MONTREAL – Alain Ejeil is a restaurant owner, not someone looking to stir up trouble.
He’d much rather serve up dishes like poulet à la Basquaise, braised chicken with puréed potatoes in olive oil, or tartare de boeuf, beef with an emulsion of lime, capers and chives.
But if you buy either of those specialties at his restaurant, Bidon Taverne Culinaire, just outside of Montreal, the chicken or the beef won’t come from the United States. Nor can you pair those dishes with a California chardonnay or an Oregon pinot noir.
Ejeil stopped buying American food items and pulled U.S.-made wines and spirits from his shelves back in February after President Donald Trump started to taunt Canada with the threat of tariffs and American statehood. It wasn’t an easy decision, he said, but as a Canadian, it was the right thing to do.
“I love America,” he said.
