The Montreal Gluten Free Pastry Throwdown: Le Marquis vs. L’Artisan Délices San Gluten

This Montreal gluten free bakery throwdown is a bit like the Bible.

Or at least that part at the beginning with all the begat-ing. Adam begat so-and-so who begat so-and-so who begat so-and-so. (NB: During fact-checking, I realized that the whole begating thing is pretty omnipresent, at least in the King James version. Pun intended.)

It turns out that the same can be said for bakers and bakeries. For example, Première Moisson, a chain of organic-flour bakeries in Quebec, trained bakers including Guillaume of Boulangerie Guillaume, who then trained other bakers in the fine art of sourdough, who then opened their own bakeries.

Now there’s a new lineage – a gluten free one – and the peasants rejoiced!

Lo, it started with the first exemplary gluten-free, dairy-free croissant the city of Montreal had ever seen. The place was called Le Marquis and it reigned from its bakery/kingdom on De Castlenau.

Le Marquis churned out maple éclairs, lemon custard millefeuilles, croissants, breads, paris brests, chocolatines, mile-high date-walnut-banana muffins and blissful lemon meringue pies. There were also some quiches and sandwiches with cheese thrown in, which only interested half the gluten free crowd yet somehow merited an entire counter display. And there were “with-dairy” versions of most of the tarts and pastries that took up another counter and didn’t look a crumb different than their dairy-less counterparts.

The Lineage

Then the patissier who developed the gluten free recipes at Le Marquis decided to open his own place, and he set up a shop on Villeray, about a five-minute walk from Le Marquis.

He called it L’Artisan Délices San Gluten and addition to incredible croissants and baguettes, he added a number of enticing selections to his counter displays: blueberry danishes, raspberry and hazelnut cream terrines and rich caramel tarts. He also made more things dairy-free (only a couple of the sandwiches, pizzas and sweets have dairy) and everything corn-free. Despite the above sign, not everything is actually soy-free, but there are options, which in itself is miraculous for soy-intolerant people.

Both places have zero gluten contamination, so are celiac friendly. Both use soy milk, coconut milk and almond milk in various desserts and soy lecithin to thicken the pastry creams. Both do some low sugar or no-sugar-added treats (sweetening instead with dates or maple syrup). Both use cane sugar instead of highly refined white sugar whenever possible. Both deliver in Montreal. Both have oversized bagels and just-passed-golden baguettes (the gluten free flours they use seem to bake to a darken tint). Both use a blend of canola and palm oil margarine for the pastries. Both have sunny, tiny counters where you can sit and eat your sandwich (on homemade gluten free sandwich bread) and pastries. Both have friendly staff.

Le Marquis vs. L’Artisan

So how do you decide? You go to both and buy whatever looks good at each. Some days the baguettes will be a little bigger, crustier or lighter at La Marquis. Some days you’ll arrive just as the almandines are coming out of the oven at L’Artisan or just as the strawberry éclairs are being stuffed with cream.

But when L’Artisan runs out of danishes (particularly the blueberry ones), there’s nothing you can do but cry.

Similarly, when Le Marquis runs out of lemon meringue tarts, you’re SOL.

Another important factor to consider is that L’Artisan does a lemon tart (with “citron” squiggled in icing on top), but without meringue, which keeps it vegan-friendly but less awesome than Le Marquis’ tangy and creamy lemon meringue tart.

And gluten free should always be awesome. It’s not about doing half-assed imitations of delicious. It should be full of joy and flaky pastry and frangipane that sweats almond essence.

The Best Pastries at Le Marquis and L’Artisan

Of everything I tasted, my favourites came from both places.

Le Marquis: I loved the brightness and pure sugar hit of the lemon meringue tart and the millefeuille at Le Marquis, because it was millefeuille and there was custard and icing and when was the last time I got to eat that and it actually tasted like real pastry? And I inhaled the whispy strands of the date-walnut-banana muffin from that was surprisingly non-oily and not overly sweet – the recipe cut down on sugar in the batter because the dates could do all the work.

L’Artisan: But I loved the sweet, caramelized nuttiness of the caramel tart (I’m thinking it had to do with coconut milk caramel) and the apricot tart at L’Artisan, because the apricot halves on top were golden and caramelized and had soaked into the almond pastry cream below and then into the buttery bottom crust, creating three levels of flavour and texture and sweet, fruity, nutty perfection.

And that delivery option of both places is interesting, because if you don’t live in the area, trekking an hour or from your house when you’re craving pastries is not ideal. But neither is waiting days for it to arrive (delivery only happens on certain days, so you need to predict your desires in advance). And going to the bakeries is usually better, because sometimes you need to see the tarts to know that today the apricot one is the biggest and most golden, or the croissant is a little over-baked, or that millet loaf looks more appealing than the sorghum-rice loaf (though I’ve never thought the latter).

But really, you can’t go wrong at either shop. If it’s Monday or Tuesday, your only option is Le Marquis. Though every other day, early risers will prefer L’Artisan, which opens at 8:30am instead of 10am or 10:30am. Most pastries are $3.99 a piece at both places, which is fair, I feel, so price won’t be a huge factor in your choice. But if you buy six pastries at L’Artisan, there’s no tax.

So in the spirit of Crudessence versus Aux Vivres, I proclaim this throwdown a tie! Maybe I’m getting worse at this judgement thing. Maybe that judgement is a cop-out. but with these pastries, it’s win-win.

L’Artisan Délices San Gluten
7700 rue Saint-Hubert
Tel: 514-439-8388
Hours: Wed 9am-6pm, Thurs-Fri 8am-7pm, Sat 8am-6pm, Sun 8am-5pm