TRAIN TO MONTREAL

QUEBEC TO MONTREAL, CANADA

A proper train voyage holds itself in high esteem as one of the most romantic relics of years past, much like beautiful postage stamps and walks to the bookstore. Useful, still, in special ways, along with any method of attaining a need that requires pause or meditation. This particular train crossing, Anthony Bourdain also made in his early No Reservations episode on Canada, albeit the other way round (Montreal to Quebec). On the journey, he’s joined by Fred Morin and Dave McMillan, owners of Montreal’s famed Joe Beef restaurant, who procure, seemingly from their pockets, a wealth of culinary delicacies. Black truffles are shaved and jellied caviar dolloped onto their “perfectly serviceable omelets” delivered by a railcar attendant. This all while Fred Morin unfolds pamphlets of vintage train ephemera and research on dining by rail; mementos of a dying art from a time “when you ordered a drink, it came from a bottle made out of glass, to a glass made out of glass.” 

The above photo is my own self-indulgent recreation of such a voyage, with a picnic gathered from Quebec’s gourmet grocery store J. A. Moisan (boasting itself the oldest in North America). Sparkling rose lemonade and elderflower soda, chocolate mousse and handmade carrot cake, a fresh-out-of-the-oven baguette and gooey chunks of cheese that somehow all survived a frenzied commute to the train station (that, a story for another time). All savored to the hum of train over snow, and of course, the clink of glass to glass. 

12.27.2020