Discussing Fine Food in the Laurentians at Les Mots Tremblant , Summer, 2015
The fine food of the Laurentians was the topic of conversation at a bookstore, wine bar and café called Les Mots Tremblant, at Mont-Tremblant.
Proprietor Myrna Alexander fuelled our conversation with wine and snacks made of recipes from my book, Made In Quebec: A Culinary Journey.
We munched on bruschetta with goat cheese, risotto with fiddleheads, and smoked salmon tartare, the latter two served in handy white China spoons.
The talk extended throughout Quebec. This well-travelled crowd knew their onions, more specifically the best foods to enjoy out and about in the province as well as close to home, where to buy the best French bread and fine cheeses, where best to dine in the region, and the history of some favourite Quebec dishes.
Peggy Regan, who had driven up from Montreal where she runs the NDG bakery called Gryphon d’Or, shared her experience with those working in food. Be they producers, chefs, restaurateurs, or food shopkeepers, they tend to know what’s going on in an area far beyond their own doorsteps. I agree. Get a chef or baker or gourmet food producer talking and you’ll shortly come up with others offering products that are worth a detour.
The food business is a highly competitive market, and some of the enterprises I praised in an October 2014 article in the Montreal Gazette, have closed. I was sorry to learn of the demise of two bakeries in Val David; Boulangerie La Chapdelaine and Boulangerie biologique La Vagabonde. Ask around and bread-lovers will cite their favourite bakeries.
Julian with Myrna Alexander, proprietor of Les Mots Tremblant.
Couleur Café
Couleur Café, which is an excellent coffee vendor, appears to have expanded to a second Ste-Agathe location (2 Préfontaine St. E. has been added to 1040 Principale St., behind the Metro store on highway 117). It also has a Mont-Tremblant shop and an outlet in Mont-Laurier. Other places serve Couleur Café coffee, including Les Mots Tremblant.
The organic vegetable and fruit growers called Ferme biologique aux petits oignons continue to be a popular source for shoppers in the region of Mont-Tremblant (515 Brebeuf Rd./highway 323). More farms such as these would be welcome, according to Myrna Alexander. Several people at the gathering praised food retailer-wholesaler S. Bourassa, the big Ste-Agathe-Sud store, parent of branches in St-Sauveur, St-Jovite and Mirabel.
Foraged foods – wild mushrooms, herbs, greens, berries, etc. – are popular in the region, which, to my visitor’s eye, must offer some of the most accessible wilderness in Quebec.
The traditional Quebec layered meat pie known variously as cipaille, cipâte or six-pâtes was a topic of discussion. It has been traced to a sea pie, made of fish and enjoyed by 18th century British sailors. Quebecers make it of a mixture of meats but the best versions are made with game, I was told by Claude St-Pierre, who was part of a discussion about this old favourite.
Festival Brassicole des Laurentides
The region will celebrate its own microbrewed beers when the first beer festival to be staged in the Laurentians took place June 19 to 21, 2015, in St-Faustin-Lac-Carré. Called the Festival Brassicole des Laurentides. Visiting beer specialist Philippe Wouters, editor of the beer magazine Bières et Plaisirs will be there. Information: festivalbrassicoledeslaurentides.com
Les Mots Tremblant
2053 chemin du Village, Mont-Trenblant, J8E 1K4; tel. 819-421-3496