Auberge Baker is the quintessential Quebec experience experience, friendship, neighbour, business, longtime

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Auberge Baker is the quintessential Quebec experience
So much for friendship. A longtime neighbour and devoted skier once told me that if I ever wrote about Auberge Baker, he would be furious.
Auberge Baker is an insiders' hideaway near Mont Sainte Anne that is a both a gastronomic destination and a jumping-off point for the region's sports and other attractions.
My neighbour is not alone in being fond of Auberge Baker. It has just wrapped up its 75th year in business and its 36th under the ownership of Gaston Cloutier. In hard-won tourism time that is subject to the caprices of the weather and the economy, those years represent a resounding achievement.
Several high points have nurtured Auberge Baker's success, including great food and comfortable lodging - both at accessible prices. It is the quintessential Quebec experience, with an accent of New France to the cuisine that is served in a quaint 150-year-old dining room, once the heart of a dairy farm.
Baker has five guest rooms on the second floor that rent for the price of accommodations at a B&B, but add the warmth of a fine, old building with angled wood-beamed ceilings and stone walls. Each room has its own individual look with different colours, quilts and antiques. Chambre Baker is a favourite because of its fireplace and Chambre Cloutier is decorated with heirloom furniture from Cloutier's grandparents.
He has another special property a few kilometres away, in the historic village of Château Richer. La Petite Maison du Village is a special opportunity to experience a slice of New France's life in a house that dates to 1776. La Petite Maison is beautifully preserved with country antique furniture and the original stone walls, fireplace and wide-planked spruce floors. It's a charming cottage, fully equipped with bedding and kitchen utensils, so you can cook in, at least part of the time.
Save at least one evening for dinner at Auberge Baker because it is in the kitchen and dining room that this inn really shines. Cloutier has help from his two stepsons, Olivier and Bernard Higgins. Olivier, who worked at Quebec's City's famed Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, is Baker's maître d'hotel and the man to know if you want a romantic table near the fireplace. Bernard is the talented young chef who has given Baker dual cuisine personalities with an appealing mix of Old Quebec dishes plus a thoroughly modern repertoire. Some of Higgins's outstanding contemporary gourmet choices are rack of lamb with a citrus crust, breast of duck with black currants and honey, filet mignon with garlic and escargots, goose with cranberries and Higgins's favourite, the veal chop with balsamic reduction.

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On the traditional side, Baker's "menu de nos ancêtres" features such traditional Quebec dishes as tourtière, meatball stew with pork hocks, blood pudding and the inn's signature dessert, sugar pie.

"It's important to maintain our traditions," said Cloutier, "and our dinner patrons - even locals - are always curious to try these special dishes. Very few people cook grandmother's meat pies at home."

Auberge Baker is one of the few inns to serve a real midday feast. Imagine spending a morning out in the bracing fresh air and then tucking into a fulsome lunch in romantic surroundings. Thoughtfully, Baker serves until late afternoon, so you can linger over wine from the Vignoble Isle de Bacchus on Île d'Orléans and indulge in pea soup, wild game terrine and, of course, the famous tourtière and meatball stew, and then retire for an early night.

My skiing neighbour, Irwin Fineberg, might forgive me for publicizing Auberge Baker if I steer you to its summertime charms.

Situated on the Beaupré Coast between Île d'Orléans and Mont Sainte Anne, Baker draws visitors for outdoorsy activities like skiing, hiking, mountain biking, golf or simply the gondola ride to the summit of the ski mountain. Foodies adore the inn's tasting tour that includes vineyards, orchards that produce apple cider and other specialty farms like the Bee Museum, which creates honey wine, and Cassis Mona & Filles, which transforms black currants into apéritif wines, jams and mustard. In July and August, Auberge Baker adds a package with a cruise along the St. Lawrence to see the stunning fireworks of Grands Feux Loto-Québec.

Baker also arranges visits to the terrific spas in the neighbourhood, so that adds an element of indulgence and relaxation. Spa des Neiges opened this month on the Beaupré Coast with one exceptional feature that sets it apart from other Nordic spas - it has a dramatic location on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, so the relaxation lounges and outdoor baths have soothing water views.

One of Quebec's bestknown ski mountains, Mont Sainte Anne, is intensely active in summer, too. Mountain biking has become a huge sport, commandeering 28 kilometres of downhill trails and more than 130 kilometres of cross-country trails for rough downward rides. The mountain also has a map for hearty hikers who want to climb uphill for a few hours. You'll probably want to avoid the ski and snowboarding steeps of Le S and Le Super-S, but La Pichard, a novice trail in winter, makes a leisurely four-kilometre ascent. The tamest route of all is a gondola ride to the summit, where you can take in panoramic views of the mountains of Charlevoix and Île d'Orléans.


IF YOU GO

Château Richer, near Sainte-Anne de Beaupré, is a twohour, 45-minute drive from Montreal via Highway 40 to Quebec City and route 138 east.

Auberge Baker: 866-824-4478, www.auberge-baker.com, Route 138; Château Richer. Open daily for lunch and dinner.

Price: Five rooms rent for $79-$125 (until June 16) or $99-$150 (Saturdays, holidays and June 17-Oct. 9) per night, for two people, including breakfast. Singles pay $7 less. Children pay $5-10. A two-night minimum is requested on holiday weekends. Packages are available with dinner, golf, fireworks cruises, spa visits or tasting tours. La Petite Maison du Village can be rented with one bedroom for two people, up to three bedrooms for six to eight people.

Spa des Neiges: 855-963-4437, www.spadesneiges.com, Sainte Anne de Beaupré.

Mont Sainte-Anne: 888-827-4579, www.mont-sainteanne.com; Gondola will operate Fri-Sun. from May 28-June 23 and Sept. 6-Oct. 10. Daily from June 24-Sept. 5. Price: $17.50 round-trip for adults, with discounts for one-way rides, children, seniors and families. Fees also apply for mountain biking trail access and rentals of bikes and helmets.

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Auberge Baker, on the Beaupré Coast, is a historic inn with fine cuisine
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