GMZ - Philouze Boulanger Pâtissier

If you can find good baguette within your usual shopping perimeter, you're golden. That said, over the years, I've come to discover that "good" baguette is a very personal thing: some like it dense, some like it light; some like a crispy crust, some like a soft one; some like it darker, some like it slightly underdone; some like a neutral flavour, some like it with a more distinct one... I could go on, but you get the idea.

So I can't really tell you about "good" baguette somewhere in the GMZ. All I can do is tell you about what's good baguette for me. Enter Philouze Boulanger Pâtissier, situated at 811 St. René Blvd in Gatineau, between de l'Hôpital Blvd and montée Paiement. The shop is on a weird bit of street; its neighbours are a pool and spa centre on one side, a print shop on the other, and the local RONA is a spitting distance away. BUT DON'T LET THIS FOOL YOU! Philouze, in my humble, bread-gobbling opinion, feels like it could have been plucked from the most idillic little European artisan village you can imagine. 

The baguette is the first element to help create the illusion. For me, it's the best in town, bar none. It's dense, crispy, sweet, baked to a perfect doneness, and, most importantly, it doesn't have the circumference of the baseball bat-sized behemoths you usually find at the grocery store. It's simply delicious. And it goes beautifully with all of the lovely products the store carries such as Québécois and French cheeses, beautiful patés and rillettes from Première Moisson in Montreal, fresh sausages that allow you to venture into the exotic with chorizo and chipolata and, most lipsmacking of all, cured meats including Corsican-style figatelli and cured chorizo from Les Cochons tout ronds, an amazing producer from Iles-de-la-Madeleine (you've GOT to try these - just be patient, they run out fast and it's sometimes a bit of a wait before the next order comes in). 

Philouze made dinner! Figatelli, Petit ménage and St-Morgon cheese.

Philouze also offers ready to eat extravagances such as pop-it-in-the-oven-and-you-have-dinner pot pies, ham and swiss flaky pastries with béchamel, pizza-foccaccia hybrids and more. Of course, they also have a beautiful pastries counter with truly delicious éclairs, religieuses, mousses, and ready-to-go cakes. Try their galette des rois around the feast of the Epiphany in January, or their Saint-Honoré cake anytime; with its rum-infused pastry cream, flaky pastry disks and cream puffs, it's fantastic (just make sure you order ahead for that one). And last but not least, run, don't walk, to get the best croissants I've been able to find on this side of the river or the other. Oh, wait, there's more: Philouze also carries specialities, local and imported, such as teas, madeleines, candies, jams, flavoured syrups and canned goods. Basically, if you've recently been to France or Belgium and you're suffering from Euro-food withdrawal, Philouze has the cure.

Finally, I can't tell you about Philouze without telling you about the staff and the owners. Service is always friendly, courteous, and highly efficient. And if you have a chance to chat with Anne-Marie Philouze - you can't miss her, she's the lovely woman who cheerfully cries "Bonjour" from behind the counter as you walk in - she will very kindly share all kinds of knowledge on how to better enjoy her shop's products (did you know, for instance, that you can stick fresh-baked croissants in the freezer, take them out 30 minutes before breakfast, and they'll still taste fresh-baked? Shocking, I know!) Every time I go to Philouze, I always leave with a big grin on my face, no matter how my day has gone. You can't buy happiness, but this place comes pretty damn close to selling it. I hope you enjoy it!

About GMZ

GMZ - Marché de solidarité régionale de l'Outaouais

One of the things that I found most intimidating about changing my eating habits to a more local and organic beat was the simple challenge of finding what I needed without having to quadruple the amount of mileage I had to do to get it. What's the point of buying local eggs if I have to drive 45 minutes one-way to get them?

