ottawa foodies

I like the new owners.

(Un)healthy portion !

Nice and .... yes ... CRISPY !

Will go back with my home-made chipotle-mayo dip.

Just read that JP's truck changed ownership as of March 31. Not sure how accurate the info is.Could be why the change in quality.

I know it's a bit second hand but ...

My British passport holding friend of mine had similar experience, like Ken V's, at JP's very recently.

I'm not going back , just on what she told me ... and she is usually very tolerant of the fries (chips) made outside of England.

The Ottawa shuffle strikes again. Went in for a medium poutine and I got about 12 small curds on my poutine. Not only did they skimp on the curd but they didn't taste right either, guess it might be due to the St Albert fire. Fries were of a smaller cut than my previous visit. Very different from my last visit. Enough gravy was poured on this attempt at poutine to drown a horse. Gone are the fresh cut fries of different shapes and sizes replaced by supplier bagged fries evident from their uniformity. When the fridge door opened you could see about 15 transparent bags with black writing sitting. It was noon and I did not have to wait for my order. Time to find another chip truck.

After a few unfavorable visits to Crispy Chips at Hunt Club and Merivale this place was next on our radar. Hard to tell if they were frozen it doesn't appear so the inside of they fry was still meaty and had texture a good sign. Outside was golden and not dark so clean oil is being used. Not overly fried so crisp but not crunchy. Gravy was thick seasoned perfect without that globbyness some places have. I would have to say this will be our new go to place for poutine. Another plus was that they have a small sign that says "we use St.Albert curds". They do not skimp on anything good amount of curd with the option of extra for a price for those cheese heads among us. Very pleasant people always a bonus. My medium was enough for two people. I asked about frozen fries but without getting a look inside the refrigeration units on the west side of his trailer tough call.

I'm perfectly happy to be proven wrong. I may have jumped to conclusions based on what I saw, but what I saw seemed pretty damning at the time.

I just had a look at the ratings on Urban Spoon. They are indeed over 95% favourable. A more telling thing for me, though, are the actual reviews. There are 7 reviews posted, and of those only one person had more than one review. So we have 6 one time reviewers raving about the place. That raises red flags for me. That said, I was at JP's once at Canadian Tire and the fries were frozen, not fresh. That turned me off his (her?) chip truck as I feel that if chip truck proprietors can't be bothered serving fresh cut fries, I can't be bothered eating there.

well Rizak I will prove you wrong the fries JP uses are fresh cut they are washed then bagged and refrigerated if the temperature is above 10 celsius,he of all people has and will never cook a frozen fry in his wagon,he does not keep them in buckets of water due to bacteria growth since they do not have unlimited amount of running water.they are still one if not the best chip wagon in Ottawa.but don't take my word for it just go and check their rating on a real food site ,urbanspoon.com click on old nepean and then fast food et voila top page with a 95% rating,higher then any chip wagon in Ottawa.So if I was you I would take a drive or a walk and treat yourself to great fresh fries

It was one of those big, clear, commercial plastic bags of fries. It surprised the hell out of me. Maybe they do that themselves, but it seems improbable. Maybe I was on the crack that day or there wasn't enough ventilation under the kilt and I was seeing things. Ask them the next time you're there. I'd love to be proven wrong. I know how much you all value my opinion.

are you sure that they weren't cut then frozen on site? ie. the freezing is a part of their process for a good batch of fries?

reason i ask is because i've eaten here a few times and i would find it hard to believe that the fries are of the "frozen" variety. they're similar to Crispy Chips (which used to be called JP's).

can anyone else confirm/deny?

The fries have that magical crispy quality that is hard to come by. Still one of the very best poutines in town in my books.

Yes, they're frozen fries and they're positively drowning in gravy now, but it's still a tasty poutine with lots of curds. I couldn't believe the size of this Small ($5.50). Honestly, after opening the lid I'm pretty sure I couldn't have closed it again. It's pressurized poutine! :P