Two Quebec restaurants have been named in the top five places to eat in North America. North America’s 50 Best Restaurants, which launched this year, granted Montreal’s Mon Lapin second place on its list. Atomix in New York, U.S. was crowned number 1. According to the website, Mon Lapin has been a favourite on the Canadian fine-dining scene ever since it opened in 2018. “The cuisine offers a sophisticated French-Italian take on local ingredients, many sourced at the city’s famous Jean-Talon market,” it states. “The menu changes daily, offering dishes like honeynut squash with pig’s head and camelina, salt cod tonnarelli with courgette, cantaloupe, chartreuse and tomato ice cream and the signature croque-pétoncle.” The list boasts that Mon Lapin is “the epitome of the casual-on-the-outside, brilliant-on-the-inside dining [Montreal] is famous for.” Not too far behind, in fifth place, is Tanière3 in Quebec City. “Founded in 1977, La Tanière has been pushing the boundaries of culinary excellence as a leader in contemporary wild Quebec cuisine,” the website notes. Tanière3 has also long been celebrated as a model of Quebec’s rich culinary heritage, “with a hyper-seasonal, terroir-driven tasting menu of 12-to-18 courses.” “From field, forest and estuary, each dish showcases the province’s natural bounty,” it notes. “Think silky Quebec scallops crowned with wild lake sturgeon caviar from Lac-Saint-Pierre, or supple seaweed-fed lamb from Les Bergeries du Margot in the Gaspé Peninsula paired with molasses-like black apple.” One of the innovations that has made Tanière3 a culinary leader? It was one of the first places in the province to serve non-alcoholic pairings. The list also points to the restaurant’s “multi-sensory adventure,” which includes keying in a personal code to enter an unmarked entrance and a progression through several spaces, including the bar vault, the main dining room, the chef’s counter and the dessert vault, to complete the experience. Other Quebec restaurants that made the top 50 list include Montréal Plaza (22), Le Violon (29), Alma (43) and Beba (50).
