Quebec (Algonquin word kébec – where the river narrows) is a French-speaking city and as such comes with an expectation of gourmet dining, delicious wines and superb service. The good news: Quebec delivers and either meets or exceeds expectations.
Parliaments’ Urban Garden
When a major public building such as Quebec’s 19th century Parliament Building cultivates a grand green garden at its entrance with 130 different fruits, vegetables and herbs that are donated to local charities, it more than suggests that this is a city that takes good and healthy food very seriously – it demonstrates it.
The garden is a partnership with the National Assembly and Urbainculteurs, a nonprofit organization promoting gardening and urban agriculture. The garden theme focuses on Native Americans who cultivated corn, squash and beans. One parcel of land is devoted to antique and contemporary gardens while another concentrates on berries and medicinal plants.
Pollination is assured through in-residence bee hives on the roof of the Jean Antoine Panet building of the National Assembly; the hives are maintained through a collaboration with Honey Champlain. The harvest is donated to Blue, a community organization that works with children in need by providing food security. The garden is maintained by students from Laval University.
Culinary Arts + Culinary Artists
Although it frequently appears that gourmet dining experiences happen by magic, in reality it takes incredibly dedicated professionals who consistently design, develop and produce culinary excellence. Quebec has many of the worlds’ best restauranteurs and they deserve rounds of applause for making us happy campers when we dine at their restaurants. For example:
1. Michelle Dore. President Champlain Group
Dore owns and manages the most charming hotels, restaurants and creperie in Quebec including Auberge Place d’Armes, the Hotel Champlain, the Jardin Ste-Anne Hotel, and the Blessed Bread Restaurant.
The Auberge Place d’Armes, located in a renovated 19th century building on Ste-Anne Street offers guests a perfect location for shopping, dining and people-watching. She and her small team transformed this former backpack-class property with a toilet on each landing into a four -star hotel that lists on TripAdvisor as one of the best hotels in Canada and North America.
The Restaurant le Pain Beni is located in a charming stone walled house in the Old section of the city and is a short walk to the Chateau Frontenac and the artist-centered Rue du Tresor. In a city of over 700 restaurants, Beni is consistently found on the list of the 20 best restaurants in Quebec City on TripAdvisor.
Dore is a successful, dynamic and attractive personality and a self-made entrepreneur. For years she was a stay-at-home mother, turning to the private sector as a salesperson for a Quebec radio station. Her entrepreneurial track started when she launched her own public relations firm and then became the director of marketing and public relations for one of her clients, Le Soleil. Her career returned to radio – this time with her own two-hour long program. She then became the editor of a professional magazine and revamped the APAQ (Quebec Association of bus owners) magazine that guaranteed them a fixed revenue.
Today, Dore is the President of the Hotel Association of the Quebec City region which oversees 12,000 hotel rooms in more than 100 establishments and Chairs the Foundation Trifle Board that preserves and enhances the buildings and architectural heritage of the city of Quebec. She is also a member of the Board of the Quebec Tourism Industry Corporation that performs classification services and/or approvals in the hotel industry and other sectors that decide the ratings for all hotels in the Province of Quebec from one to four stars.
Dore is actively engaged in the Chamber of Commerce of Quebec. In 2010 she was nominated Business Woman of the Year for her distinguished services and received the Woman of Distinction Award of the WYCA in 2014.
2. Mathieu Pettigrew. President Restaurants Le Continental, Conti and L’Improviste
Born in Quebec City to a restaurant family, Pettigrew’s father was a chef at the Continental Restaurant and he spent after-school hours working with his father in the kitchen; he cannot remember when he did not want to be a part of the industry. To learn about the business side of the operation he studied business management at Cegep Limoilou and at the age of 30, bought Le Continental restaurant and Conti with two friends.
Le Continental, a sophisticated traditional French restaurant started in 1956 continues to maintain an old-world elegance that is complete with tuxedoed professional waiters. The ambiance is perfect for c-suite executives to discuss corporate takeovers and for millennials to ask their BFFs to marry them.
Noted for its locally sourced fruits and vegetables and organic herb garden, Le Continental carries-on the noble French tradition of table service and flambé that can be identified as performance dining. The Caesar salad is dressed before your eyes and the filet mignon beef is flambéed in a cognac sauce and grandly enveloped in a gravy with mustard and sage at the table while the orange duck is carved as you watch the skillful slicing by the waiter. From flambéed shrimp to crepes Suzettes eating here becomes more than dining and more like a special event.
Pettigrew also owns and manages Conti Cafe (next to Le Continental), where the atmosphere is contemporary and casual and the restaurant is noted for its Italian dining options as well as L’Improviste, which is a perfect venue for lunch and dinner, and especially comfortable for families and large groups.
3. Emile Tremblay. Chef. Legende par La Taniere
Tremblay is the 29-year old chef of this is a five-diamond award dining venue located at the top of the antiques sector of downtown Quebec City. It placed 9th on the enRoute Air Canada 2014 list of 10 Best New Restaurants in Canada.
Tremblay learned to love food from his parents and was taught to buy what was in season and to use everything – from nose to tail. Before he focused on his culinary skills he worked as a bellman, dishwasher and even considered becoming a carpenter. Fortunately someone suggested he become a chef, and today we are able to totally enjoy the gems from his kitchen.
His Boreale cuisine is focused entirely on Quebecois ingredients and is a modern take on dining. In a Boreale kitchen the raw ingredients found include forest mushrooms (matsutake and morels) as well as fern, lichens and mosses, root vegetables, small and large game (think caribou, deer and moose), food from the sea (algae and marine plants) as well as natural juices from birch and cherries. Tremblay is considered a master in cuisine-deconstruction (i.e., vacuum-sealed cooking, dehydration) and his menu offers unique flavors combined with old-world cooking techniques.
Other Dining Options
Ciel Bistro Bar
A must for first time visitors to Quebec the Ciel Bistro Bar (owned by Groupe Restos Plaisirs) is a revolving restaurant on the 28th floor/rooftop of the Hotel Le Concorde that offers a spectacular view of the St. Lawrence River and Quebec City. This attractive contemporary restaurant opened in 2013 after a $1 million investment in the interior design directed by Lemay Michaud. If you can move away from the fascinating city view, the open kitchen and wine vault permits us to cast a watchful eye on the chef as meals are prepared and a view of the vast wine collection enabling a careful consideration of the considerable domestic and international selections.
What to Eat
Poutine. Born in Quebec
First of all you have to be able to digest French fries, with a light – brown gravy and cheese curds and then you have to like all of these ingredients smooshed together on a plate. Born in England and Scotland in 1901 where it was known as chips, cheese and gravy, it was reborn in rural Quebec in the 1950s.
Chic Shack Mobile. Ile d’Orleans (Grab and Go)
While it is available throughout Canada, the Chic Shack mobile in Ile d’Orleans is an eating stop for Poutine that demands at least one visit. Served from the window of a food truck this outdoor/park seating setting is perfect for a casual dining moment.
EAT Well
From chic to casual the dining options in Quebec City are vast. More gourmet than gourmand, plan on spending a significant part of each day – eating! The menu options run from traditional French to a Canadian spin on French cuisine as well as international favorites. The regional wines are superb, the local beers are delicious and the sweet maple deserts are inspired. During high seasons it is reasonable to expect waiting lines – so reservations are recommended.
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