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http://www.montrealmirror.com/wp/2010/09/16/news/tacofying-city-hall/ YESSSSSSSS PLEEEEEEEEAAAAAASE!

--- (Courtesy of The Montreal Gazette)

I figured I would start a thread dedicated to Place Alexis-Nihon, since it's undergoing significant renovations. You may think this is all cosmetic but they will be introducing significant measures to improve accessibility. Target is to open Fall 2013 fall and I was told the 8 million dollars IGA expansion is scheduled for January 2014. The food court will be completely remodeled in Summer 2014.

https://youtu.be/9j13lvyYWXU My newest video, featuring tourists trying smoked meat at Schwartz's for the first time. It's one of my favourite places in town, so I'm glad I was able to find enough footage to make it work. There's definitely some great reactions in here! I was also able to include a really cute moment with Céline Dion asking about the secret recipe. I'm going to try and make at least one MTL-specific video a month and post it on my channel. Please Share if you like it! If you have any ideas on what my next video should be about, or you would like to direct me to a video you stumbled upon, let me know! Thanks everyone.

http://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/dining/a5818/montreal-restaurant-scene/ Asked to name the best restaurant city in America—meaning the United States—I offered the only reasonable answer: Montreal, a city with the culture, the cooks, the restaurants, the provisions, and the hospitality. (Also of significance is Canada's nicely diminished dollar, which makes dining a deal.) Such a welcome package was neatly summed up by a Canadian pal, Mike Boone, who worked with me at the Montreal Star in the 1970s. He said, "We're not just nice, we're cheap." Of course, Montreal isn't exactly in the United States, should you be hung up on such details as international borders. (Obviously, I am not.) The city is in the province of Quebec, a part of Canada as long as there has been a Canada. My belief that Montreal is really a lost colony of the United States is strengthened by the indisputable fact that our Continental Army captured and briefly held it in 1775. One need only glance at a map from those days, when the province of Quebec was nestled just north of the 13 colonies, to admire the logic. Allow me to add this: The citizens of Quebec practically exhausted themselves trying to secede from Canada in the latter half of the 20th century, only to fail when a 1995 referendum lost by a few thousand votes. To me Montreal is spiritually a part of the U.S., a kind of New York City in miniature, although it's even more like an independent city-state. OLD MONTREAL AT NIGHT. DENNIS TANGNEY JR./GETTY IMAGES The restaurants of Montreal are the attraction. Their evolution, which started in this century, has been swift. They are modest in size and technically proficient, and they provide a sense of casual fine dining that is embraced more wholeheartedly here than anywhere in the U.S. The dining culture is descended from those of both France and England— thankfully, more from France—leaving Montreal a sort of culinary orphan, free to seek its own path. New York, which was considered the best American dining city in most eras, but no longer, has become ground zero for casual dining. (A restaurant critic for the New York Times recently announced his top dish of the year: a sticky bun.) Montreal has developed an engaging dining personality at the same time that New York has been losing the one it had. Famed Montreal restaurateur David McMillan (Joe Beef, Le Vin Papillon) says, "I'll tell you why Montreal is the best restaurant city, and it's not about the skill of our cooking. We have the most advanced dining public in North America. I serve lamb liver cooked rare to 17-year-old girls. I sell tons of kidneys and sweetbreads. Manhattan is one giant steakhouse. Everybody there wants steak, or red tuna. I don't want to know how much red tuna is sold every day." Chef Normand Laprise, the grand old man of Montreal chefs (even if he is only 54), adds, "I visit pastry shops in the States, and I know Americans are not open- minded customers. It's hard to sell any- thing other than cupcakes and macarons." Montreal has had multiple culinary revolutions in the past 50 years. When I worked for the Star the restaurants primarily served French cuisine, albeit not quite what you'd find in Larousse Gastronomique. The Beaver Club at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel featured such fantastical dishes as Le Coeur du Charolais Soufflé aux Splendeurs du Périgord. The top chefs, who came to Canada from France following World War II or stayed in Montreal after working at Expo 67, were a little too fixated on flambéing and melting cheese. After the financial debacle of the 1976 Olympics, which almost bankrupted Quebec, the restaurants declined precipitously. The only noteworthy and enduring establishment was Toqué!, operated by Laprise. In 2001 came Au Pied du Cochon, which was informal and inventive. Chef Martin Picard embraced local products and reinvented old, somewhat primitive dishes such as jellied pig's head and poutine, an ungodly assemblage of french fries, cheese curds, and gravy that arose in rural Quebec in the 1950s. Picard created a regional cuisine and, more important, prized local products as few before him had. ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW Joe Beef, the next great restaurant, did away with tablecloths and menus (using blackboards instead). That was followed by Les 400 Coups (in the French tradition) and Lawrence (quite Anglo), establishments embracing either side of the local language divide. They were among the places that made Montreal the best for restaurants in this hemisphere, one where fine dining has been transformed into a modern ideal. No other city does it as well. DAY 1: FARM FRESH MEETS CRAZY GENIUS Daniel Boulud, who has a restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton Montreal, tells me that a visitor can grasp the essence of the dining culture before arriving, simply by looking out an airplane window. "Twenty minutes before you land, you pass over the farms, the greenhouses. This isn't California. Here you have really small farms next to each other, not industrialized." So as I fly in I peer out the window. First I see mountaintops and lakes, then silos and barns. Boulud is right. After we land, my traveling companion and I head to Les 400 Coups for lunch. The room is primarily in shades of charcoal and black, understated. The clientele, like most people in this city, dresses stylishly. The food is auspicious. Our squash soup is not like other squash soups. No bulk. No boredom. It's speckled with drops of olive oil, as though they had floated down from a cloud. The duck croquette is precisely as duck should be: rich, savory, skinless, and easy to eat. If there were such a thing as a wagyu duck burger, this would be it. AN ARRAY OF DISHES FROM LE MOUSSO, WHICH FEATURES A NEW TASTING MENU EVERY DAY. @ONDEJEUNE Les 400 Coups also has a pastry chef, a category of professional disappearing from American restaurants. I don't mean to overdo the compliments, but the desserts are notable as well: delicious and artistic, a little Georges Braque, a little forest tableau; the lemon cream dessert includes sea buckthorn. I would not be surprised if the pastry chef forages when off duty. I feared that our choice for dinner, Le Mousso, an all-tasting-menu restaurant that had just opened, would be like all the tasting-menu joints in America, the chef desperately seeking to express himself. Such food is occasionally brilliant. Too often it's awful. My friend was intrigued, certain it would be different here. She was correct. The restaurant is very Brooklyn, with an array of seating options at tables and counters, plus hanging lightbulbs and a chef, Antonin Mousseau-Rivard, who sports a short beard, a knit cap, tattooed arms, and Adidas shower sandals. He is self-taught, mostly via Instagram, and he says, "I didn't even work at a good restaurant in my life." We are handed a printed menu. It looks weird, but tasting menus always do. We eat seven dishes, all marrying ingredients never previously combined. But the wagyu beef from Quebec accented with slightly salty sturgeon caviar is masterful, as is the cool arctic char nestled in what appears to be a paint box of colors and flavors. Even the desserts are arresting, and desserts prepared by savory chefs are rarely that. The first is labeled sang, which means blood. I'm frightened, as I'm sure the chef means me to be, but it's blood sausage ice cream as Häagen-Dazs might make it, plus Quebec cheddar crumble in an apple-vinegar reduction. (Yes, Quebec has a flourishing cheese industry.) I suggest to Mousseau-Rivard that he might be a crazy genius, and he replies, "I like the word crazy more than genius." DAY 2: LOCAL HEROES A few blocks from the Parc du Mont- Royal, a revered green space designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, sits Beauty's, a luncheonette owned by Hymie Sckolnick, 95. He is always there. Hymie bought the shop in 1942 for $500. He is nice enough not to brag about his investment prowess. BREAKFAST AT BEAUTY'S, A LOCAL FIXTURE SINCE 1942. MICKAEL BANDASSAK Breakfast at Beauty's followed by a park stroll serves two vital purposes: The park provides visitors with an aware- ness of the physical glory of the city, as it's built on the slopes of the multitier hill Mount Royal, and Beauty's remains a notable example of Montreal's enduring (and somewhat inexplicable) fascination with Jewish food, most famously its bagels—smaller, sweeter, and superior to New York's—and its pastrami-like smoked meat. ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW At Beauty's, bagels from the St.