Quebec City Puts on a Royal Welcome

With an almost jarring perkiness, the French-speaking waiter, a linen napkin draped elegantly over one arm, thrust a plate of pungent escargots past my face as his colleague dashed for the piano and broke out into a giddy, heavily accented rendition of “Jailhouse Rock.”

It was just another night at the Cafe du Monde in Quebec City, capital of its namesake Canadian province and a place where the king lives on--in more ways than one.

With its beautiful, clean tangle of cobblestone streets, graceful graystone churches nestled within thick ramparts, and nonstop parade of cozy cafes and bistros, the only walled city in North America feels like France. But far from an imitation, Quebec is a synthesis, in the best sense, of old and new--even more so than Montreal, its sassier sister to the southwest. Quebec has managed to preserve Old Country charms and the pioneering spirit that was, and still is, vital to the success of forging a new land.

Unlike the innumerable fortress towns of Europe, which trade chiefly on their colorful pasts, Quebec exudes an energy that is unmistakably North American. Add this vitality to the traditional Gallic joie de vivre, plus the sheer drama of the city’s location on a rocky headland called Cap-Diamant, above the mighty 760-mile St. Lawrence River, and you begin to see that Quebec really is different.

After two visits here to research a guidebook, I was convinced that as pregnant with the past as the place is, it is also mad about the present, and that leads to an array of surprises, from outdoor festivals in the middle of winter to hip hotels and restaurants in ancient settings--not to mention waiters’ smiles as wide as any you’ll find in Southern California. Unlike many other places in the world right now, being an American here is an asset: Sure, they speak French, but with a familiar inflection, and when the locals switch to English, it’s usually without a second thought. Plus, the exchange rate results in savings of about 35% before taxes.

For travelers, the history surrounding Canada’s oldest city is its main allure. Quebec’s French origins date from 1608, when Samuel de Champlain established a fur-trading post near what is now Place-Royale, at the base of the 300-foot cliffs of Cap-Diamant, which divide Old Quebec into upper and lower sections. Despite regular attacks by the British and Native Americans, the capital of New France flourished. And unlike the American colonists to the south, Quebecers’ allegiance to the French crown was unflinching: Even today, a statue of Louis XIV stands in Place-Royale. But in 1759 the British laid siege to the lower town with 40,000 cannonballs and 10,000 more firebombs, and before long New France as a political entity was finished.

Despite a decisive British victory on the Plains of Abraham--an event replayed almost religiously in museums and multimedia shows throughout town--Quebec’s cultural and linguistic ties to France never foundered. As stark proof, 95% of the city’s 600,000 residents speak French as a first language, with a robust accent that sounds to the French like American English does to the British. License plates in Quebec province read “Je me souviens”--”I remember.” And they do: The fierce loyalty to collective memory led to a referendum in 1995 that would have spelled the secession of Quebec from the rest of Canada had it passed. It was narrowly defeated. For the time being, the issue of separatism has receded from the forefront of public discussion.

The best place to get a perspective on the 3,475-square-mile city is from Dufferin Terrace. This broad wood walkway straddles the cliff above the St. Lawrence River and is at base level with the castle-like, 618-room Chateau Frontenac, rail magnate William Van Horne’s hotel and unofficial symbol of Quebec since its construction in 1893. Today it is owned by the Fairmont chain. From here the panorama over the river is nothing short of stunning, and it’s easy to see how Quebec’s strategic location was prized by French and British alike. On any summer afternoon, Dufferin Terrace plays host to an unorchestrated waltz of families with young children, couples strolling and a changing roster of performers, from youth choruses to face-painted jugglers and ventriloquists.

