French toast: A taste of Montreals best restaurants Michelin forgot

Purveyor of good taste and restaurant elitism, Michelin Group at long last debuted its inaugural guide to the province of Québec last month, and its Montréal selections have gone over about as well as day-old poutine. Despite being the province’s largest city (population 1.8 million), with more restaurants per capita than New York City, Montréal received a paltry three ratings at the one-star level.Meanwhile, the province’s much smaller capital Québec City (population 557,390) received four one-star ratings, and one two-star rating. The skewed results continued in the guide’s other categories.

In the Bib Gourmand category, which gives affordable restaurant recommendations, seven nods went to Montréal, and eight went to Québec City.In fact, just 43 of the province’s total of 76 “recommended” restaurants are located in Montréal. And despite its reputation as a world capital of urban agriculture, low-impact sourcing, and surprisingly sippable natural and biodynamic wines, not a single Montréal restaurant received a “Michelin Green Star” for sustainable gastronomy.But Québec City got one, and so did the rural communities of Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc and Stanbridge East.“People have been pretty surprised that Québec City got more recognition because our food scene is much more prolific,” said Mélissa Simard, founder of Round Table Tours, which offers food tours of Montréal.The difference might have something to do with the capital’s French roots feeling more familiar to Michelin Guide inspectors, she says: “Québec City tends to be a little homogenous and traditional, and Montréal is very cosmopolitan.”Montréal restaurateur Ari Schor scored a Michelin recommendation for the restaurant he co-owns with his brother Pablo — still he wasn’t sure that the guide’s offered the best snapshot of the city’s food scene. “A lot of what these inspectors look for is consistency, which can be tough for restaurants like ours which chang...