La belle province’s love affair with French cuisine is legendary. It has been rooted in tradition and technique for years. As early as three decades ago, mostly all restaurants in the city had French chefs at the helm serving classic French food. The arrival of Québécois chef Normand Laprise changed the game entirely. Laprise was instrumental in defining a cuisine that, although still rooted in French tradition, is very proper to Quebec. His insistence on working with Quebec producers and using their products to create a unique cuisine has been a role model for a whole generation of chefs.

Chefs in Montreal are not as anchored in the city’s culinary heritage as their colleagues are in the “old country”, perhaps for the simple fact that Montreal is a relatively young city with a relatively short culinary history. We happily embrace new ideas and count among our most-loved restaurants a few classic French ones that have been around for years, like Chez la mère Michel or L’Express, as well as more recent and inventive ones.

Today, many of Montreal’s most famous chefs are taking that classic French training and using it to create a new kind of cuisine, one that can only be defined as the new Montreal cuisine. Some of the most ubiquitous French dishes are being reinvented in ways that could never be conceived of in their place of birth. Boudin (blood sausage), for example, can be consumed in its most classic form in a few of the more conventional French establishments around town. But give boudin to brilliantly inventive award-winning Montreal chefs like Martin Juneau of Pastaga or the team at Les 400 Coups and they will transform it into an explosive croquette or a silky smooth, perfectly spiced tart, dishes that are as far removed from the original sausage-form as possible but that are rooted in it nonetheless.

Whether you’re craving a traditional coq au vin or something more contemporary, today’s Montreal French food scene caters to everyone’s individual idea of what French cuisine is, or must be.

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The space has been transformed into a sugar shack with a happy mix of traditional and modern elements complete with bouquets of macramé lampshades and folkloric Quebec music.

Every year, La Cabane invites one of the city’s top chefs to create a menu inspired by traditional maple classics. This year, Portuguese chef Helena Loureiro is at the helm of this sweet project with her creative take on cabane à sucre dishes. Chef Loureiro has added a Portuguese twist to all courses, from the cod fritter appetizer to the bean and chorizo stew and all the way to the maple pasteis de nata pastries.

The sardine escabeche drowning in olive oil and apple cider was definitely one of my favourites of the night. So were the flaky and luscious maple natas, a big hit all around, so make sure you leave room for those.

Chef Loureiro is joined by internationally renowned and award-winning chocolate maker Christophe Morel who has concocted a couple of desserts for La Cabane. His take on the maple tart is a delicate and delicious creation with fine shards of white chocolate and gold leaf.

Sitting there enjoying a maple-drowned menu at La Cabane, music blaring, laughter all around, one almost forgets that this traditional fun event is only a metro stop away, right in the heat of Old Montreal.

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THE DETAILS

La Cabane at Éclusiers par Apollo, March 8to April 14, 2013

400 rue de la Commune West, (514) 285 0558

Reservations: reservations@lacabane.ca, Information: info@lacabane.ca)

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The Festival of our cheeses at Complexe Desjardins: The Festival of Quebec Cheeses is held every year during Montréal en lumière. This year was the 7th edition of the festival and it brought together several Quebec producers with a selection of over 60 cheeses! Being a big cheese lover, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to meet some of the best cheese artisans in the province and taste some of their award-winning products. It was also a great opportunity to make new discoveries and to stock up on quite a big heap of cheeses.

Dinner at La Fabrique: La Fabrique didn’t have a guest chef this year. Instead, resident chef Jean-Baptiste Marchand created a 4-course “gaucho” menu inspired by the Argentinian theme of Montréal en lumière and highlighting the local flavours of this year’s guest city of Buenos Aires. I enjoyed every dish that night but the traditional Andean potato and corn locro soup with chorizo and porc was one of the happiest discoveries I made and one I look forward to tasting again in the future.

Lunch at La Khaïma: “Khaïma” means tent in Arabic and entering this small North African restaurant feels like entering a Bedouin tent. This Fairmount street spot was one of the 6 restaurants taking part in the “Lunching around the world” portion of Montréal en lumière.  It was fun to let the spicy Mauritanian lentil soup and preserved lemon and chicken tajine transport me to the warmth of the Western Sahara desert on a slushy and cold Thursday in Montreal.

Convivial dinner at Marché Bonsecours: There’s no better way to discover a country’s culinary culture than through its popular cuisine. This event was the perfect opportunity to do just that with chef Dario Gualtieri and his 3-course menu of traditional dishes. The dinner was accompanied by a few dancing couples sashaying up and down the aisles of the huge room to the rhythm of tango music.

Hot chocolate at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: How could I miss out on the opportunity to close the festival on such a deliciously artful note? Wandering the halls of a world-class museum in the middle of the night is absolutely wonderful. Even more wonderful is stopping by the Cacao Barry lounge to enjoy a rich cup of hot chocolate cooked up by Marius & Fanny and made with Single Plantation Chocolate Alto el Sol from Peru, in keeping with the Peruvian theme of the night. One of the most fun events for me this year was definitely taking part of this Nuit Blanche event at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and meeting some great culinary, pastry, visual arts and musical artists.

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Dishcrawl is a genius plan hatched in California, and has recently expanded to Montreal courtesy of Dishcrawl Ambassador Jenny King. For a set price (usually around $60 per person) you get to experience four carefully curated Montreal restaurants each with a specially prepared tasting menu. Once your spot is reserved, you get an email with the first location where you will meet up with your taste-bud tour guide.

The other locations are kept secret until you’re at their door ready for another mini-meal. The Saint-Paul Dishcrawl I went on was an enormous success…

We started our evening at Chez L’Epicier, a restaurant from chef Laurent Godbout, which has carved itself a rightful place in the top tier of the Old Montreal food chain. They served a trio of tasting dishes: beef tartare on a homemade brioche bun, grilled cheese lollipop, and a Jerusalem artichoke soup shooter.

After we had our fill, we had to stay on schedule and crawl to our second secret location. Although we did less crawling and more of the patented “Montreal Penguin Shuffle” as it was 30 degrees below freezing.

Our second location turned out to be Brasero Hardi. Where upon arriving they already had a delectable cocktail awaiting our frozen fingers called “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” which was a dizzying mix of Chartreuse, Midori, lime, green tea syrup, egg white, and garnished with dried seaweed. Brasero Hardi, a relatively new player on the Saint-Paul food circuit, served us two dishes with our cocktail: Marinated spare beef ribs on top of lardon pork mashed potatoes and house smoked salmon on horseradish panna cotta.

Everyone still had space for the three slices of pizza we were served at our third location: Dolcetto & Co, which has a welcoming decor of nautical whimsy. We were left to salivate while waiting for our pizzas: one with foie gras and fig, a margharita with barrata, and one with sharp pear, gorgonzola and pine nuts.

Our forth and final restaurant was Old-Port hotspot Santos, where we got some Spanish tapas action of paella, salmon tartar and churros with chocolate for dessert! Our group of thirty strong left with our bellies full of new friendships, an expanded yet exhausted palate, and a love for the great foodie adventure now known as Dishcrawl.

The next Montreal Dishcrawl is again taking place in Old Montreal (with a new roster of restaurants) on February 26. You can follow Dishcrawl on Facebook or check their website for upcoming Dishcrawl dates.

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THE DETAILS

Chez L’Epicier, 311 Rue Saint Paul East, (514) 878-2232

Santos, 191 Rue Saint Paul West, (514) 849-8881

Brasero Hardi, 139 rue Saint-Paul West, (514) 507-4558

Dolcetto & Co, ‪151 Rue Saint Paul West, (514) 419-8522

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