Pretty high up on my “must do” list for Quebec City was a return to a fast food chain I spent some time frequenting in my younger years: Chez Ashton.  Poutine, one of the significant contributions of Quebec to the world of food, can be found in all kinds of elevated forms – with lobster, with fois gras, with heirloom potatoes and grass fed dairy cattle organic cheese curds, or a host of other riffs on the basic dish.  I have nothing against those.  In fact, I’m a big fan of many.  But the truest interpretation of the dish is the variety made in casse-croûtes across la belle province.

So, harkening back to my younger days where a poutine and a Pepsi at Chez Ashton held a dear place in my heart, my first meal on my return visit to Quebec was exactly that:

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