Comments on: POUTINE CHALLENGE 2009

By: Cathy Anderson

Cathy Anderson — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:27:37 +0000

Poutine, a dish consisting of primarily French fries topped with fresh cheese curd covered with brown gravy and other ingredients if you like, is surely mouth-watering. Poutine challenge is one of the most awaited event in the campus, specially by the judges. The winners of the poutine challenge is surely the best for the year. This post is great. It would be nice if photos of the poutine winners are shown, maybe during the next poutine challenge.

By: Jamie Allison

Jamie Allison — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:33:02 +0000

I was there with Kenny and Dave that night. In fact I was the lucky guy who ordered the winning entry, despite Rick Lamanna’s insane claim that Au Roi du Coq Roti was the winner.
The above named gentlemen, and the gentleman I assume used the D. Deacon name, have gone on to do some great things with their lives and, like Kenny said, married some wonderful women. Still, you guys might be carrying on their greatest legacy. So good for you.

By: D. Deacon

D. Deacon — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:11:00 +0000

For the record, the Poutine Challenge—also known as the Amazing Race—started in 2001 when a member of the Halfway House asked the question: “If you ordered grec and an ambulance, which would get to your door first?” The winner of the Amazing Race that year was the Village Grec with a delivery time of 7 minutes.

By: David Millard

David Millard — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:44:15 +0000

Yo campus readers.
If you take a look at a late September 2002 edition of the Campus, you will find an article written by D.Deacon, entitled “The Amazing Race.” This article was the first race/review of Lennoxville’s finest eateries. No, this pre-dates Captain Grec, but back then there was only enough room for one Grec in town. Nobody came close to beating the Village, as they delivered a $6 poutine in under 10 minutes. It was magical.
I’m glad the yearly review is still going. It is the job of the media to keep these institutions from becoming complacent.
Well done,
David Millard

By: Kenny Sharp

Kenny Sharp — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:27:58 +0000

Reading this brings me back to the fall of 2001, sitting around one evening at our house on College Street, when someone posed a question about the peculiarities of life in Lennoxville. It went something like, “if you called an ambulance and Village Grec at the same time, which one would arrive at your door first?” This initially rhetorical question set the wheels in motion for the first of these poutine contests.

The idea of dialing 911 for pure entertainment was quickly dismissed, but a couple of bright young men (whom I will not identify because they both have good jobs, nice homes and lovely wives) took the idea and transformed it into the Amazing Race, in which six fast food establishments were simultaneously telephoned to see which would be the first to arrive at the steps of 18 College Street, AKA The Halfway House.

In the end, I vividly recall a Village Grec delivery man stepping through the makeshift finish line a mere 7 minutes after the call went out. He appeared confused by the festivities, which included several dozen cheering students, the theme song from Star Wars blasting through the window, and a very large bucket of styrofoam peanuts dumped on him from the roof. His tip was presented in an aluminum takeout container in the form of a medal, which he wore with great pride, at least until he got back to his car whereupon he tossed it on the seat and drove away.

A proud tradition was born. Two years later the contest was narrowed to include only poutine establishments, and beautiful gold trophies were awarded to the race winner (Village Grec) and the best poutine (also Village Grec). I hope that they are still proudly on display in the liquor cabinet; the last time I checked (Spring 2009), they still were.

Keep it up.

Kenny Sharp