High and Low
By Ignacio Zamorano
News Editor
Restaurants, like other small businesses, have high failure rates; it is commonly cited that around 40% of these ventures fail within 3 years of their opening. The precarious foundations of a majority of the restaurant industry exacerbate when broken down into statistics for franchised and independent restaurants. 20% of franchised restaurants fail within 5 years, while 60% of independent restaurants do so in the same timespan.
Nevertheless, the most significant societal contribution that restaurants provide is not their economic benefits to their owners. For millennia, the relationship of humanity to food has been wide-reaching. The culinary arts, emerging with the use of fire to cook meat, have gone far beyond mere utilitarian purposes, and have become spaces for self-expression as part of a cultural whole that converges on similar, ever more accomplished preparations, combining local know-how with the culinary methods Escoffier pioneered in the late 19th century.
At the fine dining level, these restaurants—Bouillon Bilk and Cadet, both around Place des Arts, the former being an avant-garde establishment with a stunning 8-course menu, the latter representing similar ideas, a la carte, at more approachable prices, are worth highlighting—push the boundaries of what one can serve to delight customers; cutting-edge chefs, such as those at Bouillon Bilk, are innovators who continuously strive outdo themselves in the artistic dynamic they bring to man’s longstanding relationship with his food.
Cities as diverse as Montreal are also afforded the possibility to have a culinary kaleidoscope, and this city delivers on that promise. A unique cultural milieu allows the town to have various options that represent a part of the soul of the city while delivering acclaimed food at a reasonable cost—Parisian-style bistros such as the storied L’Express in the Plateau, lively representations of Middle Eastern cuisine like Le Petit Alep around Marché Jean-Talon, and fusion establishments (in this case, Chinese) like Oncle Lee in Mile-End—reinforcing a sense of belonging to a multicultural metropolis while delivering varied tangible cultural expressions from around the world.
At what traditionally considered the low level, local culture prompts for eateries that, without great complexity, create delightful culinary experiences, open for the millions of people who inhabit this island and its surroundings. Québécois heritage allows one to walk to Chez Claudette in the Plateau on a dark winter evening and find warmth in an outstanding poutine with a beer. Likewise, this city’s vast Jewish tradition is manifested in the emblematic Schwartz’s Deli, where, during the summer, you will always see a line to get in.
All of the various restaurants mentioned throughout this article share one characteristic—none of them are franchises; they represent the independent restaurants that give major cities, like this one, valuable fragments of their own identity. Unfortunately, their category faces an uphill climb in continuing to open their doors year after year. Serving a public ridden with philistines, they are not as appreciated as their bland “casual dining” competitors, franchises with mediocre steaks and soulless atmospheres. Though, as long as you’re open to new experiences, you’ll always have the opportunity to enjoy that this city is full of (culinary) life.