The Bayous of Quebec

On the occasion of my Whitewater buddy Kevin's arrival in Montréal, colleague Jean suggested that it would be a nice time to take a road trip down the St-Lawrence river in search of the famed gibelotte, or catfish stew. So, on a beautiful Spring day we drove downriver about 90km or so to the St-Ignace—Sorel ferry.


The ferry is awfully busy, since this is the only way to cross the river between Montréal and Trois-Rivieres, a distance of about 135km. Once on the south bank we turned east, looking for what Jean calls "the Bayous of Quebec". (The word "bayou" isn't used in Quebec, which is weird, since it's a Choctaw term used by French Acadians—cajuns!—in the late 17th century, and brought all the way north into the Lake Erie country.) And he's exactly right: if these aren't bayous, nothing is!!


We were looking for the most famous of the gibelotte places, Marc Beauchemin's, whose sign we soon found:



Unfortunately, it was ferme—on account of the recent flood, as we later found out.


This wonderful sign tells us that, in addition to catfish stew, we can get perch fillets, all we can eat, and we can bring our own wine—which we did, a nice Argentinean Torrontes. But it was not to be. Back on the road, through some more bayous, executing Plan B,


namely, getting to the second most famous gibelotte place, Le Varvo,


—talk about an unprepossessing entrance!


But the menu held out what we were promised:


First to arrive—what Quebecois call "le entrée"—was the onion appetizer:


Marinated in a nice, spicy, peppery vinegarette, the sliced onions are laid on the buttered white bread and chomped away at. It's a pretty neat, tasty way to start the meal. Next came our gibelottes—here's Jean just beginning:


The stew has a couple of small bullheads in it, along with lots and lots of different vegetables, all in a very rich, thick, but mild-tasting tomato sauce.


De rigueur is a side of perch fillets, accompanied by slices of homemade pickled beets, probably the best I've ever tasted. Who knew to put pickled beets with perch fillets?



Here's a shot of the dining room, with Jean, Kevin, and our bottle of picpoul de pinet featured:




A very pleasant place, good food, a grand outing for a nice day in the early Quebec Spring.

Geo

Restaurant Le Varvo
3139 Ch Du Chenal-Du-Moine
Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel QC, J3P 5N3
Phone: 450-746-7595

Wow-- Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel is a dead ringer for Grand Isle, Louisiana, or about a million other SE Louisiana Bayou spots. Really cool pictures...We love and regularly visit QC, next time im up that way I might need to do a little more exploring.

Geo wrote:A very pleasant place, good food, a grand outing for a nice day in the early Quebec Spring.

Very pleasant indeed. If Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel was within a tighter radius I'd be making plans to go this very moment.

Very cool, Geo ! I was just thinking about Quebecois food last weekend when I was eating a plate of tourtiere at a pub in Toronto.*

That photo would've fooled me for Louisiana in a second.

I'd love to see more on the regional foods of Quebec.

Thanks !

-Nab

*Great little pub called House on Parliament if you're ever in Toronto. While my tourtiere was a little dry, the other plates were fantastic, and their specials menu is very interesting.

House on Parliament
456 Parliament St.
Toronto, Ontario
416.925.4074

Man I love this forum. Great photos and story! No wonder why my print magazine subscriptions keep piling up unread.

Ditto what the poster said above. Im headed to a wedding in Montgomery, Vermont this week and its right near the Canadian border and im really excited to head back to Montreal and if I can squeeze it in, im going to take a drive and try some of that perch, looks amazing. Hopefully I have the time.

I'm glad everyone is enjoying our trip! Tnx!

And yes, it's just astounding how much these Quebec 'bayous' resemble the country around Grand Isle LA.

Da Beef--you really ought to give it a try, since you'll be so close. It's only a hundred miles or so, and if you take I-91 (I think it is) and Quebec 55, it'll be pretty fast.

If you do go, keep us posted!

Geo