The kitchen at Northwood Table is built around two things that never go out of style: live fire and the turning of the Québec seasons. Every dish starts with a flame, a grill, or a wood oven, not a sous-vide bag. The menu changes with what the land and water give us, not with what a distributor can ship. This is cooking that respects time, temperature, and the people at the table.
Book a TableOur Kitchen
The kitchen at Northwood Table is not a laboratory. It is a room with a fire at its centre, a long pass, and cooks who move with the rhythm of the grill. The hearth is a custom-built wood grill and oven, fired with Québec maple and birch. Cooks work in full view of the dining room, so the fire is part of the meal. The pass is a thick slab of local oak, worn smooth by service.
“We cook the way people have always cooked here: close to the fire, close to the season, and close to the table.”
Québec Ingredients
The menu is a map of Québec. We buy from farmers, foragers, and fishers we know by name, and we let their work set the menu. Vegetables come from small farms in the Montérégie and Laurentians. Wild mushrooms and berries are foraged within a two-hour drive of Montréal. Fish and seafood come from the Gaspé, the Magdalen Islands, and the St. Lawrence River.
Vegetables
Root vegetables, brassicas, and herbs from the Montérégie and Laurentians arrive daily in season. Carrots, beets, and cabbage come from organic growers. Fresh herbs like lovage, sorrel, and wild garlic appear in spring. Winter storage crops keep the menu alive through February.
Wild & Foraged
Mushrooms, berries, and sap from the boreal forest appear when they are ready, not before. Chanterelles and lobster mushrooms arrive in late summer. Blueberries and haskap come in July. Maple and birch sap are collected in early spring for glazes and syrups.
Fish & Seafood
The St. Lawrence and the Gulf give us cold-water fish and shellfish with clean, briny flavour. Gaspé halibut and turbot arrive whole. Magdalen Islands lobster and snow crab come in season. St. Lawrence smelt and sturgeon appear when the water is right.
From the Fire
Everything that can be kissed by flame is kissed by flame. The wood grill runs on maple and birch, and it never fully cools during service. Coals are managed by hand, not by thermostat. Fish, meat, and vegetables all get the same respect. Smoke is a seasoning, not a mask.
Lamb from the Charlevoix region, grilled over maple coals, served with charred leeks and a birch-sap glaze. The lamb is dry-aged for 14 days. Leeks are grilled whole until soft and smoky. Birch sap is reduced to a light syrup.
A rotating cast of root vegetables roasted directly in the embers, finished with brown butter and wild herbs. Carrots, parsnips, and celeriac in winter. New potatoes and beets in summer. Brown butter is made in-house daily.
Whole Québec trout roasted in the wood oven with cedar branches, served with smoked crème fraîche. Trout comes from a Gaspé hatchery. Cedar branches are placed under the fish, not on it. Smoked crème fraîche is made in-house.
From the Lake
The lakes and rivers of Québec give us fish with firm flesh and a clean, mineral taste. We cook them simply, often over fire, sometimes raw. Fish is delivered whole, never pre-portioned. Curing and smoking are done in-house. Freshwater fish changes with the season, so the menu follows.
Thinly sliced lake trout, cured in salt and sugar, dressed with wild garlic oil and pickled spruce tips. Trout comes from a northern Québec lake. The cure is 50/50 salt and sugar for 20 minutes. Spruce tips are pickled in apple cider vinegar.
Sturgeon from the St. Lawrence, cold-smoked over birch, served with crème fraîche and rye crisps. Sturgeon is brined for 12 hours. Cold-smoked for 4 hours over birch. Rye crisps are baked in-house.
Seasonal Plates
Four times a year, the kitchen resets. What you eat in January is not what you eat in July, and that is the point. Winter menus lean on root vegetables, preserved foods, and slow braises. Spring brings wild garlic, fiddleheads, and the first trout. Summer is all fire and fresh herbs, tomatoes, and berries. Autumn is mushrooms, game birds, and the last of the stone fruit.
Winter
Braised beef cheek with root vegetable purée, preserved lemon, and birch syrup. Beef from Québec farms. Root purée made with celeriac and parsnip. Birch syrup adds a woodsy sweetness.
Spring
Fiddlehead and wild garlic risotto with Gaspé crab and brown butter. Fiddleheads foraged in May. Crab from the Magdalen Islands. Brown butter made in-house.
Summer
Fire-grilled Québec lamb with charred corn, tomato, and wild mint. Lamb from Charlevoix. Corn from the Montérégie. Wild mint foraged near the river.
Autumn
Roasted partridge with chanterelles, salsify, and a juniper jus. Partridge from Québec game farms. Chanterelles foraged in September. Juniper berries from the boreal forest.
For the Table
Some dishes are meant to be passed. They arrive on large platters, still warm from the fire, and they turn a meal into a conversation. Shared plates are served family-style, not pre-portioned. The long oak tables are built for this. Portions are generous but not wasteful.
A whole chicken from a Québec farm, roasted over maple coals, served with charred lemon and wild herb butter. Chicken is brined for 24 hours. Roasted whole, then carved at the table. Wild herb butter made with chives, tarragon, and lovage.
A thick-cut ribeye from Québec beef, grilled over birch, rested, and sliced to share. Beef is dry-aged for 28 days. Grilled over birch for a light smoke. Served with roasted bone marrow and sea salt.
A whole cabbage, grilled until blackened outside and tender inside, dressed with brown butter and hazelnuts. Cabbage from the Montérégie. Grilled whole over maple coals. Hazelnuts from the Laurentians.
Desserts
Desserts at Northwood Table are not an afterthought. They use the same fire, the same seasons, and the same Québec ingredients as the savoury menu. Maple, birch, and wild berries appear often. The wood oven is used for tarts and roasted fruit. Ice creams and sorbets are made in-house.
A thin tart filled with maple custard, baked in the wood oven, served with crème fraîche and candied pecans. Maple syrup from a Québec sugar shack. Tart shell made with local butter. Pecans candied with maple sugar.
Ontario peaches roasted over maple coals, served with birch-sap ice cream and toasted oats. Peaches from the Niagara Peninsula in late summer. Roasted whole, then halved and caramelized. Birch-sap ice cream made in-house.
Drinks
The bar at Northwood Table is not separate from the kitchen. Cocktails use the same herbs, syrups, and smoke, and the whisky list is built for slow evenings. Cocktails feature Québec spirits and foraged ingredients. The whisky list includes Canadian, Scottish, and Japanese bottles. Non-alcoholic options are made with the same care.
Québec rye whisky, maple syrup, and bitters, smoked with maple wood and served over a large ice cube. Rye from a Québec distillery. Maple syrup from the same sugar shack as the tart. Smoked under a glass cloche.
Gin, sweet vermouth, and a house-made bitter infused with spruce tips and wild juniper. Gin from a Montréal distillery. Spruce tips foraged in spring. Juniper berries from the boreal forest.
Non-alcoholic: birch sap, sparkling water, lemon, and a touch of maple sugar. Birch sap collected in early spring. Sparkling water from a Québec source. Maple sugar rim optional.
The kitchen is ready. The fire is lit. Book a table and see what the season has brought to the pass. Reservations are recommended, especially on weekends. The dining room seats 80 guests. The card room is open on select nights for those who want to stay longer.
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