Le Bureau de Poste: $5 Quebec City…

While we stumbled off the Via from Montreal into Quebec City at 10pm on a Saturday night, no research had been made and therefore we had absolutely no idea where we were or what was around. We became victims to the tourist traps and hawkers of the Grand Allee, where a simple take-out window charges $10 for a Lebanese pita and Vieux-Montreal bistros charge $50 for an entree. Those are single Michelin star prices in California! Annoyed, at the mercy of my apathetic traveling companion, and finally empowered, I paid the $13 wifi charge at my hotel and spent hours, until my brain could take no more, doing research.

I found The Post Office, Le Bureau de Poste. A restaurant opened in 2013 and situated on Rue St. Joseph Est in the St. Roch neighborhood, currently undergoing gentrification. The joint ran by what seemed to be an endless roster of young people, the interior filled with exposed beams and wood-veneer walls, it feels like a warm cabin turned skate-shop (chandeliers made of decks hang from the ceiling and videos are on loop), but in fact, it used to be a post office. Here they serve poutine, nachos, tacos, salads and burgers that come with a side of peppered french fries. And everything…tous…is $5.

It’s not that this joint democratically offers $5 starters, entrees and desserts in a city where it seemed impossible to find any good food for affordable prices. It’s that the food is also delicious. I’m a lot less aggressive when I know I’m not trying to be bamboozled. The both of us folded into peer pressure and settled on a Boreal IPA and The Works burger. A juicy burger with maple bacon, cheese, crispy fried onions and other salad fixins’ on a cush bun. The fries are heavily seasoned with black pepper and there’s finally a place that gets my love of black pepper. I don’t have to defend myself or surmount my fries with multiple miniature packets of black pepper while the bar dude looks on like I’ve just molested him.

Two burgers would have been $10, but we added two beers and the total was $22. Add a beer to the tab so that the chefs can drink as well for all their hard work? You can do that as well, it’s suggested right on your menu.

For me, this was a fucking haven after the night of ceaseless attempts to be lured into Grand Allee restaurants like a business man wandering the red light district. Not only did The Post Office completely change my perspective of Quebec City, but it also introduced me to a neighborhood I’d never would have heard of otherwise. A neighborhood not unlike the one I grew up in that’s currently undergoing its own gentrification. A neighborhood filled with real people and real…discount stores!

In layman’s terms, Le Bureau de Poste is open SEVEN days a week from 11am to 3pm. It’s comfortable, cozy, affordable, hipster, divey, has good music, solid beer options and good food. Not good food for the price…but, just good food.

Le Bureau de Poste [St. Roch]