Every Place Anthony Bourdain Ate and Drank in Montreal, Mapped

“Get ready, friends, for the most rich, outrageously over the top, Titanic-sized opus dedicated to all things fatty, porky, and delicious at the defiantly transgressive Au Pied de Cochon,” Bourdain declares just before digging into his meal at this Montreal institution. Visiting the Plateau spot in 2006, while filming season two of No Reservations, Bourdain tucks into duck terrine; foie gras poutine; foie gras with bacon, buckwheat pancake, maple syrup sauce, and lard; a hamburger with foie gras; foie gras tart; and more. Some of these you can still order, while others are relegated to the menu of 20 years ago, but it remains true that Au Pied de Cochon to Bourdain was “Amazing. Just awesome.”

During the second season of No Reservations, Bourdain stopped by the famous La Banquise—a 24-hour Plateau poutinerie that’s been around since 1968 (first as an ice cream shop, later expanding to poutine in 1980). While there, he ate five different poutines, exclaiming, “I feel so dirty, yet so alive. It’s like forbidden love.” Since Bourdain’s visit, La Banquise’s menu has grown alongside its acclaim, serving over 30 variations of the fries, gravy, and cheese curd combo. Each has an inventive name like “The Elvis,” “The Curfew,” “The UFO,” or merely “Yum!”—exactly what we’d like to imagine Bourdain exclaimed after taking his first bite.

St. Viateur was a frequent stop for Bourdain when in Montreal, featured twice in his programming—once during season two of No Reservations and again in season one of The Layover. “They’re indeed, very, very good,” the New York City-born Bourdain concedes (though in the same episode he says that comparing New York and Montreal bagels is like comparing “apples to oranges”). Since his latter visit in 2011, the nearly 70-year-old St Viateur has remained more or less consistent, still serving the same hand-scorching baked goods fresh from the oven. For the best bite, order whatever’s freshest, rip it in half and dip it into a container of cream cheese.

Bourdain heads to the Plateau’s famous Beauty’s in The Layover, remarking that “it’s where they pretty much invented breakfast around here.” A family business, then run by three generations of Sckolnicks (in this episode Bourdain was served by the late founder of Beauty’s, Hymie Sckolnick, who passed in 2017), the luncheonette is a spot that’s rarely changed since its opening in 1942. For his breakfast, Bourdain has the smoked salmon bagel, still a staple on the menu, along with the Mish-Mash omelette (hot dog, salami, green pepper, and fried onion), also mentioned in the episode.

At Jean-Talon Market, Bourdain walks the farmstands with only two things in mind: cured meats and cheese. Though he skips the former, during this episode of The Layover, Bourdain indeed carves out some time for cheese tasting, specifically small slices of raw goat’s milk cheese. While at the fromagerie stand, his voiceover pointedly notes, “In Montreal, enlightenment about cheeses still reigns. That means you can still get unpasteurized, raw milk cheese—banned by ‘ignor-anuses’ in the States since 1949.” Just one of many freedoms Canadians enjoy that Americans cannot. There’s an array of artisanal cheesemongers still operating out of Jean-Talon, including Fromagerie Qui Lait Cru!?!, though it’s unclear which one Bourdain visited this time around.

Bourdain stops by Fromagerie Atwater in The Layover season one and speaks with proprietor Gilles Jourdenais. Comparing the cheese to drugs and expressing his desire to bring some banned-in-the-States unpasteurized, raw milk varieties across the border, Bourdain says, “I am totally bootlegging in some cheese. Or, maybe I can get one of the camera people to body pack.” At the time, Jourdenais disclosed his stock of 850 cheeses. Now, that number exceeds a baffling 1,000.

During Bourdain’s visit up north to this maple farm and country inn in No Reservations season two, he indulges in a lumberjack’s breakfast of soup, meat pie, mash, meatballs, ham, sausage, country bacon, soufflé, and pancakes—a hearty, protein-filled meal; certainly one way to start the day. Presently, the sugar shack offers meals on request for individual clients and groups, with the most popular, and closest to what Bourdain ate during his visit, being the sugar shack feast. Sucrerie de la Montagne also offers guided tours and activities during the holiday and maple syrup season, as well as year-round.

Food writer Adam Gollner takes a hesitant Bourdain to the Old Port’s Club Chasse et Pêche in season one of The Layover. Hesitant not because of the cuisine or his company, but because of who the restaurant shares a building with: the Château Ramezay. As the province’s first building classified as a historical monument, its surrounding area is filled with a myriad of colonial cosplayers selling beaver pelts and appealing to tourists. “Happily,” Bourdain notes, “the waitstaff aren’t in period garb, and there’s not a beaver steak in sight.” Instead, Bourdain has a tuna tartare with taro chips, lobster salad, scallop ceviche with grapefruit foam and fennel powder, octopus with smoked potato foam, and duck magret. Though you’re unlikely to find these exact dishes at the restaurant, fare of a similar nature persists.

