This Oakhurst poutine is not for the faint of heart

The Imperial in Oakhurst goes all in with their Poutine de Georgia, french fries topped with pimiento cheese, beef gravy and bacon. CONTRIBUTED BY HENRI HOLLIS

Credit: Henri Hollis

Credit: Henri Hollis

The Imperial in Oakhurst goes all in with their Poutine de Georgia, french fries topped with pimiento cheese, beef gravy and bacon. CONTRIBUTED BY HENRI HOLLIS

Dish of the Week: La Poutine de Georgia at the Imperial

Poutine is a dish that’s riffed on by lots of restaurants, but many of those interpretations fall short of the real thing. Making poutine is like doing a backflip: You have to commit. The Imperial, a relatively young bar in Oakhurst that feels old at heart, shows the commitment to poutine that makes its version worth seeking out.

Poutine is an inherently ridiculous dish: french fries topped with cheese curds and steaming hot gravy. None of these things is going to extend your life expectancy. Lots of restaurants stop short of the real deal. Often, they’ll leave off the gravy, which is the real make-or-break component. Without the gravy, poutine is just cheese fries.

The Imperial’s take on the Canadian classic is La Poutine de Georgia. French fries are covered with dollops of pimento cheese, beef gravy and crumbled bacon bits. The gravy is what puts the Imperial’s poutine over the top. It’s exactly the salty, greasy, oh-so-satisfying belly bomb that you hope it will be.

The Imperial also has monthly $3 beer specials, which is lucky — most people will need multiple beverages to make it to the bottom of a bowl of this poutine.

The Imperial. 726 W. College Ave., Decatur. 404-464-5698, imperialdecatur.com.

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