So along came the Marché de solidarité régionale de l'Outaouais, a fantastic concept that was started in Sherbrooke and that has been taken up in the Outaouais. Here's the deal: the MSRO is a common online marketplace where local producers of every sort (veggies, bread, fish, meat, milk, cheese, mushrooms, sprouted legumes and grains, honey, maple syrup, cranberries, wine, etc.) display their wares, and where you can browse and pick and choose what you'd like to buy on a weekly basis. Not everybody's organic, but a lot of them are, and everyone's from the region, so you're eating locally. Basically, every week, you visit the website, check off whatever you'd like in your weekly basket, and either on Thursday or Friday, you drop by the pick-up point (on rue Frontenac in old Hull on Thursdays, or on rue Notre-Dame in old Gatineau on Fridays) and get your goodies! It costs $20 a year to be a member, and they charge a small percentage on your overall bill just so they can keep things running (just FYI, you pay the same kind of charge on the cost of the food you buy at a regular grocery store).

Since Marc and I have been members of the MSRO, we've been enjoying tons of stuff including some fantastic organic veggies, local cheeses, Le Coprin mushrooms (fabulous!), beautiful local maple syrup and, on the occasions where we do eat meat, amazingly flavourful grass-fed, antibiotic-free beef (if you're gonna eat meat...)

So I highly recommend giving it a try. All you've got to lose is twenty bucks and a drive to old Hull (or old Gatineau). Just remember that you're eating locally, so the fruits and veggies do get a bit scarce in the winter months (but the root veggies and potatoes are plentiful!) and the meats are almost always frozen, as the producers can't risk spoilage. 

Finally, I can't say enough about the farmers and producers themselves. Often present at the old Hull pick-up point on Thursdays, they're always happy to discuss their products with you, and may even have some samples for you to try. I find it a great privilege to be able to meet and speak to the person who is directly responsible for the food I'm about to eat. And it's reassuring to know my tummy is in good hands.

I do hope you give it a try. I'm still very happy I did.

About GMZ

GMZ : Gatineau Munching Zone

I've always loved discovering secret treasures of food and fabulousness in the area where I reside. Some years ago, I realized this had become a bit of an obsession when I noticed I'd been regularly cutting off people mid-conversation to blurt out stuff like: "Stained glass? Hey, there's a really great workshop just a few blocks from here!" I don't have to tell you that when you're having a conversation about a church being demolished in Rosemont, nobody cares about the two hippies up the street who are making Tiffany-inspired billiard hall lighting... Awk-ward.

Anyhoo, it's with that obsession in mind that I offer you this first report in an initiative that will henceforth be known as... the GMZ (Gatineau Munching Zone). In this feature, I will happily reveal the fun foodie finds that may help save a few trips across the bridge to those of us who have made the jump to the P.Q. side. I also hope this helps reveal and highlight how Gatineau has a wonderful cachet of its own, without taking anything away from the gloriousness of Ottawa... with its beautiful T&T grocery.... (insert jealous grumblings here...)

Of course, I'm not getting any sort of payback from these businesses in exchange for my promoting them... It's just karma: you're nice to me and provide me with good products? I plug your shop.

So here's the first find: Aladdin Roastery!

I looove me a good cup of coffee. Sadly, my nervous personality combined with my body's tendency to retaliate with severe tummy aches whenever I ingest caffeine, tannins or other irritants make decaf my only option when it comes to el cafe. Enter Aladdin Roastery, with two locations: one on Gréber near LaVérendrye in Gatineau, and one on St-Joseph right next to Autoroute 5 in Hull. They roast their coffee on site, and they're well on their way to carrying only free trade and organic coffee (most of them already are, including the DELICIOUS decafs.) The staff is always extremely helpful and friendly, and their knowledge of the different coffees they offer is impressive.

Aladdin is also a gourmet shop where you can pick up a variety of foods from chocolates to dried fruits to specialty salts and everything in between (I always grab some nougat when I get to the cash - that stuff's like crack, I swear). Finally, they have a beautiful selection of teas, herbal or not. Try the Turkish Apple tisane; it's lip-smackingly good with its big chunks of apple and citrus, and I suspect it would make a beautiful iced tea at half the price of David's.

Voilà... I think I'm going to have to make up a logo for this GMZ feature. Sort of like a "seal of approval" thingie. Love it. Thanks to Perf Daddy for starting the ball rolling!

À plus tard, les copains!