No Dud Spud's Found at this Potato Bar

Friday for lunch I decided to skip the usual fast food coupons I found in the past weeks in my mailbox.  I decided to raid my restaurant wishlist for some inspiration.  The result, a trip through slushy Ottawa, and a pair of soakers later, I found myself at Elmvale Acres Shopping Centre and Spud's Potato Bar & Poutinerie (1910 St. Laurent Boulevard, Ottawa)

I entered the store at 12 noon to find only two tables occupied in this modern looking fast food restaurant.  On one side was booths with the new McDonald's looking faux leather seating.  On the other stretched a long counter bordering the kitchen that made the place look like a converted Subway sandwich shop.

I ventured over to the long counter and reviewed the 5 large screen televisions acting as a menu to see what I would choose.  There were several types of poutine and other mixtures of fries with whatever you could imagine.  I contemplated the nachos on the vegetarian menu as this seemed an interesting option.  But I digressed wondering how nachos could be done without ground beef along with fries.  But now, in hindsight, I should have dove into that.

I waited two minutes as the previous customer finished ordering and receiving his order before I could order.  Only one employee, standing at the cash, was taking the orders when I arrived.  Not a big deal as there wasn't a crush of people coming in the door.   Another employee arrived from the back to help out and inquired what I would like as another customer entered the store and joined the line.

The Order: 1 Medium Fries and 1 can of Mountain Dew.

The second employee qued up the fries while the other, who had finally finished with the previous customer grabbed my can of pop and rang up my order.  For $8.10 (including taxes) I was ready for lunch.

$8.10 for a can of bloody pop and medium fries?  Yes siree, but the medium fries size were no McDonald's medium fries, they were close to 3 times that amount.

I nestled into one of the booths with my lunch and dug into the fries.

The fries were clearly designed for poutine consumption and not necessarily optimized for individual ordering without accompanying toppings like I did.  But these soft potato fries do suffice for individual consumption like I did.

The fries were fresh and hot as they were right out of the fryer.  Along with a little ketchup and fork they were great to eat.  Better quality and more in quantity than the traditional New York Fries offerings and, on a per fry basis, cheaper too.

Overall, Spud's is a great place to look for quality and quantity of fries as well as to expand your fries eating palette with their selection of not only poutine but other assortment of fries.  Friendly service along with good fast food make for a quality lunch or snack out while shopping.