In the list of great guilty-pleasure foods, few dishes can hold a candle to a plate of poutine artfully done. Second only to comedy writers, poutine is the greatest export of our neighbors to the north, and nowhere in Seattle is it done with more art and less irony than at Kevin Davis' Steelhead Diner. Sure, you can get a nice piece of fish here. You can eat a lovely pasta or a fancy po' boy or any number of other jumped-up classics of American gastronomy. But no matter how you try to deny, justify, or rationalize it, the poutine is still the star of this menu, because the fries are always perfectly done, the gravy handled with as much care as a demiglace or beautiful reduction from the saucier's station, and the cheese curds are from right down the hill at Beecher's. Put it all together and you have the simplest, most elemental equation in the junk-food canon: crispy, salty French fries + rich, savory gravy + big, melty cheese curds = absolutely delicious. ?Jason Sheehan 95 Pine St., 625-0129