snic wrote: Thu Oct 16, 2025 8:37 pm
potato_farmer wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2024 6:14 pmDid you end up taking that weekend trip to Montreal? We were fortunate enough to stop by San Francisco and stopped for the kouign amann at Arsicault. We still prefer the Montreal style kouign amann.
We finally made it to Montreal. We had a great time, but I’m afraid I prefer Arsicault’s kouign amann to the one from Au Kouign-Amann in Montreal. The San Francisco variant has a crispiness to it that I really enjoyed. The Montreal one is more of a cake. Both are delicious, but Arsicault has the edge. Now, I can’t tell you which one is more authentic. That is going to require a research trip to Bretagne, and a carefully chosen sample from at least 4 or 5 boulangeries. This is really tough, painstaking work, requiring great dedication and self-sacrifice, but someone has to do it.
Speaking of crispiness, I loved the Montreal-style bagels at Fairmount (the line at St-Viateur was too long). I really wish I could get these where I live.
We had a few fantastic culinary experiences:
-LOV for 100% vegetarian food. The restaurant is beautiful and the food is solid, high quality but not too fancy (e.g., they have a veggie burger with Impossible “meat”) and the cocktails are good.
-Bisou Bisou for really creative cocktails. The bartender knows his stuff and absolutely loves what he does. We sat at the bar right in front of him, chatted with him, and he ended up making us some off-menu drinks that were amazing.
-Candide for an upscale dinner. The restaurant focuses on Quebec produce and wines. The wines were a bit weird but generally well chosen to complement the food – which was absolutely delicious and very creative. Service was impeccable and the waitstaff is really enthusiastic about the food (probably infected by the chef, who personally comes around to serve some of the dishes).
-Atwater and Jean-Talon markets. Whereas most North American cities have a farmers market once a week, sometimes more than that in different neighborhoods, Montreal’s two markets are open every day year round. The produce was incredibly fresh – apples this time of year were just a treat, and the small, intensely flavored strawberries (presumably greenhouse grown) were as good as the ones in Europe. Why don’t these berries make it across the border? Anyway, the markets have cheese shops, butchers, boulangeries, etc. We got some wonderful Quebec cheeses to eat with the baguettes we bought from neighborhood boulangeries.
-Montreal smoked meat from “The Art of Smoked Meat”. I’m not sure where else to get this brand, but I got it at the deli counter of Le Beau Marché in the old town. It is so much better than American pastrami, with a wonderful slightly smokey flavor that reminded me of German lunch meats. The classic way to eat it is with mustard on rye bread, but I found it delightful by itself on a fresh baguette.
Exploring Montreal’s various neighborhoods was a lot of fun; the architecture and vibe vary, and the fall colors really brighten everything. And of course we did the obligatory walk up Mont Royal to catch the gorgeous views across downtown out to the St. Lawrence. What a great trip!
if you could only pick one market, would you pick Atwater or Jean-Talon?
