What better way to cap off the 2010 winter Olympics than to pay homage to Canada’s favorite fast food: poutine. The dish doesn’t look like much, just a pile of fries with some gravy and fresh cheese curds. To outsiders, it often sounds disgusting (brown gravy on fries?), or at least offensive. But poutine, if given the proper chance, is delicious. This popular snack, while associated with late-night drinking and unhealthy eating, has matured into a legitimate dish that is popping up on menus around the city, including Steelhead Diner and Quinn’s Pub. Which one has the better poutine? Steelhead’s poutineSteelhead Diner (left)95 Pine St., 625-0129Steelhead gets extra points for distribution. Their fries were plated and spread out nicely, each coated with gravy and curds. The gravy on this poutine ($7.95) is made with Nurnberg bratwurst, andouille sausage and a “secret sauce” mix we’re not allowed to know about. Surprisingly, the fries stayed pretty crunchy until the end, but that might be because we scarfed down the dish before the gravy had time to soak in. Steelhead Chef de Cusine Anthony Polizzi told us he lived off poutine for four days when he visited Vancouver, B.C. last year. But we hear the real reason poutine is still on the menu after three years is because it’s a popular dish in Australia (who knew?), home of Steelhead co-owner Terresa Davis. Quinn’s fries w/demi-glace and fontinaQuinn’s Pub (right), 1001 E. Pike St., 325-7711This really isn’t poutine in the traditional sense. Instead of the classic curds, these awesome hand-cut fries ($8) are topped with fontina fonduta and a demi-glace made from vegetable stock and some foie gras to add texture and creaminess. The sauce is like an unctuous ketchup that lightly coats the fries–almost too delicately. These fries have been on Quinn’s menu since the pub opened and are definitely well worth a taste. Plus, it’s one of the few dishes offered between lunch and dinner service. Verdict: You’d think adding gravy to French fries would create a soggy situation, but that wasn’t the case in either of these dishes. The fries at both Steelhead and Quinn’s were not only delicious, they held their own under the weight of gravy and cheese, making this a difficult bout to call. But we give an extra nod to Steelhead for the flavor and quantity of gravy. We were happy to use our fork as a makeshift mop, moving our remaining fries around the dish to sop up the leftovers. Granted, Quinn’s makes no promise of poutine, but the dish is close enough that anyone wanting poutine would be happy with this inspired offering. We just wish we had more of that meaty foie gras sauce to blanket the naked fries that remained after we ate the top layer. But really, leaving your customers wanting more isn’t exactly a losing situation.