I followed the 2,200-foot-long terrace as it wound east away from the modern, glassed-in funicular, which, for $1.50, eases visitors down to the lower part of Old Quebec. (There are stairs for the nimble.) The walkway skirts the Jardin des Gouverneurs, a small but atmospheric European-style park notable for the 50-foot obelisk at its center. It commemorates the Marquis de Montcalm and James Wolfe, the French and British generals who died in battle on the nearby Plains of Abraham, known as National Battlefields Park since 1908. Beyond the park a narrower but no less immaculate path, the Promenade des Gouverneurs, begins and traces the periphery of the Citadel, an enormous star-shaped military fort sunk into the Plains of Abraham. The British built the fort in the 1800s to guard against American attack. The Americans tried but failed to wrest Quebec from the Brits in 1775 and once more in 1812.

Like the citadel, Quebec’s walls were built by the British on the site of earlier French fortifications. They extend for three miles around the Upper Town, punctuated by elaborate stone gates and topped by an uninterrupted walkway peppered with cannons. Past the walls and west of the Porte St.-Louis, the city’s regal main gate, lies Parliament Hill, home of Quebec’s ornate parliament building and an enormous ice palace during the annual Carnaval celebration in February. Parliament Hill’s main thoroughfare is the Grande Allee, a Quebecois answer to the Champs-Elysees lined with stately townhouses and sidewalk cafes. On my first visit to Quebec last June, I followed the wall to the far side of the hill, where the Old City meets the new at the Place d’Youville, and stumbled upon a series of brash posters of Elvis Presley.

It turned out that the most popular show in this fiercely Francophile town was “The Elvis Story,” which stars Martin Fontaine and packs them into the plush Theatre Capitole five nights a week. As I enjoyed a mixed berry tart at the adjacent Ristorante Il Teatro, a hip Italian-inspired restaurant and bar, I heard women crowing in French over Fontaine’s apparently spot-on portrayal of the King.

No great Elvis fan myself, I made a mental bookmark to see the show on my second visit to Quebec last July, but that fell during the Summer Festival, with so many performances--about 500--that just reading the program made me dizzy. The most interesting one I saw was a concert by Greek chanteuse Angelique Ionatos in the vast courtyard of the austere Seminaire de Quebec, founded during the French regime in 1663. Part of the seminary is now given over to the Musee de l’Amerique Francaise, one of the more worthwhile museums within Quebec’s old walls because of its Romanesque-style chapel and exhibit, “The Settling of French America.”

What my high school history books spent only paragraphs on is explored here with texture and precision, through dioramas, documents and even wax figures. The displays reminded me that the French were every bit as bold and industrious as the British when it came to colonizing this continent.

With its concentration of buildings from French and British regimes, many now made over into small inns and restaurants, Quebec’s Upper Town invites lingering. Its refreshing lack of big-city commercialism carries over to the Lower Town. The funicular at Dufferin Terrace makes a steep descent into the Quartier Petit-Champlain, a pedestrian zone that is pretty but perhaps less than authentic: The buildings are original, but the concentration of creperies and souvenir shops lends it a manufactured ambience. The more compelling promenade veers to the left and continues past the small but strikingly authentic Place-Royale. Even after the British bombardment in 1759, the stone walls of the houses here remained standing, and today there is nothing Disneyesque about it.

I followed the slender Rue St.-Pierre west. The street was the commercial heart of Quebec in the 19th century, and now some of the city’s most exciting new hotels and eateries are interspersed between the grand facades of banks and insurance companies.

Those garlicky snails I mentioned at Cafe du Monde, a mainstay of the neighborhood, were not intended for me but for my French traveling companion Matthieu Lecroart, who ensured their speedy disappearance with a quick verdict of “tres bon.” Those were two words I heard a lot in Quebec, which, along with Montreal, is one of the better places to eat on this continent.

One of my finds was the Bistro du Chef, a restaurant that combines French innovation with Malibu breeziness. Picture an organic green salad with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, mustard and fennel seed powder followed by tender Quebec lamb with parsnips and thyme, served swiftly on a terrace that backs up to a cool cliff side.

Happily, cuisine du marche--meals made with the freshest ingredients the market has to offer--has become a fixture at many of Quebec’s restaurants. Chefs are regular visitors at Le Marche du Vieux Port, a waterfront market in Lower Town, where, from May to early November, farmers from around Quebec province sell their produce. During my June visit I noticed an abundance of luscious-looking red strawberries simply labeled “Ile d’Orleans.”

