At Côté Est, the best eatery in the charming Bas-Saint-Laurent village of Kamouraska, Que., the chatty, friendly stranger seated next to me at the bar posed questions I was happy to answer.

“Are you from Ontario?”

Her accent gave her away as a Quebecer. She too was a tourist, it turned out, from Montreal, nearly 400 kilometres southwest of Kamouraska.

“Yes,” I replied, thinking she’d heard me speaking in English with our server.

“Are you a restaurant critic?”

“Right again,” I said. My note-taking must have given me away.

“Are you doing a tour of the region?”

“You’re three for three.”

Montrealer Marie Leonard introduced her husband who sat on her right, and I did the same for my partner on my left. Then, we discussed the temptations offered at Côté Est, a Michelin Guide-lauded resta

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