-Viateur bagel shop (officially La Maison du Bagel) accompany the "famous mishmash," a kind of omelet that would be scorned by French chefs, inasmuch as it is not golden yellow or elegantly contoured. It consists of eggs, scrambled and browned a bit, the way my grandmother made hers, plus hot dog, salami, green pepper, and fried onion. You will sigh. You will burp. Unmatched in Montreal (or anywhere) is Le Vin Papillon, owned by David McMillan. The food is casual, mostly vegetables. The place takes no reservations and for a long time was nearly impossible to get into, although recently it doubled in size and the struggle has subsided. I recommend arriving at 3 p.m., when it opens, although take care not to wait by the wrong door, the permanently closed one, or you'll feel as if you've been locked out. We have celery root ribbons bathed in bagna cauda, a Piedmontese sauce made with garlic and anchovies; charcoal-roasted white turnips with housemade pomegranate molasses; and the best dish of all: a curiously savory hummus of hubbard squash with homemade focaccia. LE VIN PAPILLON'S CHALKBOARD MENU. RANDALL BRODEUR We don't leave until 6 and decide to skip a formal dinner, choosing instead a late smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz's, which seems to be open day and night. Schwartz's never changes, although the ownership has. The original proprietor, a Jewish immigrant from Romania, is long gone, and Schwartz's is now the property of a consortium that includes Céline Dion. I order my smoked meat fatty—most customers request medium or lean—and the waiter says, "Good for you." Maybe the place has changed: That's a long speech for a Schwartz's waiter. The rye bread continues to be tasteless, the smoked meat is still really good, the cole slaw reminds me of North Carolina, and the fries aren't as great as they used to be, but they're not bad. DAY 3: OLD FRENCH, NEW BRITISH Maison Boulud is admirable for who owns it (Daniel Boulud), for where it resides (in the historic Ritz-Carlton), and for its lovely location adjoining a small garden and duck pond (request a table overlooking both). The restaurant is among the last of its kind, a French one (well, mostly French) in a city where French cuisine is vanishing. (This is happening everywhere in North America; it just seems more baffling in Quebec, where more than half the population is French-speaking.) I order a lunch that spins me back in time: housemade pâté of startling freshness and eminent richness, and confit of guinea fowl leg in a miraculously silken foie gras sauce. The kitchen sends out lovely ravioli stuffed with sheep's milk cheese. It doesn't taste French, and shouldn't—the executive chef, Riccardo Bertolino, is from Bologna. THE MAISON BOULUD KITCHEN. Dinner that evening is entirely anglophile, at Maison Publique, an appealing tavern that offers only Canadian wines (and somehow pulls it off) and plates of mostly meaty foods that sound peculiar, as British cuisine almost always does. I never miss a chance to eat here. We order andouille sausage (reddish, dreamy, and fiery) spread on toast, and tender lonza, or salumi, made from free-range piglets raised for the restaurant in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. The main room has an old wooden floor, dark paneling, and mounted deer heads with soccer scarves wrapped around their necks. The menu is a well-lit corkboard to which is pinned a list of food and drink. Folks gather around it to discuss the dinner choices, a sign of changing times. When I lived in Montreal in the 1970s, during the separatist movement, concerned young people gathered in bars and pubs to sing protest songs demanding freedom from Canada. Now they chat about the origins of local meats and vegetables. DAY 4: A POUTINE CHALLENGE We have made no lunch plans, but when desperate I always call the nearest hot dog joint. On Saint Lawrence Boulevard is the Montreal Pool Room, which opened in 1912 in a different location not far from the current one. (Other changes have occurred: no more pool tables.) In case you have trouble finding it, directly across the street is the garish marquee of Café Cléopatre, which features stripteaseuses and danseuses à gogo. ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW My friend calls the Pool Room and asks, "Are you open? Are you serving food?" A sweetheart of a counterman replies, "Yes, madame. Hot dog, hamburger, cheeseburger. You come, you eat." She has her first Montreal hot dog. They're famous, even if they're bland compared with New York's. Here they're served correctly: steamed and topped with mustard, relish, and mild chopped onions. She also insists on poutine. I await her disappointment, but she loves it, saying, "It filled my every poutine expectation." If you're from New Jersey and enjoy disco fries, you might love poutine too. Hot dogs followed by poutine can be filling, which makes Hôtel Herman—it's not a hotel and there is no Herman—an excellent option for dinner. It offers small plates that are unusually small. The food is unexpectedly elegant, given the rough-hewn decor (wide plank floors that look as old as Montreal itself, tin ceiling, bare lightbulbs). Little logs of housemade foie gras are brilliantly composed, topped with crumbs and cranberries. The chef, Marc-Alexandre Mercier, bakes his own bread, dark and earthy and easily worth the $2 surcharge. The sweetbreads come with mashed potatoes