Quebec City has a very special place in my heart. Any time I get back to that city a flood of childhood memories bring a smile to my face and feel like they are a constant companion as I explore the city anew. Last year a conference returned me to this beautiful city and gave me the opportunity to combine some new experiences with a collection of personal touchpoints that now date back almost forty years.
There were two restaurants in Montreal I had always wanted to visit for a meal – Joe Beef and Au Pied de Cochon. Feeling like my body was ready for more foie gras in two nights than the previous 41 years of my life put together, I started with dinner at Joe Beef the night I arrived in Montreal.
Sadly, my wife wasn’t able to join me as we had planned as she was tending to our sick dog back on the east coast. With me having already moved out to Saskatoon, this was to be a catch-up weekend of some good meals in a city we both love. Without a dining companion, I saddled up to the bar, still eager to sample a few dishes. And what a selection there was. I stared at the evening’s menu on the chalkboard for some time before finally deciding on a plan.
I’ve spent enough time in Montreal to have a few go to food places. A trip to the city isn’t complete without a couple of staples. These are mostly things you already know about Montreal, and I’m not ashamed that my list isn’t one of under the radar places. All of these are wonderful and deserved of the attention they receive (well, maybe all except the last on my list).
First off, every trip to Montreal needs a stop for a Schwartz’s smoked meat sandwich, a dill pickle and a black cherry Cott cola. I’ve sampled some of the world’s great sandwiches and this is one of my all time favourites.
Pretty high up on my “must do” list for Quebec City was a return to a fast food chain I spent some time frequenting in my younger years: Chez Ashton. Poutine, one of the significant contributions of Quebec to the world of food, can be found in all kinds of elevated forms – with lobster, with fois gras, with heirloom potatoes and grass fed dairy cattle organic cheese curds, or a host of other riffs on the basic dish. I have nothing against those. In fact, I’m a big fan of many. But the truest interpretation of the dish is the variety made in casse-croûtes across la belle province.
So, harkening back to my younger days where a poutine and a Pepsi at Chez Ashton held a dear place in my heart, my first meal on my return visit to Quebec was exactly that:
Bluenose Traveler 