Guilty Pleasures: Smoke's and Susie's

Rebecca: When Ben came up with the idea to do a theme post about our guilty food pleasures, I enthusiastically agreed. As I mentioned in our Coastal post, I am unashamed to admit that I am a lover of poutine. I've become a bit of a poutine "snob", as one may say, because mozzarella cheese just doesn't cut it for me (it's gotta be real Quebec cheese curds), hand-cut fries are a must, and the gravy must have that "homemade" taste. I decided to go to Smoke's Poutinerie to satisfy my poutine craving, which was a welcome addition to the downtown Pizza Corner among poutine lovers like me. Smoke's is a Canada-wide restaurant chain that feeds poutine to the masses using all-Canadian ingredients. The seating area is small, and the classic rock that plays inside the restaurant is way too loud sometimes. But the poutine is delicious. For more adventurous eaters, they have an array of unconventional poutine toppings, such as guacamole, mustard, or pulled pork. In my opinion, if it ain't broke don't fix it, so I always order the classic cheese curds/gravy combination. 

Have you ever experienced post-poutine regret? I have.

The portion size is pretty big (pictured is the "regular" size). The fries are delicious, but sometimes a little too salty. The gravy is meaty and the Quebec cheese curds, oh the cheese curds - they are the best part! The poutine is served up really hot. I always eat the entire thing, much to Ben's amazement.

Ben: Unlike Rebecca, my guilty pleasure is of the sweeter variety. Susie's Shortbreads, which has been around since I started university, has long been a go-to place for me. Susie's is all decked out in pink decor, and blasts 1960's pop music over the speakers. I'm not ashamed to say that at one point I went there at least once a week for their signature product. I speak, of course, of the cupcake. 

Trying to look as manly as possible

I got the White Chocolate Raspberry cupcake, one of their more intermittent menu items (they have a few regular cupcake flavours, and then rotate a few dozen others). My cupcake had a vanilla cake base with white chocolate chips, a generous (as always) portion of raspberry buttercream and a white chocolate chunk on top. It was awesome.

Ready to be devoured.

Have you ever experienced post-cupcake regret? I have.

In addition to the cupcake, I tried one of their milkshakes for the first time. This proved to be a bridge to far. The flavour I got (peanut butter) was decent, but didn't really go with the cupcake at all. I plan on stopping in sometime this summer for just a milkshake, so as to judge it at a time when my belly is not full of cupcake.

Too much.