Lay-overs in Toronto just got a whole lot easier

As many of the thousands of Poutine Guy fans know, I've hopped aboard the train out West. And the subject of today's critique is about a poutine I experienced en route. Mind you, I wasn't actually on a train, but rather at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on my way back to Moncton.

The Guinness Poutine at Fionn MacCool's scores very well. However, it did bring up an interesting debate about my grading scheme and the use of value-for-money. Value can be a somewhat ubiquitous term. Exactly what am I measuring these poutines against?

I had always believed that I was measuring them against other poutines. But, what if I didn't pay for it, or it was rebated? This came up in an earlier critique of the Wendy's poutine - it was alright, but better because I had a coupon. In the case of the Guinness Poutine, I was able to expense it for work, so I actually paid nothing (except possible years-of-life-lost, but that's a given with any poutine).

Also, I would expect to pay a higher premium for any food purchased at an airport, so even if I did pay for the poutine, I should expect to pay a higher price, right? Therefore, is the value-for-money metric dependent upon other factors? Is this something that should instead be captured in the Expectations measure?

As you can imagine, this value-for-money conundrum caused Poutine Guy great concern and required much reflection. Ultimately, I determined that comparing regular price to regular price, regardless of locale was the only way to proceed. Expectations would be the catch-all for the more qualitative issues I might encounter.

Even then, the Guinness Poutine fared very well. It did score all over the place though, from 5 out of 10 on the curds to full points on the Guinness gravy. Worth mentioning, is that expectations weren't very high when I saw poutine on the menu. Honestly, I was in an Irish pub in an airport. I even had a personal rule against eating poutine in airports. I had always believed nothing good could come from it. So, in terms of the Expectations grading criteria, the Guinness Poutine delivered.

 

When I ate this piece of art, I was returning from a job interview in Edmonton. It was a cold February evening, but it was a job I was eventually offered and I accepted. As I write this now, I am once again laying over at Pearson on my way back to Edmonton. Right now I can't think of anything more comforting than a hot poutine.   

So, the next time you're laying over at Pearson, I recommend hopping on over to Fionn MacCool's as well, to order their Guinness Poutine. Tell them Poutine Guy sent ya. It won't mean anything, and they'll have no idea what you're talking about, but do it anyway.

May your curds stay squeaky.