Quebec | Buttermilk delicacies delicacies

When she talks about her project, Buttermilk delicacies, Karine Jacques likes to compare it to “an Olive+Gourmando baby”. The bar is high, we say, but a visit to the cute space in the Limoilou district, in Quebec, is enough to convince us. We are here in the realm of creative indulgence, tempting sweets and everything you want: cranberry, squash and salted caramel brioche buns, Neapolitan biscuits (strawberry-vanilla-matcha), blue kimchi scone, almond cake, honey and figs…

Whether in Montreal (Club Chasse et Pêche, café de l’Usine C) or in the capital (Moine Échanson, Le Renard et La Chouette, Diner Saint-Sauveur), Karine Jacques has accumulated great experience in the kitchen for several years. , but the young mother wanted to start a project where she could work at her own pace.

First born in the form of an ephemeral space at the Saint-Jean-Baptiste market last summer, Buttermilk was an immediate success with its delicacies of the moment. The opportunity to take over this small place in Limoilou, his neighborhood, closed the deal: Buttermilk was going to fly on its own.

“Ever since I was little, I have cherished the dream of having a coffee. I wanted to take my love of wine, beautiful products and put it all together with a gastronomic spirit, but friendly, not at all stuffy or sanitized,” she explains. Open during the day from Tuesday to Friday (and for aperitifs on Thursdays and Fridays), the place is both a neighborhood dinette, counter, wine merchant and caterer.

The buttermilk that gave the place its name is an ingredient that the chef loves to use, but it represents more: a spirit of recovery, of revaluing what would normally be neglected. To create her dinner menu or the small plates for the aperitif, the chef is guided by her instinct, marrying the flavors, working the products in multiple ways.

Thus, the residues of the smoked mackerel used in the sandwich of the day will become an aroma integrated into a soup. The celeriac will be cooked here in coarse salt, served in thin strips with a trout gravlax, there transformed into crackers. “I invent business on the fly, from what I have in the kitchen. Do not get attached! she laughs. A waste of time: we are already addicted to Buttermilk delicacies.

1200.3^e Avenue, Quebec

Starting next week, Buttermilk delicacies is adopting a holiday schedule. Holiday markets are organized on December 23 and 30, with gourmet surprises, artisans on site and bubbles at the end of the day, and a festive brunch is on the program on December 29 (with reservation). Back to normal hours on January 10.