A true institution in the Côte-de-Beaupré landscape for 50 years now, Auberge Restaurant Baker on avenue Royale in Château-Richer is a place steeped in history and cultural heritage. Today, under Gaston Cloutier's management, the establishment is slowly but surely working on succession planning.
Originally a rather opulent bourgeois country house built in 1840 in one of Québec's oldest villages by Ferdinand Lefrançois and his wife Mary Ann (Anney) Brady, the place benefited from a period of prosperous economic growth. The finishes and ornamentation clearly show it was a comfortable, state-of-the-art home.
At that time, the second floor served as an attic and people only lived there in summer. Almost a hundred years later, in 1935, businessman Alvin A. Baker, who had lived through the recent economic crash, opened "The Baker's Inn" in the house, which he first rented from the owner and eventually bought in 1958. They served very Québécois dishes of the era, but it was also simple. After all, the popular dishes were bass (the fish) and steak. Since the sign read "fish and steak," it was very important for all the American visitors coming to the region.
After his death in the early 1960s, his second wife Lucienne Hamel continued to run the restaurant. Later, when she decided to step back from running the place due to health problems, Henri Simard (son of Idola Simard, owner of the land where the inn stands) bought the "Baker" in 1972. He soon sold it to one of his nephews, Gaston Cloutier, in the spring of 1975, and he remains the owner to this day.
He lived upstairs with his family until 1989, managing and maintaining the place. That year, the inn resumed its name chez Baker as five rooms were set up to accommodate tourists.
Gaston Cloutier (photo) has demonstrated a genuine passion for Auberge Restaurant Baker over the years. Alongside his work as an innkeeper, he pursued a career as a physical education teacher at a secondary school in the region from 1973 until his retirement in 2005. Since then, he has devoted himself body and soul to his establishment, which has become a significant presence in the gastronomy and terroir cuisine scene of the Capitale-Nationale region, among others. Few places can claim to have been serving meals for 90 years. Every year, he makes changes and improvements to better meet customer expectations, all year round.
For accommodation, there are six charmingly decorated rooms in the attic, plus a small neighbouring chalet and the "Maison du Village", Grandfather Cloutier's house in the heart of the village of Château-Richer. This ancestral heritage home from 1776 faces the river and Île d'Orléans and is furnished to accommodate six people for a journey through time in 21st-century comfort.
The restaurant seats two hundred and comprises a dining room and a spacious, versatile, glass-enclosed reception hall with all the multimedia equipment needed for a successful event. Evenings feature a table d'hôte menu, and Sundays bring fabulous brunches.
More recently, Gaston Cloutier chose to add a new product to his lineup: Baker, a Belgian-style beer brewed in Québec from hops grown on a local farm and locally produced blackberries. A special touch: it's fermented with champagne yeast, offering delicate effervescence and refined aromas.
Indeed, the success of Auberge Restaurant Baker over 50 years, under Gaston Cloutier's management, is linked to his constant dedication and to a motivation always driven by the quality of the welcome and the "Baker" product. Over 22 people work there, and the owner can rely on dependable, skilled staff to whom he can delegate a good share of the responsibilities.
An on-site visit is certainly the best way to discover and appreciate the quality of the place and its services.
Auberge Restaurant Baker
aubergebaker.com
8790, avenue Royale
Château-Richer (Québec) G0A 1N0
418 824-4478