Smoke’s Poutinerie Coming To Philly

Know what that is? That’s some bacon cheeseburger poutine and, shortly, it will be available for you to insert directly into your face.

The Philadelphia Business Journal is reporting this morning that an authentically Canadian chain called Smoke’s Poutinerie is eyeing a south-of-the-border expansion as part of their “Global Domination Tour” which is pushing for 1,300 new locations around the world and 800(!) in the United States in the next five years. Which is, of course, completely bonkers.

But in a slightly more rational universe, we do know this: The chain has signed a franchise agreement with eight scheduled store openings on the East Coast in 2016 (and beyond). One of those locations is going to be in Center City–probably near the colleges, likely in a place where drunken young people with cash in hand and a dire need for french fries, gravy and cheese curds might gather.

For its part, Smoke’s is a Canadian chain with dozens of locations throughout Canada (and a few already on the ground in California, Nevada, Florida and Arizona) which specializes in that most Canadian of suicide methods snacks, Poutine. It offers a frightening numbers of varieties–everything from bacon cheeseburger (pictured above) to triple-pork, chili-cheese bacon, Italian meatball and vegetarian nacho poutine. They, of course, offer a Philly cheesesteak variety (with roasted red peppers and sauteed mushrooms because they’re Canadian and Canadians are adorably misled when it comes to pretty much everything that isn’t donut-shaped or requires ice skates), but I’m completely willing to overlook this cultural misstep provided they open close enough to Foobooz World HQ that I can roll there in an office once I become too fat to walk under my own power.

Obviously we don’t know a lot about this place yet, but we will certainly keep you abreast of any new developments as we hear about them. And in the meantime, for those of you who must have your poutine RIGHT NOW, might I humbly suggest a visit to Coeur tonight?

Canadian Poutinerie Expanding To Philly Region [Biz Journal]