Poutine is a mess of french fries, gravy and cheese curds - a signature dish easily found in Quebec's largest city that captures its engaging and independent culinary personality.
Montreal offers gutsy, creative and hearty fare that honours its diverse forbears.
"There is a tradition of English cooking and French cooking, but it's taken on that lusty explorer, wilderness, joie de vivre," says Catherine MacPherson, a food columnist for CBC Radio. "It's rib sticking, and it's got that independent spirit."
That wasn't always so. Until the early 1990s in Montreal, "good" cuisine meant "French" cuisine, and all the local stars had trained in France. That's also where they got their ingredients - lamb, lobster, artichokes, nearly everything.
Until a young chef named Normand Laprise returned from the Continent more impressed by the freshness of ingredients in France than by their Frenchness.
He began cultivating farmers and ranchers and launched a movement toward fresh, local ingredients that drew from Quebec's rich landscape. His restaurant, Toque!, opened in 1993, and remains the standard-bearer for upscale Quebecois cuisine.
"When you come in Montreal, you feel that the food is more about us, about Quebec philosophy and Quebec roots," he says. "It's our produce, our chefs."
Today, Montreal is "bigger and better," Laprise says, as the scene has filled with choice, from bistros to sandwich shops to corner grocers and cheese shops that offer fresh, delicious, local foods.
The city claims 6,000 restaurants spanning 80 cuisines for its two million people, making it a city of foodies, by foodies, for foodies. The food scene could take weeks to explore, but with just a few days - and a big appetite - a dedicated eater can make a thorough and delicious survey.
Start the tour at L'Express, a traditional bistro in the Plateau neighbourhood where the floor is checkered, the ceilings are high and French is spoken all around.
The steak of steak-frites is juicy and fatty, crowned with herb butter. The frites are crispy and light. Pistachio-studded pate literally melts on the tongue leaving hints of thyme and cognac behind.
The chocolate tart is so glossy and thick with flavour that the otherwise stone-faced waiter is moved to speak, telling two diners that it is made with 76 per cent cacao.
Montrealers have made L'Express their local hangout for nearly three decades, but recently it's gotten some company.
Around the corner, Au Pied de Cochon plumps up the bistro concept, making traditionally thrifty Quebecois cooking richer, fatter, heartier.
Chef Martin Picard offers pickled venison tongue; a salad of rich, bitter greens topped with crunchy bits of fried pig cartilage; and nearly everything stuffed with foie gras, from peasant food such as pig's foot to the famous poutines.
Picard's menu honours the region's sweet tooth not only with the famous tarte au sucre - literally, sugar pie - but even with a playful take on breakfast that features buckwheat pancakes, thick bacon, and yes, foie gras, all of it doused with maple syrup.
On the other side of town in the Petite-Bourgogne neighbourhood, Restaurant Joe Beef redefines the British pub with a decidedly modern take on roasts, puddings and other delectables.
