Burger Jones – Minneapolis, MN (Poutine Crawl)

When you’re on a year-long poutine crawl, you need to hit up at least one poutine restaurant per month to keep on track. This month it was Burger Jones. Our people descended on this place late one Tuesday evening after people finished with work, derby practice, and yelling at the television for having soooo much pink being shown on the NFL during October. I won’t mention any names…

We did our usual thing where we order enough poutine at our table to cause the cooks to panic. Thankfully, they’re a big operation, so they were able to handle our orders without any problem. We also got a lot of drinks. Sometimes that happens at the poutine crawl.

A few people ordered burgers, as well as their poutines, but I played it cautious. I had seen how large their portions were at previous visits to Burger Jones, so I decided I’d see how hungry I was after I finished the ‘tine and then order a burger if I needed to (I didn’t).

The poutine here looks pretty delicious. A serious mound of crispy fries on a platter with a pretty good gravy, a nice helping of bacon, and a few curds. Here were our issues: we thought there needed to be more gravy – the flavor was decent (no complaints from the peanut gallery), but we wished there were enough to have some on every bite. The plates cleaned up pretty well, which unfortunately mean there isn’t enough gravy to coat everything. Secondly, there was a discussion about the curd ratio. Some thought it needed more curds, some thought the amount was right, but it needed to be in smaller pieces. I, for example, had an enormous curd (which I cut into 7 or 8 smaller pieces – literally) and then two additional curds. That sounds like 3 curds, until you factor in the cutting process. Other people just wanted more cheese altogether. I vote for BOTH!!!! The curds held their shape and texture (and a little squeak) through the baking process, which was nice. We don’t like it when they melt into nothingness. And the bacon was delicious and most thought the appropriate amount. Enough to give it flavor, but not so much as to be overwhelming.

It’s a pretty good showing of poutine. I’d give it some sort of ranking, but everyone at the table had a different opinion on where it ranked. Id’ put it about three-quarters of the way to the top. It was good, but not the best, in my opinion. I’ll eat it again, though. That was never a question.

www.burgerjones.com