with high-quality potatoes. At Fritz, they used high-quality, hand-cut Canadian-grown potatoes fried in pure vegetable oil. The Belgian-style fries were extremely crispy and fresh. Layer after layer, they remained crunchy, even covered with gravy and cheese.

For protein, I added MTL or Montreal smoked meat. The meat was smoky, tender, and had a perfect amount of fat. While I enjoyed the Montreal smoked meat, you can’t go wrong with any of the proteins.

If you love gravy, you will be pleased to see the poutine drenched in an endless amount of thick, rich, dark, and salty brown gravy. Each layer of the poutine had a generous amount of gravy, complementing the creamy cheese and crunchy fries. My only complaint with the gravy was that it was salty, making it a little difficult to finish.

Last but not least were the squeaky cheese curds. If you have never had cheese curds, I can describe them as soft cheese balls. Thanks to the hot gravy, the cheese melted perfectly. Each bite was oozing with smooth and creamy melted cheese.

To describe it in one word would be heavenly. As with the gravy, as I worked my way through each layer, I kept being surprised with more delicious melted cheese.

Conclusion

I am a poutine novice, but I highly recommend the poutine served at Fritz European Fry House. It may not be the best poutine in Canada or the best dish in Vancouver, but you seriously can’t go wrong with fries, gravy, and cheese.

I enjoyed the poutine because I was never stuck eating plain fries. Between each layer of fries, there was gravy and melted cheese until the last bite.

Whether you are sober or not, Fritz European Fry House makes an enjoyable, unhealthy, calorie-busting, yet delicious poutine.