Chez Tousignant Dazzles Critic With Artisanal Snack Bar Goodness

The food critic for La Presse continues her run of casual restaurant write-ups with a look this week at Little Italy's Chez Tousignant. This, of course, is the new wave casse-croûte from Impasto's Stefano Faita, Michele Forgione, and Yann Turcotte, where everything, from burger buns to hot dogs to poutine gravy, is made from scratch. The difference, raves Marie-Claude Lortie in her glowing review, is that Chez Tousignant manages to do all of this at affordable prices. No $20 burgers here.

The critic deems the signature Zébulon Perron digs, devised from the vestiges of a defunct café, a successful snack bar homage, and starts eating. Lortie's first coup de coeur is Chez Tousignant's take on a classic hot chicken sandwich, where homemade brioche bread is a welcome replacement for the usual Wonder Bread. The poultry is moist and juicy, and the peas, contrary to tradition, not a mushy afterthought. The restaurant's hot dog, burger, and cantine-style fries ("loin du modèle plus croustillant et craquant des chaînes") please Lortie too.

There's a slight letdown at dessert with a s'mores pie and cinnamon-sugar doughnut, but a slice of pecan pie is "impeccable." A chocolate milkshake also earns kudos. Will Marie-Claude Lortie return to Chez Tousignant? "Oh oui !"