Badhappy Poutine Shop - Chef driven poutine in River North

There are definitely places in Chicago to get poutine - Pleasant House Bakery, Bad Apple, and Leopold come to mind. But this new restaurant located in the recently vacated Big & Little's space is Chicago's first dedicated poutine shop. In case you don't know what poutine is, it's a Montreal specialty - fries, gravy, and cheese curds. After hearing about the opening in March, I made a trip out there tonight with turkob.


The guy in front of the line is Chef Tom.


The restaurant itself has a very similar vibe to the old Big & Little's. It's casual, BYOB, no reservations, and it's basically trying to do the same thing - elevated street food. And it does it in true Chicago style. I'm talking high quality rich ingredients smothered together in a generous glop of strong flavors. Foie Gras Gravy, braised veal cheek, truffle mayo, fried eggs, sausage, BBQ pork, mac n cheese are just a few examples of the toppings they mix in with fries and fresh squeaky cheese curds. Of course, you can always opt for the classic Quebecer version if you so choose. Not in the mood for poutine? They also offer house made smooshs (spreads) on toasted ciabatta, burgers, and salads. Everything cooked to order. We opted for the HappyFace poutine - Braised veal cheek, garlic curd, chicken fried sweetbreads, kale, and foie gras gravy. The fries were perfectly dark brown, crisp, double fried and thick without being potatoey like a steak fry. The cheese curds are fresh and plentiful, the sweetbreads fried crisp and flavorful, the veal cheek tender and meaty, the gravy thick and stuck to the fries without making them too soggy. The kale really added a lot to the flavor and helped to balance the meat and carbs. We also ordered the BadHappySauce Burger with a small side of Quebecer poutine served on top of the burger. On the menu, it's described as House ground patty, BadSauce, HappySauce, House Bacon, lettuce, pablano, raw onion, wiz. The burger was a house ground patty, cooked well done. The meat itself is a blend of sirloin, flank, and brisket - ground in house. Everything really worked well together. Perhaps the most surprising addition to this dish was the side of house made pickles - a blend of radishes, cauliflower, and other vegetables. Woo, they were spicy! Besides black peppercorns and all spice, we even spotted some szechwan peppercorns. The pickles were a welcome addition to a very heavy platter. The back and forth between spicy cruchy pickles and thick gravyed potatoes made an interesting balance that titillated the palate. I also ordered the BadHappy Birthday Cake, which is skipable unless you really want a shake with your burger. It's a basic vanilla shake with a ton of whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles.

HappyFace poutine


BadHappySauce Burger


Chef Tom Kern seems very eager to get to know his customers. He rotates between cooking in the kitchen and chatting up every table. He wants to know how you like the food, and he'll go on and on touting all the ingredients that are housemade - all the smooshs, sausages, bacon, pickles, kimchi, various sauces, etc. He is extremely passionate about his food and it really shows. It's obvious to me by the quality of the food that this is a chef driven restaurant. Chef Tom is talented, and I can see this place blowing up in the way that Big & Little's has.

BadHappy Poutine Shop
939 N. Orleans St.
Chicago, IL 60610
312-890-2165
http://www.badhappypoutineshop.com
Menu: http://www.badhappypoutineshop.com/menu.html
​Tuesday-Thursday noon - 10:00 pm
Friday - Saturday noon - 2:00 am
​Sunday Brunch noon - 4:00 pm
Closed Mondays

Have you ever eaten Poutine in Montreal?
Has Chef Tom ever eaten Poutine in Montreal?-Dick

I have not, but I grew up on disco fries from the New Jersey diners, so I have an appreciation for poutine. I don't know if the chef has. I can't speak to the restaurant's authenticity, but the food is yummy.

My partner and I went there recently and found it somewhat disappointing. On the one hand, the chef is quite conversational. But when my partner said (after having eaten poutine in Montreal) "This wasn't quite what I was expecting compared to the poutine I've had in Quebec" the chef replied, "We do our own thing here." I would have thought he would have been interested in understanding more about the implied disappointment (it was also expressed in tone of voice) but he seemed uninterested.

I wish them well but the food I had was nothing to write home about.

It was also a bit pricey. I think it was around $30 for one order of poutine, a shake and a soda and tip.

The first poutine variant listed on Badhappy's menu is called "The Quebecer".

I have to say, after having poutine in Montreal, I haven't really found anywhere here that replicates it, and perhaps trying to find somewhere that does is a fool's errand. The OP mentions bad apple, which is one of my favorite restaurants. However, I don't think their poutine is worth ordering, their gravy is strange and doesn't work well for me. I'd much rather get the fried cheese curds, which are pretty excellent. I think if you approach poutine here as an homage rather than a substitute for the same thing as you find in Montreal, you'll enjoy it more.

