8
CHAMPAGNE CHOCOLATIER, 783, NEAR RUE MONSEIGNEUR-GAUVREAU
When the city put a roof over St. Joseph Street, it hoped to lure suburban mall shoppers downtown with protection from brutal winters. Instead, the Vieille Capitale floundered. But after four years of planning and a painful 10 months of construction things are looking up for shopkeepers like Stéphane Champagne.
The chocolatier has been hand-crafting sweets on this strip for the past eight years. Now, upscale residents (and savvy tourists) are flocking to sample his goods. And what a sample. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can rival the taste of chocolates made from African, Cuban and Tanzanian cocoa. Champagne also uses hot peppers, ginger and mint in his organic, chemical-free treats. Another trademark: chocolates filled with almond paste. Or I enjoy his cherry blossom — a cherry covered in layers of buttery and dark chocolate.
Should you prefer more cerebral delights, however, head a few doors down to Champagne's other store, Le Vaisseau D'Or. It stocks rare books that offer insight into Quebec history — for example, a publication on how Huron-Wendat natives celebrated Quebec's birthday in 1908 and an 1878 edition on the life of the city's founder Samuel de Champlain.
Built in 1923, Saint-Roch Church was modelled on Notre Dame de Paris and its exterior has a neo-Gothic grandeur. (Francis Vachon for The Globe and Mail)
Related Articles
Internet Links
BENJO, 543, BETWEEN RUE DU PARVIS AND RUE DE LA CHAPELLE
Benjo's is the kind of toy store that will make you wish you were a kid again. In fact, there's a piano here just like the one in Big — which store supervisor Sylvain Parizeau (who bears some resemblance to Tom Hanks) included in his displays because he firmly believes every adult is secretly waiting to come out and play.
"A lot of them come to my section of the store saying they are buying something for their kids," he says, "but I know that it's really for them."
But while adults can tap into their inner children here, real kids rule the roost. Founded by Geneviève Marcon, one of the developers behind the St. Joseph district renewal, the store is named for her two kids, Benjamin and Josephine. And once young people pass through a child-sized door called the VIP entrance, they are free to touch all the upscale toys, paint their own pottery, make stuffed animals or take a ride on a man-sized robot.
Best of all: All profits at the store go to help various charity groups. "Ms. Marcon made her money in land development. The store was just one her hobbies," Parizeau says. "She wanted to offer kids a place to have fun, while selling unique products that can't be found anywhere else."
CAMELLIA SINENSIS TEA HOUSE, 624, NEAR RUE DE LA CHAPELLE
I always enjoy a cup of tea. So when Jasmin Desharnais invited me to try some Tai Ping Hou Kui — one of the 180 varieties he carries at Camellia — I couldn't resist. What I didn't expect: To discover complex aromas and flavours rivalling wine.
But I'm not alone. While Jasmin and his partners hand-pick tea from China, Taiwan, Japan, India and Sri Lanka, they know that most of us don't know our Darjeeling from our Oolong. So the store hosts one-hour tea tastings every Saturday at 10:30 a.m., as well as 2 1/2-hour workshops on everything from the health benefits of tea to its proper prep (visit camellia-sinensis.com for dates).
Even if you don't have time for that kind of immersion, though, there is a small tasting bar at the back of the shop — where soft music creates an appropriate atmosphere for indulging in finer blends, some of which sell for $100 per 50 grams. A bit rich for my amateur taste buds.
LARGO RESTO-CLUB, 643, BETWEEN RUE DE LA CHAPELLE AND RUE DU PONT
I never took Quebec City to be a great place for jazz. Until Gino Sainte-Marie opened his intimate club four years ago. And I mean intimate.
There are only 75 seats here. There are no curtains to create distance between you and the musicians. You can enjoy a great meal next to performers before taking in a show. Or invite them for a glass of wine afterward. It's almost like having jazz greats as dinner guests.
Which makes some sense. Sainte-Marie first opened this club as a venue for his wife, singer Virginie Hamel. Then she started to attract fellow musicians such as pianist Alan Broadbent, guitarist John Pizano and bass player Derek Oles.
"My only request is that I asked them to play with some of the local talent," Sainte-Marie says.
They did. And in turn those jam sessions gave birth to a more formal promotion of jazz in Quebec: the Largo Foundation for the Arts, which supports promising local musicians with a donation from the club and the sale of $2 spring-water bottles dubbed "cultural champagne." The foundation is also part of the city's international Jazz festival (www.jazzaquebec.ca) — which will feature the Alain Caron Quartet and the Lorraine Desmarais trio this September.
RESTAURANT UTOPIE, 226, NEAR RUE CARON, WEST OF DORCHESTER
It's not where you would expect to find the restaurant En Route calls the second best in the country. Or to spot filmmaker Robert Lepage over dinner. Utopie is, after all, located on a scrappier section of St. Joseph, where urban renewal is still a work in progress.
But walk inside this restaurant and you'll see a hip decor dominated by aspen tree trucks. And behind the scenes there's François Gauthier and his team of four sommeliers — hard at work on a menu that is truly a creative process. First, the sommeliers and chef choose a wine. Then they build a menu around it. On my visit, the wine in question was Spanish Bierzo, served with courses including serrano ham, Atlantic halibut and smoked beef.
Then again, $50 for a four-course meal plus $65 for a bottle of wine may not be your thing. In which case, you should head next door to Le Cercle. The club offers small dishes from the chef at Utopie — as well as music from folk to Tom Waits tribute bands.
SAINT-ROCH CHURCH, 590, NEAR RUE DE LA CHAPELLE
Perhaps it was Pierre, a cellist playing Bach across the street from Saint-Roch, that put me in a meditative mood. But once inside this cathedral there's no need for a spiritual soundtrack. Indeed, visitors may prefer to take in the splendour here in silence.
Built in 1923, Quebec City's largest church was modelled on Notre Dame de Paris and its exterior has a neo-Gothic grandeur. Its interior, however, is purely Canadian: the stained glass windows (which tell the story of Saint Roch) light up oak wood, combed stone and marble from Saskatchewan that has fossils embedded in it. The grand organ is one of the biggest in Eastern Canada.
And Saint-Roch isn't all show. Although this once-depressed area has been gentrified, the church still caters to those on the margins. There are programs for the homeless and a syringe drop-off in the basement. "If it wasn't for this place," parish secretary Ginette Dupuis says, "they'd have no place to go."
Rhéal Séguin is The Globe and Mail's Quebec City correspondent.
