If you didn’t get your fill of cheese curds and gravy over the Canada Day long weekend, a Yorkville kitchen is keeping the celebration going for the rest of the month with a massive twist on the Canadian staple.
Día Restaurant & Lounge, located on the second floor of the Canopy Toronto Yorkville hotel at 387 Bloor Street East, has launched a limited-time lineup of eight globally inspired poutines running until July 31. Executive chef Justin Raponi designed the menu to reflect Toronto’s multicultural food scene, trading traditional gravy for everything from gochujang to sweet donair sauce.
Traditionalists can opt for the Oh Canada, which features braised beef gravy, maple bacon, curds and crispy shallots, or the meat-heavy Hat Trick, loaded with smoked bacon, pulled beef, sausage, and gravy.
The rest of the menu takes the classic dish well beyond Canadian borders. The East Coast Donair features shaved donair beef, tomato, onio and sweet garlic sauce, while the Montreal Smoked Meat version uses peppercorn gravy, mustard aioli and a pickle slaw.
For international flavours, the Butter Chicken poutine swaps gravy for butter chicken sauce, finished with cilantro, pickled onion, and mint yogurt. There is also a Korean BBQ option with bulgogi beef, gochujang gravy, kimchi and sesame, a Nashville Hot Chicken version topped with spicy gravy and ranch, and a Mexi-Can option featuring chorizo, jalapeño, queso, pico de gallo and Tajín crema.
Because choosing just one flavour is a tall order, the restaurant is also letting diners build a custom poutine flight. Guests can select any three varieties to sample at once, making it an easy option for sharing.
The special menu is available daily for both lunch and dinner for the entire month of July.