Food & Wine USA - (12)December 2018

DECEMBER 2018

TRAVEL

88

SATURDAY

Le Buffet de l’Antiquaire (lebuffetde

lantiquaire.com), set amidst a row of

antique shops, is the place to start the

day, with Quebecois breakfast staples:

thin crêpes drizzled with maple syrup, or

beans and toast slathered with cretons,

a chilled pork spread. Pay a visit to the

quirky boutiques of the St.-Roch district,

home to L’Affaire est Ketchup (facebook

.com/laffaireest.ketchup), the original

HQ for a trio of restaurateurs who shook

up the local food scene by tabling refined

ingredients in a bustling, elbow-to-elbow

ambience. Equally fun spin-offs include

raw bar Kraken Cru (190 rue St.-Vallier

Ouest), the buvette Le Ket’Chose (1138 3e

Ave.), and seafood-themed Albacore (819

Côte d’Abraham). If you can’t snag one of

the 20-odd tables at sought-after Battuto

(battuto.ca), where chef Guillaume St-

Pierre and pâtissier Paul Croteau have

pulled off an alchemical mash-up of a

French bistro and a superior Italian trat-

toria, book a Saturday night spot at the

more spacious Laurie Raphaël (laurie

raphael.com), whose star chef Daniel

Vézina offers encyclopedic tasting menus

of ingredients, from flounder ceviche to

smoked pork loin, sourced from Quebec’s

top artisanal producers.

SUNDAY

Finish the weekend at the 1608 Wine

& Cheese Bar at Château Frontenac

(fairmont.com/frontenac-quebec), where

the menu includes an extravagant Sazerac

made with cognac from pre-phylloxera

vines. he circular bar is a toasty perch

from which to view the Carnaval canoe

races across the icy St. Lawrence River,

or just wonder at the panorama spread

out below: a snow-dusted vision of his-

toric France, miraculously transported

to the Americas.

Carnaval takes place

February 8–17, 2019. Visit

carnaval.qc.ca for more

information.

The recently overhauled

Château Frontenac is a hub

of such Carnaval activities as

the breakneck, wood-framed

toboggan run established

in 1884 (rooms from $258;

fairmont.com/frontenac-

quebec). A room at the nearby

Art Deco Hotel Clarendon

(rooms from $118; hotel

clarendon.com), which

boasts the restaurant Le

Charles Baillairgé, which will

celebrate its 150th anniver-

sary in 2020, is a well-priced

option. Or opt for a room at

the Hôtel de Glace, a hotel

made of ice (rooms from

$495; January–March only;

hoteldeglace-canada.com).

WHEN TO GO

WHERE TO STAY

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Bistro Le Sam

at Château Frontenac has river

views; tiramisu at Battuto; in winter,

visitors may sled down Quebec City’s

triple-chute toboggan run.

PHOTOGRAPHY (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT): COURTESY FAIRMONT LE CHÂTEAU FRONTENAC, ALANNA HALE, FRANCIS GAGNON