Go North

If you are hungry, Montreal is a good place to be, even if you do not have the expert guidance of our host and hostess. Marche Jean Talon splits the difference between Haymarket and Greenmarket, offering a variety of produce, some  fresh and local, and none precious. Also, if you have a vegetable market, definitely take a page from Jean Talon and arrange to have the perimeter lined with topnotch charcuiteries, fromageries, and boulangeries. And check back next week for the redonkulous new orange and purple cauliflower. I had not had the chance to buy veggies here when local stuff was in season, but the Quebecois make the most of the short season. Golden tomatoes were the best of any color so far this year, and the plum tomatoes were good enough that I was eating them absently as a late night snack.
In deference to the sensibilities of our lovely hostess, we kept the meat to the undercard. (The cured ham  from Spain was good, but not so good I'd pay a  $200 deposit on a jamon Iberico against the day when they can be shipped to the States.) So the main event was cauliflower and broccoli roasted with hot pepper, fennel seed and garlic over fresh fusilli, preceded by a roasted cantaloupe and tomato cold  soup. Due to Cuisinart-related leakages, I processed  the soup less than usual, and was pleased with the more rustic result.

But the reason why you should come to Montreal is to eat chocolate. Cod does not care much for sweets, but being hauled to Suite 88 made a believer out of me. This place has been open only for 2 1/2 weeks, but you will be hearing about it. The interior is clean, white and spare, and the chocolates are displayed like artifacts from Pompeii. ( The chocolatiers wear white coats, natch.) The white coats, and the nametags with the diacritics for "Helene" would be irrelevant if the chocolate was not special. It is. Some of the same sensibility as Vosges, but more refined. A quatre-epice "dome" was a revelation: they managed to make this flavor migrate from the savory to the sweet in a way that made perfect sense even as it seemed impossible. We will be stopping on our way south to  investigate further. If Prada sold chocolates, but was not, you know, Prada, it would be like this. You can find them at  3957 Rue St. Denis (near Duluth) in Montreal.

Comments

[Daniel]

I happened to see your article, and I could not agree more.
My friend and I have been devotees of this place (I like to try new places). Even the staff know our faces and our favourites by now.
If you love chocolate, check out their new line of desserts too. Thick gooey chocolate, mmm.....
Oh, and add some cayenne to your intense, dark hot chocolate. You would never want to drink instant hot chocolate from a package ever again.