St. Augustine Poutine

A few months back, November 7 to be precise, my wife celebrated her 29th birthday ... again. 

She's so lucky not to have aged. I can't help but to go up by "one" every year on my birthday. Beats me how she does it?

She was also lucky because the day before her birthday she flew to Florida enabling her to spend her special day with four of her grandchildren. 

For the past twenty-seven years my wife has worked in our towns school district office and has amassed six weeks vacation besides all the school holiday closings and days off. 

Hmph... I'll have to check. Maybe with all that accrued time off she never goes into the office. Where does she go?

Anyways, my wife, we'll call her Debbie (because that is her name) as I mentioned, was in Florida on her birthday. She was treated to lunch by her four grandchildren, Aiden, Ryder, Aria and Laurel, whose ages range from thirteen down to six.

Of course since the grandkids don't work or drive, I had previously and secretly sent money down for them to take Grammy out for a birthday lunch. Our son, Rob was the designated driver and was also on the lunch crew.

Lunch was at DJ's Clam Shack in St. Augustine, "a little hole in the wall" as Debbie described it. With only a couple of inside tables and not many more on the outside, this "hole in the wall" eatery was outstanding. 

    NOTE- Hole in the Wall is more commonly a U.S. term: a small place (such as a bar or restaurant) that is not fancy or expensive.

Lunch was comprised of (as I recall her telling me in her excitement):

      • Overstuffed lobster rolls

      • Conch fritters

      • Fried shrimp

      • Mahi mahi tacos

      • Beer battered onion rings

Sounds good, right?

And for Laurel, the youngest... chicken fingers with ketchup!

There is one more dish which has not been mentioned that everyone dove into ... drum roll please ...

Clam Chowder smothered French Fries!

Yup. You read that right, clam chowder smothered French fries. It's a thing. Really. A real entree!

"Ugh! Abominable to my abdominal", you say? Hear me out. Or actually, continue reading...

Clam chowder smothered fries is like having french fries and gravy. It's an incredible topping. Similar to the way our Canadian neighbors north of us dump gravy on fries and call it poutine. 

Hold on a sec, "dump" is rather a raucous word. Let's say our Canadian amigos, "pour" the gravy onto the French fries. 

So we now have a little twist to the original version of poutine.

Side Note: A group of Toronto mothers—dubbed “the poutine police”—petitioned for the food's removal from school cafeterias due to its high fat content. They were successful in seeing the dish banned from local schools and replaced with more healthy side dishes.

When I researched a few recipes and finally prepared this dish. the common denominator was to have the fries nice and thick, and make the chowder more thick and sauce-like with lots of clams, no potatoes, and no big chunks of anything.

Hold onto your chair and please don't rebuke me on what I'm about to write, but...

For my first time trying this side dish at home, I made thickly cut homemade, hand-cut fries but opted for "canned" New England clam chowder. 

Go ahead, let the boo's rain down on me and when you're done, we'll move forward...

(We wait as the Final Jeopardy theme song plays here)

Like I wrote, I wanted to try these fries, so I opted for the canned route and it worked out well using Progresso's New England clam chowder. It was thick, creamy and I didn't have to toy with it at all. We'll call it a win-win!

So, I'm writing this today while enjoying a few of my two-finger pours of Kanichee XO rum as Snow, our golden retriever lays beside me. 

Life is good! 

Thank you for reading.

Your Wanna Be Chef

John