CNE 2015

Although CNE marks the last days of summer in Toronto, I always look forward to visiting the fair and eating far too many deep fried goodies. This year was no exception. The Hubby and I met up with two other couples to overload on carbs. Since lines can get long, my strategy is to always go with a small group, find a base then divide and conquer. With smartphones in hand, we each set off to find the most indulgent plate to bring back (every year, we end up with a lot of poutine).

Bacon Nation – Bacon Wrapped Grilled Cheese
#1 plate of the night, a gooey grilled cheese, all wrapped up in a thick bacon weave and fried to crispy heaven. This was decadent, salty and had plenty of melted cheesy goodness. I would recommend sharing this plate as a quarter of one was plenty for all of us.

Poutine Balls
Deep fried balls of mashed potato, covered in gravy and cheese curds. I loved the concept of this dish on paper, in real life the mashed potato was gummy, the center was cool and overall disappointing.

Jake’s Lobster – Garlic Snow Crab Fries
#2 plate of the night, crispy garlic fries covered with shredded snow crab meat, parsley and dill. These fries had a strong garlic flavour with a touch of seafood. The box was a good portion size to split with 2 or 3 people. This was also the healthiest thing we ate all night.

Bouchard’s Poutinery – Cheeseburger Poutine
A classic poutine covered with ground beef, mustard, ketchup and pickles. I get this dish every year and we never finish it. Pictured below was the large box and best shared between 4-6 people.

Coco’s Fried Chicken – Chocolate Fried Chicken, Fried Chicken and Tater Tots
Chocolate flavoured fried chicken, normal fried chicken and tater tots. Each order of fried chicken came with hot sauce, sweet mango sauce and spicy chocolate spread. The sweetness in the batter was mild and interesting but I prefer my fried chicken salty. All the pieces were really meaty but I found the chicken had no flavour. The crispy tater tots dipped in hot sauce were delicious.

Unknown – Mexican Tatertots
Perhaps compared to the other dishes, or because my tastebuds were saturated with salt, I found these tots bland. There was no heat and the guacamole sauce was topped sparingly. Coco’s tater tots also had a much crispier exterior.

Mac and Cheesery – Mac n Cheese
Somehow this was the second lightest dish of the evening. In between bites of bacon and poutine, I was eating forkfuls of mac and cheese to cleanse my palate.