Once a year, The Stampede rolls into town for a good 10 days, offering food, rides and experiences of a lifetime that some people around the world would only dream of. On Monday, July 6th, I headed down to the grounds to take in one of the many performers at the Coca Cola stage, Canada’s own Lights, and of course enjoy some of the great food down at the grounds.
I won’t lie, I’m a mini donuts gal. I’ll usually go down for the day and enjoy my time with friends and leave with a bag of mini donuts to share with family, but I decided change is good. Looking at the list of new foods at the Calgary Stampede, I stopped at the Bourbon Street Peppercorn Poutine. The image of the poutine was appealing and making me a teensy bit hungry and I just knew I had to try it.
I’ve always been a big poutine fan, so when my mother and I got to the grounds on Monday night, we set out in search of finding the poutine. The only problem? We didn’t know where it was or which booth sold it.  After about 15 minutes of searching, we resolved to asking an employee where to find it. The individual handed us a map of all the new foods at the stampede and where to find them. The Bourbon Street Peppercorn Poutine is sold by Mardi Gras Grill, a booth located near the Saddledome.
The poutine was 13$, and if you’re thinking that’s a little expensive, what isn’t? One of the things I liked most about the poutine is that the portion was pretty big and equates to the price of the meal. I shared it with my mother and found it was quite filling, so if you’re afraid of it being too small, don’t. Another thing I enjoyed was that the gravy and cheese curds were evenly distributed throughout the poutine. Often I’ll have a poutine and find there is no more gravy or curds after the top layer of the poutine, but that was not the case.
On top of everything was a generous amount of steak. When I saw it, I’ll admit I was a little surprised. The sight of the poutine looked nothing like the one advertised on the Calgary Stampede’s website, but nonetheless it tasted very good. Advertised on the booth was a sign stating “Calgary Stampede’s Best Poutine 2015”, and I must say it was definitely good. I can’t say they were the best, because I haven’t tried the other poutines at the Stampede, but if you’re looking for a good poutine, the Mardi Gras Grill has it.
