ESD Poutine at Elgin Street Diner – Ottawa, Ontario

Last week, I shared a few pics of what we ate during our visit to Ottawa and today I’m showing you the best dish from our weekend – Poutine at Elgin Street Diner.

Always interested in where the locals go, we asked the hotel staff for restaurant recommendations. Almost all surveyed replied “Elgin Street Diner. Try the ESD Poutine, don’t worry about the others on the menu.”

After a few hours of playing in the snow and skating on the canal, we made our way over to the diner even though the weatherman was calling for 5 cm of snow by day’s end.

“This better be some amazing poutine or I’m going to yell at someone!” I said to myself while I held onto my daughter’s hand trudging through ankle deep snow and slush.

I could tell my husband was having a hard time pushing our 2 year old in his umbrella stroller but he didn’t show his frustration. Being the winter fan that he is, he turning back yelling “We can do this! No need for a car. What kind of Canadian are you?”

Eye roll. I’m the “I love the sun, I’m a summer baby” Canadian!

After 10 minutes of grumbling in my head, we stepped into a Seinfeld meets Friends meets I Love Lucy dining establishment.

A brick feature wall, chalkboard signs, metal and dark turquoise tables and chairs make Elgin Street Diner feel homey and inviting. I failed to take a photo of the outside of Elgin Street Diner due to my annoyance with the falling snow.

The place was packed. Every seat and table table was occupied. Who eats lunch at 3:30PM? Apparently many families in Ottawa.

I spotted this t-shirt on the wall. They mean business here – SERIOUS. POUTINE. BUSINESS.

Shortly after being seated, we quickly placed our order. Strawberry Milkshake, Buffalo Chicken Salad, Tuna Scoop Salad, Fish and Chips for the kids to share and of course the ESD poutine.

What were we thinking? The plates were massive and one salad split between my husband and I would have been enough. Obviously we should have looked around to see what others were eating before ordering.

 

Once the poutine hit the table we forgot about everything else.

Smoky bacon, dark gravy, sweet caramelized onions and St. Albert cheese curds piled onto a stack of shoestring fries. Yes, poutine with shoestring fries! Who does that? ESD does.

Mouthwatering, n’est-ce pas?

“I want those fries, Mommy!” said our 5 year old.

“Me try! Me try fries!” yelled our 2 year old.

It was full on “no holds barred” eating. Less than 10 minutes later, the poutine plate was clean.

Bravo Elgin Street Diner – your poutine rocks! The milkshake is pretty darn good too.

It was everything the Holiday Inn staff said it would be. ESD Poutine – totally worth walking in a snowstorm (or semi snowstorm for).

LET’S EAT!

Elgin Street Diner
374 Elgin Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K2P 1N1
(613) 237-9700

Elgin Street Diner is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

High chairs are available for those with babies and toddlers. Our meal rang up to $50 flat (tip included) – milkshake, two salads, ESD Poutine and Fish & Chips from the Kids’ Menu.

Come hungry or order plates to share. The serving sizes are very generous here and we ate our salads for dinner in our hotel room at 10 PM that night.