Only 20 minutes north of Quebec City, the Ile d’Orleans has been known for its fertile soil since 1535, when French explorer Jacques Cartier made landfall there. On my first excursion to the island, on a sunny day in June, Matthieu and I pulled over at a roadside fruit stand for an inspection of the reddest, juiciest strawberries imaginable--sorry, California--and returned to the city with more fruit than we thought we could handle.

I had already had enough history and scenery to see why Quebec was so coveted by kings, but these regal flavors tipped the scales. Now I covet the place too.

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Guidebook: In Quebec, France Without the Jet Lag

Getting there: Air Canada, Continental and American offer connecting service (change of planes) from LAX to Quebec City. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $384.85.

Where to stay: Fairmont Chateau Frontenac, 1 Rue des Carrieres; (800) 441-1414 or (418) 692-3861, fax (418) 692-1751, www.fairmont.com. With its 618 rooms and constant commotion, this icon is best appreciated from the outside. Doubles from $303.

Hotel Dominion 1912, 126 Rue St.-Pierre; (888) 833-5253 or (418) 692-2224, fax (418) 692- 4403, www.hoteldominion.com. Spacious rooms feature modern furnishings and comfortable beds with duvet quilts. For the best view of the St. Lawrence River, request a room on the eighth floor. Doubles from $133.

Hotel Le Saint-Paul, 229 Rue St.-Paul; (888) 794-4414 or (418) 694-4414, fax (418) 694-0889, www.lesaintpaul.qc.ca. This hotel has 27 soundproofed, individually decorated rooms. Doubles from $92.

Auberge St.-Pierre, 79 Rue St.-Pierre; (888) 268-1017 or (418) 694-7981, fax (418) 694- 0406, www.auberge.qc.ca. A lovely, modern inn in a renovated 1821 insurance company building with 43 comfortable rooms featuring brick and stone walls. Doubles from $85, including full breakfast.

Where to eat: Bistro du Chef, 17 Rue Sault-au-Matelot; (418) 694- 1111. Open daily for breakfast and lunch, Tuesday-Saturday for dinner. At lunch and dinner the menu is fixed price: Prices vary, but each includes a choice of appetizer and homemade dessert. Try the fish dishes, such as filet of red snapper with pureed carrots and curry and tomato butter. Entrees $11-$17.

Le Cafe du Monde, 57 Rue Dalhousie; (418) 692-4455, www.lecafedumonde.com/homea.html. Open for lunch and dinner Monday-Friday, brunch and dinner Saturday and Sunday. Small tables and a black-and-white tile floor create a Paris-meets-Santa Monica mood. Stick to basics like French onion soup, steak frites and garlic snails. Entrees $6-$12.

La Creperie de Sophie, 48 Rue St.-Paul; (418) 694-9595. Open Monday-Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday-Sunday for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The crepe fillings here can be simple, such as egg and tomato puree with herbs, or exotic, such as the Provencale, with ratatouille. Crepes $4-$8.

La Playa, 780 Rue St.-Jean; (418) 522-3989. Open daily for lunch and dinner. The owner of this lively spot has a passion for California and infuses the cuisine with a light touch. Entrees $6-$11.

Ristorante Il Teatro, 972 Rue St.-Jean (Place d’Youville); (418) 694-9996. Try a salad, risotto or salmon al zafferano, a triangle of salmon on a bed of sweet potatoes with spinach, artichokes, grilled peppers and saffron sauce. Entrees $11-$26.

For more information: Tourisme Quebec, 12 Rue Ste.-Anne, Quebec G1R 3X2, Canada; (800) 363-7777, fax (418) 646-6377, www.bonjourquebec.com.

Canadian Tourism Commission, 550 S. Hope St., 9th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90071; (213) 346- 2700, fax (213) 620-8827, www.travelcanada.ca.

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Tony Grant Lechtman is author of the “ACCESS Guide to Montreal & Quebec City,” 2002 edition.