Innes Chip Wagon
Address: 1873 Innes Rd, Gloucester, ON
Hours: 11am – 6pm (Mon – Sat); 11am – 5pm (Sun)
Website: Digital ghost
Green factor: Styrofoam containers, plastic utensils, garbage container on site
Back in warmer days, after doing some hiking in Mer Bleue, my wife and I made a pit stop on the way back home to refuel at East End fry-slinger, Innes Chip Wagon.
Up until very recently, ICW had been known as Lam’s Chip Wagon, but judging from the rebranding, repainting, and change of phone number, have changed ownership. However, this now-burgundy trailer still sits in the same spot in the driveway to the Apple Saddlery.
The menu is almost the same, with all the usual chip wagon suspects, plus the addition of veggie spring rolls. Like Lam’s, Innes also has some items that appear semi-frequently at chip wagons – onion rings, chicken fingers/burgers, as well as bacon.
We ordered a small poutine ($6.00) and a bacon cheeseburger ($6.50) for my wife and I. It was the middle of the afternoon, so there was no one ahead of us, and everything was cooked to order. After getting our food, we sat on one of their picnic tables to take in the odd juxtaposition of the large garden/small farm behind the chip wagon and the big box stores across the street.
The bacon cheeseburger was a very solid chip wagon burger. The bun was toasted, cheese melted, and the patty had a great sear and grill marks, and the bacon was nice and crisp. I had it topped diner-style with mustard, relish, onion and pickles. #TeamNoKetchup
While I wasn’t blown away by the poutine, there wasn’t anything particularly wrong with it either. The fries were ok; maybe they were from-frozen, maybe they weren’t, and while not as crisp as they could have been, they weren’t soggy either. At least not until the gravy did its thing to the fries at the bottom. The cheese curds were big and plentiful, and the poutine as a whole was bursting from its clamshell container.
Innes Chip Wagon is definitely doing some things right, and their burger game is noticeably better than most of their peers. With some more attention to detail, they could easily become a destination worthy chip wagon.