Montreal: Wow!

My lovely wife and I recently spent a long weekend in Montreal which, in case you haven’t been following geo-politics, is still in Canada. My Canadian food experience has been limited to drinking Molson beer and eating very good oysters from New Brunswick (I think). But that is going to change, because we had a fantastic time eating interesting and innovative food, as well as some classics done well. Oh, we also stayed at a stunningly beautiful and well-run hotel.

My thoughts of the Montreal food scene, if I thought of it at all, certainly didn’t include the unabashedly lighthearted approach to food that was evident at all three restaurants we enjoyed. That is not to say that they didn’t take cooking seriously. At one restaurant, where we ate at a bar about three feet from the open kitchen, I watched two young cooks, seemingly barely out of diapers, working together to carefully place a barely sautéed egg onto a dish as a garnish, and then sprinkle it with what looked like Parmigiano Reggiano. The care and focus they exhibited was fascinating, especially because they were too young to drive home after work, and probably weren’t allowed to cross the street alone.

Rest assured, I will bore you to tears about these restaurants, but for now this is it. I have to haul my bloated carcass onto the torture machine and work off a few of those great meals.

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