Life is too short to celebrate your birthday with the same old cake dessert every year. At least that's what one man from Toronto thought on the eve of his wife's birthday. 

Looking for a creative way to toast another year of life for his partner, Chris Theriault came up with a 'no cake' solution that was simple, delicious, and oh-so-Canadian: a tasting flight of some of the city's best poutine. 

"She's never been a fan of sweets," Theriault told blogTO. "And she said 'If you're going to do something for me this year, why don't we do something different?'"

Being a family favourite, poutine was a welcome alternative. But finding the top destinations would require some digging, so Theriault sought input from those who would know best - the locals. 

Starting a conversation in the 'I am a Leslievillian!' Facebook group, a flurry of responses came in, but three winners ultimately emerged: Leslieville Pumps, Best in Town Food Truck, and RUDY Danforth. 

With the results in, Theriault went full UberEats mode, calling in orders to all three locations and heading out with an insulated bag to transport them back home. 

But when he returned with the three piping-hot poutine, it dawned on him that tasting wasn't going to be enough. They also had to be ranked.

"We decided to judge on the only three things that are important," Theriault said. "The fries, the gravy, and the curds."

The lowest-ranked of the bunch was Leslieville Pumps. According to Theriault, the main issue was the gravy, which he described as too thin.

The fact that the potatoes still had the skin on was another minor fault, but overall the assembly of ingredients just slightly missed the mark. 

The 3rd-ranked poutine from Leslieville Pumps.

In second place, Best in Town Food Truck impressed with its flavours, but with fries on the thinner side, Theriault said that the perfect bite was hard to come by.

"They didn't deliver the curds and gravy to our mouths quite as well as larger fries would," he said. 

2nd-ranked poutine from Best in Town Food Truck.

Taking the prize for the best-ranked poutine was RUDY, who stole the show with a combination of jumbo (and squeaky) curds, tasty gravy, and well-sized fries.

"There was a great ratio of curd, fry, and gravy," he said. "It all came together perfectly."

The top-rated poutine from RUDY.

Theriault then posted his rankings to the Facebook group, along with detailed descriptions of each poutine for all 26,000 members to see. To his surprise, the post was a massive hit. 

"This one was really a bit of a barn burner," he said. "I haven't even had a chance to go through all the comments." 

A number of respondents have already come forward with other recommendations, prompting Theriault to wonder if there were a few poutine stones he left unturned. 

"We may end up having to do this again now," he said. "Unfortunately, my birthday just passed."