Okay, for those of you who haven't heard yet, the big news in this town is that Montreal has officially reached gastronomic ascendancy. With the entire issue of this month's GOURMET magazine devoted to this city, Montreal's gastronomie is now 'up there' with the likes of Paris, London, New York, or San Francisco. And, as only the fifth or sixth metropolis to be feted in such a way in the history of the magazine (I'm not sure which because I can't actually get my hands on the issue to fact-check the editorial that I only glanced at in someone else's issue), the kudos are being taken seriously by many.

In typical fashion, of course, the magazine's writers have both delighted and upset the locals with, on the one hand, their typically sappy, touristic prose (in reading about Quincaillerie Dante, for example, we are told that "Chefs wander in and out, offering opinions, and it's all so warm and welcoming that you'll be reluctant to leave") at the same time we learn nifty facts about various (admittedly stereotypical) food items. I had no idea that Quebec's 7,000+ maple syrup producers crank out 80 percent of the world's total supply.

But far more interesting than the contents of the magazine is the rush to simply HAVE it in one's possession. Within days of the word getting out that the issue was hitting newstands, all of Montreal, it seems, was lining up to grab their dozen copies. One for each member of the extended family. In case you're still hunting around the city trying to find a copy, don't fear, Reading Montreal has found the blog site with daily updates on issue-sightings around the city. Go visit eG Forums before everyone else does....

Oh, by the way, yesterday's post said there were "tons" of copies at Multi-Mags on Mont-Royal near St-Hubert.