Au Pied de Cochon

Au Pied de Cochon is the restaurant that made chef Martin Picard famous. He opened it in November 2001 on avenue Duluth Est in the Plateau, and it became one of the defining addresses of contemporary Québécois cooking. Anthony Bourdain ate a fourteen-course meal built around pork and foie gras here for his television series No Reservations, which carried its reputation far beyond Quebec.

The cooking follows the French saying that everything in the pig is good, and the menu uses every part of the animal. The Michelin Guide, which includes the restaurant in its 2026 Canada selection, points to offal starters such as andouillette, calf sweetbreads and beef tripe, and notes that a whole section of the menu is devoted to foie gras, a house speciality. Other dishes it mentions are trout from the lakes of La Mauricie National Park with wild mushrooms, and a scallop quenelle with chicken sauce and mussels. Finish with pouding chômeur, the classic Quebec dessert.

This is rich food, so come hungry and order to share. The open kitchen sets the tone, and the Michelin inspectors describe its energy during the dinner rush as palpable, which makes the room better suited to groups of friends and food lovers than to anyone looking for a quiet evening. The guide places it at three on its four-step price scale.

The restaurant opens for dinner from 5pm to 11pm Wednesday to Sunday and is closed on Monday and Tuesday. It manages its own bookings, so reserve directly through the restaurant, and do so early for weekend tables.

Picard's operation also includes a sugar shack at Mirabel and a second venue there, La Cabane d'à Côté. Both take reservations during the maple sugar season and were closed at the time of writing, so check the website for the next season's dates if you want to combine a city trip with a traditional sugar shack meal. A boutique sits next door to the restaurant at 540 Duluth Est, though it too was closed when last checked.

Allow two to three hours for dinner. The restaurant is in the Plateau, so La Banquise and the shops and bars of Saint-Laurent Boulevard and Saint-Denis Street are all within reach for the rest of the evening.