While in Quebec City, we stayed at a great little B&B, the Hotel Maison du Fort http://www.hotelmaisondufort.com/ . Marielle Roy, the inn keeper, was very friendly, our room was comfortable and clean, and even though the inn is conveniently located in the upper part of the old city, it sits on a very quiet street, which is much appreciated. Marielle’s two cats keep an eye on the comings and goings of patrons.
The weather was spectacular on Wednesday and we spent the day enjoying the city and the sun. In the morning we went up to the Citadel and took a tour of the barracks and several small military museums. It’s still a working military site, so access is only available through tours. The view from the Citadel was worth suffering through 60 minutes of talk of battles, bayonets, and barbarism. In case you haven’t heard, they built this citadel to protect themselves from us . . . that’s right, those restless and uncooperative Americans! At least that was the story from our entertaining, 
francophile tour guide, Remi, who had a decidedly unmilitary air, in dreadlocks, beads, and feathers.
The Fodor’s book cites the justification for building the citadel was to protect the newly arrived British from “French retaliations.” I see some issues here, yet another example of the existential crisis of the Québécois. Even reading the local 
paper, there was a full page article on the lack of agreement surrounding the definition of what it means to be Canadian. Time to move on folks!!! We had afternoon tea at Chateau Frontenac, owned now by Fairmont Hotels. “Quebec’s most celebrated landmark, this imposing green-turreted 
castle with a copper roof stands on the site of what was the administrative and military headquarters of New 
France.” It was built in 1893 by New York architect Bruce Price, which sounds like such a contemporary name to me. I didn’t know they had guys named “Bruce” in the late 1800’s. We made a mistake here and signed up for a tour of the hotel, hoping to see some secret rooms or architectural features. What we got was a young girl dressed in 1800’s garb, who was overly enthusiastic about all of us pretending we were part of an 1800’s cleaning crew. The tour took us through various floors of the hotel, into a HOTEL ROOM (lucky us!), and through the ballroom, which was 
set up for a business meeting, ugly blue hotel chairs and projection screens. I certainly haven’t seen enough of that in the last four years! The day was saved though by a walk on the terrace overlooking the St. Lawrence River as the sun began to set. And now for the food . . . . Dinner was fabulous! We dined at Le Sait-Amour, a French restaurant co-owned by chef Jean-Luc Boulay. We were very tempted by the tasting menu, but decided on more conservative choices, especially in light of all the fine dining we’ve been doing! Brett ordered the table d’hote (prix fix) menu which included four courses. He started with a pureed vegetable soup that was great! Layered with procuitto on the bottom of the bowl, pureed root vegetables, and a trail of basalmic vinegar topping it off, it provided a warm and comfort food oriented start to the evening. His next course was a duck trio – salted, smoked, and roasted. The salted duck was incredible and is definitely something I will look for to add to antipasto plates in the future. His main dish included both medallion of veal and a filet mignon, both of which he describes as “perfect.” Desert was included with his meal and was a mousse, with a layer of apple puree. I thought it was an odd combination, but Brett enjoyed it. I ordered a la carte and was very pleased with my choices. I started with an appetizer of tiny asparagus, a touch of country cheese, and a quail egg. The presentation was artful and 
although, it could have been a little warmer when it reached the table, it was still tasty. My main course was a peppered rack of lamb with a caper brown sauce. It was fabulous and the pepper rub did a good job of balancing the lamb, which I sometimes find a bit strong. We washed it all down with a 2000 St. Emillion grand crus from Chateau Haut-Segottes. This was a perfect end to a visit in this beautiful city. We would love to return here and spend more time exploring the area outside the city walls.
francophile tour guide, Remi, who had a decidedly unmilitary air, in dreadlocks, beads, and feathers.
paper, there was a full page article on the lack of agreement surrounding the definition of what it means to be Canadian. Time to move on folks!!! We had afternoon tea at Chateau Frontenac, owned now by Fairmont Hotels. “
castle with a copper roof stands on the site of what was the administrative and military headquarters of 
France
set up for a business meeting, ugly blue hotel chairs and projection screens. I certainly haven’t seen enough of that in the last four years! The day was saved though by a walk on the terrace overlooking the 
although, it could have been a little warmer when it reached the table, it was still tasty. My main course was a peppered rack of lamb with a caper brown sauce. It was fabulous and the pepper rub did a good job of balancing the lamb, which I sometimes find a bit strong. We washed it all down with a 2000 St. Emillion grand crus from Chateau Haut-Segottes. This was a perfect end to a visit in this beautiful city. We would love to return here and spend more time exploring the area outside the city walls.
1 comment:
I found this entry highly suspicious, as if aliens had landed and taken over Brett's body. He ordered something with TWO meats in it? I mean, c'mon. That is SO unbelieveable: "His main dish included both medallion of veal and a filet mignon, both of which he describes as “perfect.”
Miss you guys back in Boston!
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