Restaurant Charles Luncheonette

At least, a real ‘shack a patates’ that does a delicious poutine in the Eastern Townships.
Charles is a small raised rambler on the side of ‘la principale’, the busiest boulevard in Magog, surrounded by grocery stores and other commercial eateries. It’s unassuming from the outside, and on the inside as well.
Inside is a throwback in time. A pepsi-​menu sign, with the plastic letters, describing the menu. Two sheets of paper, taped to the wall, describe their two combos: 2 hotdogs, 1 small fries, and a soda, or two pogos (corn dogs), fries and soda. The small breakfast bar is full of people reading the restaurant provided newspapers or chatting up the 30yo girl who manages the diner. She knows all of them by name, and their regular orders.
I ordered the small poutine at $ 4.50 taxes included (good sized portition). The fries were of the thin (not quite julienne) but homemade kind, the gravy was commercial but fresh and hot (a bit sweet), and the cheese was the cheddar cheese curds you’ll crave. The gravy was things enough so that the cheese stuck to the fries and curds, and didn’t all end up at the bottom of the plate. Peculiarity: this was a ‘fromage au fond’ kind of poutine, or curds at the bottom under the fries as is prefered in some regions of Q. It doesn’t show on the picture, but there was a lot of cheese in there.
Whereas there are lots of poutineries opening around Quebec (and the world, for that matter), it’s refreshing to see that a small shack in Magog Quebec can still get it right. Not that it’s a special poutine worth a trip for, but if you’re in the area I guarantee you won’t leave dissapointed.