I made it to BadHappy Sunday for brunch. Let it be known that if you go for Sunday brunch, they offer only one poutine option and not their entire menu of poutine options. Anyway, I dragged my poutine-loving Canadian friend with me. We shared three of the four brunch items: Biscuits and Gravy, Chicken and Waffles, and Poutine Benny.

I can't recommend the biscuits and gravy. The biscuits were more like biscuit halves, if not parts, and were a little tough. Also, there wasn't much in the way of gravy - it was mostly solid. Chicken and waffles could have been good, but were way too sweet. They featured boneless fried chicken pieces that were nice fried and decently seasoned. Waffles were simple enough. The problems were the vanilla creme fraiche and maple-tabasco glaze - one if not both were unusually sweet. If you order this dish, I recommend getting the sauces on the side to solve this problem.

Finally, the Poutine Benny, which featured fries, a poached egg, a "Foielendaise" sauce, bacon and truffle mayo. Overall, I thought the flavor was terrific. There was just one problem, and if you view the pictures in this thread, you can figure out the problem. The cheese curds were not melted in the least (same as in the top picture above), and they should be. There should still be some textural integrity to the curd, but it should be melting. But in fact, although the dish featured a perfectly poached egg and everything else was warm, most of the curds were actually cold.

The flavor of the poutine was good enough, and the folks running the place friendly enough, to make me want to return. If need be, I might choose to be assertive on the curds and ask for them to be more melted. But I did find some real promise lurking at BadHappy, and given how new they are, it only makes sense to try them again.

Suiname wrote:I have to say, after having poutine in Montreal, I haven't really found anywhere here that replicates it, and perhaps trying to find somewhere that does is a fool's errand. The OP mentions bad apple, which is one of my favorite restaurants. However, I don't think their poutine is worth ordering, their gravy is strange and doesn't work well for me. I'd much rather get the fried cheese curds, which are pretty excellent. I think if you approach poutine here as an homage rather than a substitute for the same thing as you find in Montreal, you'll enjoy it more.

I have had them in Quebec (Montreal and Trois-Rivieres) and in NE Ontario (Eganville). I have seen them served in many different ways - with shredded cheese, cheese curds, and cheese sauce. I have seen the gravy as a garnish and the gravy totally dominating the other components.

Is there really a standard method of preparation?

The Gage has a great poutine. Theirs is a little fancier but darn good.

jlawrence01 wrote:

Suiname wrote:...poutine experience...
Is there really a standard method of preparation?

I suppose there is not a standard method of preparation, but for my tastes the good poutine in Montreal is curds and brown gravy and (as BR posted upthread) the curds must be slightly melted. Of the 5 or so places in Montreal I've had poutine at, they all adhered to this formula, so I just assumed (apparently erroneously) that was the standard. Anyways, whatever that method of poutine prep is called, I believe it is superior and can't get enough.

great meal tonight @badhappy
started with NC smoosh chicken-n-pork liver house pickles,mustard

antoinette had red-neck poutine bbq pork,mac n cheese,fried okra,cole slaw PBR gravey
i had badhappy burger double .

i will be back for sure.
and the chocolate peanutbutter shake is very good

Had the Happy Face Poutine:

Chicken fried sweetbreads, veal cheeks, kale, garlic curds, gravy and fries.

They really knocked the sweetbreads out of the park. Greaseless and crispy outside, creamy and fresh on the inside. The rest was well balanced. Some of the components seemed undersalted on their own, but the salt from the sweetbreads and curds balanced it out. Reading the comments here, I understand that some people feel the curds should be more melted.. I dunno. I like melted cheese as much as the next guy, but i the fact that the curds were merely softened rather than liquified saved the dish from excessive gloppiness.

At $10 + tax +tip, I don't see how you can complain about the price.

Had the original and the only good thing I can say about it is that the curds were tasty. The fries were burnt and the gravy was tasteless. 1 for 3 is pretty good for baseball, but it makes for poor poutine.

philw wrote:and the chocolate peanutbutter shake is very good

This is true. It's the one thing that might bring me back...at which time I'd hope the fries were cooked appropriately and would probably order something more exciting from the menu (perhaps the Vietnamese riff) in the hopes of finding some flavor.

My recollection of my visit may be jaded by the fact that I developed a flat while driving home afterward and proceeded to discover a massive screw in my tire. I appreciate that they offer parking, but their lot is...shall we say...a less than ideal setup.