Marven’s is a Greek restaurant in Park-Ex, which Bourdain visited during season one of The Layover. We don’t see him eat anything in this segment, but a recommendation for first-timers is offered instead: calamari and a rib steak. The spot opened in 1973 and still operates under the same family—both items remain on the menu.

Bourdain briefly visits Quebec’s oldest drive-in during season one of The Layover, where viewers learn about the restaurant and its menu from a local patron and get a glimpse of the rare cars parked for automotive night. “More so than the hot dogs and the french fries,” the patron reveals, “what really draws people to the Orange Julep” is its namesake beverage. The patron claims it’s a “secret formula,” though the recipe for the base was disclosed in 1993: water, orange juice, sugar, skim milk powder, vanilla, and pectin. Though the base formula isn’t so secret, the exact recipe remains closely guarded by the drive-in’s owner.

Joe Beef is one of Montreal’s most famous restaurants, and its founders, Frédéric Morin and David McMillan, were friends of Bourdain’s, so it’s no surprise the restaurant was a stop on his list of places to eat during The Layover. While Joe Beef’s menu is constantly changing, Bourdain got to taste stuffed clams (served on an old radio); smoked cheddar, bacon, and homemade mayo stuffed between two pieces of battered and fried foie gras; beef, chicken, duck, and lamb, all on a long wooden board. “The only problem you might have here is being unable to get a reservation,” Bourdain says: an issue that persists over 15 years later.

L’Express is introduced in season one of The Layover as an alternative to Joe Beef, with food writer Adam Gollner, whom Bourdain dined with earlier in the episode, taking over. “It’s simple, it’s humble, it’s classic bistro fare,” Gollner posits. Gollner’s recommended menu items are steak frites, bone marrow, and trout salad, with the former two still occupying the menu.

Rotisserie Romados is a Plateau spot specializing in Portuguese chicken. Portions are generous for a modest price, with the cheapest priced at $8 during the time of filming The Layover in 2011. The same dish is currently $9.50—not too bad, all things considered.

“I’ve never been here before,” Bourdain says of Big in Japan, “but I know what happens here… Open seven days a week until three a.m., Big in Japan has quickly ascended to Montreal’s premier service-provider for drunk-ass chefs after work.” A few glasses of sake and Chinese whiskey later, Bourdain and Au Pied de Cochon’s Martin Picard argue against the impact of Celine Dion in the early 2010s international milieu, in what is a continuation of an all-around very Montreal night.

After a failed taco-getting attempt at the Grumman ‘78 food truck, due to Montreal’s still-in-place food truck ban during filming of The Layover in 2011, Bourdain ducks into Nouveau Palais, inebriated and with taco tunnel vision. Though the array of tacos that Bourdain eventually acquires (including a vegetarian one, to his surprise) isn’t on the menu at Nouveau Palais anymore, you can find similarly sufficient drunk food, like hamburgers and mac and cheese.

There’s little introduction needed for Schwartz’s, the foremost destination for smoked meat. Bourdain’s order is a classic: smoked meat sandwich (medium), cherry soda, and a pickle. “Smoked meat. You can’t not do this when you come to Montreal,” he says.

Bourdain visited the Cabane à Sucre, from Au Pied de Cochon’s Martin Picard, during season one of Parts Unknown. “The meal begins—begins—with a tower of maple desserts,” he says. “Let the madness begin.” Maple donuts, nougat, BeaverTails, and cotton candy precede a main course of foie gras with baked beans on a pancake cooked in duck fat; cottage cheese and eggs cooked in maple syrup; and a salad of duck hearts, gizzards, and pig’s ear, topped with a pile of fried pork rinds. The rest of the feast follows suit: rich, fried, maple-glazed and foie gras-full. Depending on the season, whether sugar or harvest, the menu switches up, though many of the dishes Bourdain enjoyed appear to this day.

Bourdain first visited Liverpool House in 2000, during his book tour for Kitchen Confidential. In 2013, he returned while filming Parts Unknown to a full table. Bourdain samples jambon blanc, char gravlax with dill sauce, Solomon Gundy, beets and eggs, smoked trout, brioche filled with smoked eel and potatoes, salmon pastrami, and oeuf en gelée, along with a spread of authentic Pakistani food from Liverpool House’s then chef Omar. Because of Liverpool House’s constantly changing menu, it’s unlikely you’ll find any of these dishes available today, but if Bourdain’s love for Frédéric Morin and David McMillan and the soundbite of him saying “this is a genius meal” are any indication, it’s worth a visit.

Wilensky’s is a Plateau old-school institution, known for its green-trimmed facade, cursive logo, and the Wilensky special. Bourdain visits in season one of Parts Unknown to try the special, a pressed beef and bologna sandwich, and an egg cream. Bourdain’s takeaway: “Some places are beloved institutions for a reason.”