• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

The oldest grocery store in North America, J.A. Moisan.    (Photo: Courtesy of Auberge J.A. Moisan )

Begin your caloric adventure on Rue Saint-Jean, the city's premiere gastronomic boulevard. Shop for saucisses, pâtés, local ice-cider, and other diet offenders at the Épicerie J.A. Moisan, where the intrepid can sample local savories like caribou soup, emu cassoulet, or goose confit. Cross the street to Épicerie Européenne and browse its vast selection of artisanal cheeses, terrines, pâtés, and specialty hams. Take your finds to the Plains of Abraham—a 266-acre expanse where the British defeated the French in 1759—and picnic at a spot along the river across from Park Joan d'Arc.

Sample a leading contender for the city's best croissant at Paillard Café-Boulangerie. The organic stone-ground flour is imported from France, and bakers were trained at Le Boulanger de Monge in Paris. The macarons here also rival those at their much-celebrated Left Bank cousins.

Just fifteen minutes from downtown Québec City is Île d'Orléans, a pastoral, storybook islet complete with stone cottages, vineyards, and orchards. Rent an electric bicycle from Ecolocyclo ($26/per half day) and farm-hop your way around the island, stopping at Ferme Leonce & Fils for strawberries and Ferme François Blouin for blueberries. Balance the fruit with cheese made from a seventeenth-century recipe at Fromage L'Isle D'Orleans, a glass of wine at Vignoble Isle de Bacchus, and foie gras at Canard Goulu.

Try not to eat the exhibits at the Choco-Musée Érico, a museum and artisanal chocalaterie. See artifacts relating to the international history of chocolate and sample one of several rotating gelatos, like anisette and hibiscus-flower sorbet.

Published on Jul 2, 2009 as a web exclusive.