La Banquise

Pierre Barsalou was a firefighter when he opened a creamery on Rue Rachel Est in 1968; it turned into a 24-hour snack bar and the first poutines went on the board in the 1980s.1

Why go

The board runs past thirty poutines and Annie Barsalou can tell you how it got there. She took over her father's business in 1994 with Marc Latendresse and found two poutines on the menu, the classic and the Italian. People kept asking us to add mushrooms, peppers or chopped steak. It was because of these requests that we added our first specialty poutine to our menu, and customers called it La Elvis, she told Tastet.1 The kitchen still works that way. Yohan Quintal runs it, and Barsalou's line on the menu is that employees and customers suggest recipes all the time.1 In November 2023 she and Latendresse sold to Émily Adam and Jean-Christophe Lirette, who own the Ashton restaurants and who kept the identity and the recipes.1

Order this / avoid

Order: La Elvis, the one the customers named.1
Order: the T-Rex if you came hungry, which stacks ground steak, pepperoni, bacon and hot dog sausage, or the Fred Caillou for ground steak, smoked meat and two sausages.1
Order: La Taquise if you want the interesting end of the board. Guacamole, sour cream, tomatoes.1
Avoid: turning up at peak and expecting a table. Montrealers and tourists queue on Rachel Est.1

What locals & experts say

Élise Tastet, Tastet, 1 May 2018: Since first opening its doors in 1968, La Banquise has become a real landmark in our city. Montrealers and tourists line up to savour over thirty (!) different poutines, 24 hours a day!1
Annie Barsalou on the room she built: We wanted to retain the friendliness of La Banquise and did not want anything too modern. The pictures on the walls were taken by our staff, and together with people from the neighborhood, they also painted our tables!1

Good to know

Timing: Tastet says 24 hours a day, and its hours block runs midnight to midnight every day. That page is from 2018 and the counter's own site publishes no hours at all, so ring before you plan a 3am poutine.1
Room: 80 seats inside, another 50 on the terrace in summer.1
To drink: the house blond, Banquise, brewed for them by the brewery the counter's own page names as l'Achimiste.2

Verdict

should-visit — Pierre Barsalou opened a creamery here in 1968, it turned into a 24-hour snack bar, and the first poutines went on in the 1980s. The board runs past thirty now and it grew the way a good one should: Annie Barsalou added the first specialty poutine because customers kept asking for mushrooms, peppers and chopped steak, and they named it La Elvis themselves. Élise Tastet calls the place a real landmark and puts the queue of Montrealers and tourists on Rachel Est at any hour. Émily Adam and Jean-Christophe Lirette bought it in November 2023 and Tastet reports they kept the recipes, so the risk is real and so far unrealised. It is a counter and it does one thing, which is where the rung sits.