At 4 a.m., there is only one true TIFF star: poutine
Who is the biggest star draw this TIFF? The ladies and gays might be inclined to say George Clooney or Matt Damon, whereas the men might want to say Megan Fox or Jennifer Connelly, but if you judge by the massive throngs of people pushing, shoving and angling to get a spot on Queen Street we’d all be wrong. The biggest star of TIFF—at least on West Queen West—is poutine, and plenty of it.
Poutini’s is a poutine shop on Queen West, located on the prized real estate between festival hot spots The Drake and The Social. We went to the Quebecois food shop after a rather late night at the Drake and were blown away by the sheer number of people there. When asked about TIFF, a very drunken patron mumbled. “Who gives a shit about the celebrities? No one sees anybody anyway. I just like being able to drink late.” While we wouldn’t necessarily have quite the same take, his honesty seemed reflective of many of the drunk and hungry masses in line.
Poutini’s heaping bowls of poutine ($6.19) help sop up any of the extra libations one may have consumed in an evening. We found it delicious—but it was four in the morning. We probably would have loved cold pizza, too.
