Landriault Snack Bar for a “Michigan dog”
Travel east on County Road 17, which becomes St. Philippe Street, and you’ll drive past the big “ALFRED” sign that’s similar to the Ottawa version in ByWard Market. Less obvious as you then pass Quesnel Street is Landriault Snack Bar even though the small food operation has been there much, much longer than the five upper case blue letters.
A classic casse-croûte or pataterie, the historical specifics of the small snack stand may have been lost to the passage of time, but its popularity as a spot to grab a poutine or an all-dressed steamie has not.
In fact, Landriault Snack Bar continues to draw both hungry local customers and those from further afield as it has done for at least six decades. That’s correct: about 60 years. And likely more than that if you did some serious historical digging.

A small-town roadside stand with little-known history and good fries
The name Landriault pops up on few business signs in locations I’ve spotted along the highway in the neighbouring area. One early record of the name is a “T. Landriault,” born in 1821 in Prescott County. “T” eventually became a farmer and town councillor, according to McGill University’s “Canadian County Atlas Digital Project.”
The snack bar, currently owned by Bruce Forget, stands on the site of what was once someone’s home before it burned down ages ago. The story goes that it was replaced by the small take-away food stand which today has a covered patio and a half-dozen or so picnic tables. Apparently, next door was once a jewellery store, now long gone.
According to Landriault Snack Bar general manager Fiona Massie, the stand’s most popular menu item are the various sizes of the French fries. That’s not surprising: it’s much of what a casse-croûte is all about – and I’ve come to learn since I’ve moved here that very good fries are made in eastern Ontario.
“We use red potatoes that are delivered every week from a nearby Quebec farm. We cut and peel them ourselves every morning before the day starts. They’re done by hand and there’s no freezing involved,” says Massie.
At either a casual upscale bistro or a chip truck, the only way to make very good French fries is to cook them at least twice: that usually starts with a cook at a lower temperature to blanch the fries before giving them a final cook at a higher temperature for service.
Landriault blanches their fries, cools them and then finishes them when the order comes into the kitchen.
“There are always fresh fries going out the door,” Massie says. “And we use peanut oil. As far as I’m aware, this snack bar has been using peanut oil at least for the last three owners. The peanut oil offers a different taste and twist to the potatoes, and it’s one reason our fries are so popular.”

While each service is different, the snack bar sends out about 25 hotdog-and-fry combos during an average lunch, in addition to individual items and other combos.
From poutines and club sandwiches to “Michigan” dogs
For Landriault’s popular poutine varieties, the fries form the all-important base to which is added the ubiquitous St. Albert cheese curds and a homemade chicken-based gravy.
The menu includes the round-up of usual snack-bar suspects: whistle dogs, smoked meat, onion rings, sausage, chicken nuggets, pogos, BLTs, cheese sticks, milk shakes and more.

Observing customers munching at the picnic tables on a couple of visits this summer, it’s safe to say that the club sandwiches – something of a snack-bar anomaly, perhaps – are also a very popular customer choice, a fact confirmed by Massie.
For the rest of the story, visit Tribune-Express.