from a variety called Ozette, grown in Quebec. They are mesmerizing, and it's not just the added buttermilk and cream. Mercier tells me his way with vegetables is a result of childhood trauma: His mother made him eat a bowl of rutabaga so awful it made him cry. DAY 5: GENTRIFICATION FLAMBEE Lawrence, among the most Anglo of the Anglo establishments, is blessed with big windows that allow in an abundance of light, a major reason I love to have lunch there. The staff is sweet, the wine list just right, the crockery seemingly from a church basement sale, and the menu filled with dishes you might never have eaten before. Fried endive topped with snowy crab, an unlikely concoction, is crunchy and juicy, impeccably fresh. The desserts are simple but superlative, the "burnt" chocolate pudding much like an all chocolate crème brûlée, and the warm ginger cake is topped with a crème anglaise that I'm tempted to drink. In the evening we set out to see two new restaurants with unusual appeal. Both feature wood-burning ovens, which are unusual in Montreal, and both are in newly gentrified sections of the city. A TRAY OF OYSTERS AT HOOGAN & BEAUFORT. ALISON SLATTERY PHOTOGRAPHY Hoogan & Beaufort is in a former industrial park in Rosemont where the Canadian Pacific Railway once built locomotives. An excellent consequence: It has stunningly high ceilings. William Saulnier, one of the partners, says that in the restaurant's opening days many of the calls they received started out, "Where are you?" Foxy is in a neighborhood once largely populated by Irish immigrants. Both of these spots are following an established American trend, moving away from midtown to more remote locations where rents are cheaper and space more generous. We weren't able to eat at Hoogan & Beaufort, only peek in, because we were dining with Lesley Chesterman, a friend who is the restaurant critic for the Montreal Gazette, and she was reviewing Foxy. She seemed to like my theory that Montreal belonged to the U.S. She said, "Montreal has never felt less Canadian to me." I leave the analysis of Foxy to Chesterman, enthusiastic about everything except the two dishes prepared in the wood- burning oven. About my favorite she wrote, "I loved the flatbread we ordered. Covered in melted raclette cheese, red onions, potatoes, and house-smoked ham, it was reminiscent of an Alsatian tarte flambée. We scarfed it back in minutes, the only problem being that one of the pieces of ham popped off my slice and, as I discovered the next morning, fell into my purse under the table." DAY 6: END ON A SWEET NOTE For me, departure days begin with a trip to the St.-Viateur bagel shop, where I buy a few dozen to take home. The price these days is 80 cents each. Hymie Sckolnick told me they used to cost two cents. When I complain to the counterman, he laughs and tosses in a few extra. Hymie's is a good name to drop in Montreal. PATRICE DEMERS WORKS HIS MAGIC AT PATRICE PÂTISSIER. MARC KANDALAFT Our getaway meal is lunch at Toqué!, which is run by Laprise, that most essential of Montreal chefs. His new establishment is a member of Relais & Châteaux, and his kitchen is a marvel, overflowing with cooks. The food isn't what I think of as new Montreal cuisine—it's too precise and luxurious—but it's up there with the best haute cuisine in North America. An appetizer of arctic char is creamy and silky, tasting of smoke and lemon. My Montreal Star pal Boone, joining us, calls it "the cotton candy of fish." Chicken, prepared sous-vide, is so moist there's beading on the breast. My friend has what the waitress calls "a perfect egg," cooked slowly, with a sauce made from a long-simmering duck reduction. Dessert is so ethereal—mostly honey, jelly, and cream—that on the way to the airport we stop at Patrice Pâtissier so I can pick up a few stuffed-on-the-spot chocolate-banana cream puffs. Patrice Demers, the owner of this new shop on Notre Dame West, was the first pastry chef at Les 400 Coups and thus is a hero of mine. But then, so many Montreal chefs are. Alan Richman is a 16-time winner of the James Beard Award for food writing.

http://sandiego.eater.com/2015/2/2/7963755/real-deal-montreal-style-bagels-poutine-for-hillcrest Our beloved Eater Street Team spotted a sign posted on a Hillcrest storefront at 142 University Avenue, Suite C and asked us to sleuth out the story behind the Montreal style authentic poutine and bagels being advertised as coming soon. Mess Royale Poutine & Bagels will in fact serve the real thing when it opens in March— hand-rolled St-Viateur Bagels from the legendary bagel bakery whose flagship store is located in the Mile End neighborhood of Montreal. The new Hillcrest eatery will be receiving shipments of the bagels, which are boiled in honey water then cooked in a wood fired oven, three times a week. Owner Hugo Tassone says that initially, the bagels will be used as bread for sandwiches and offered with cream cheese or butter for breakfast before being able to be purchased by the dozen. Tassone, who hails from Eastern Canada, has a background in food industry and has been visiting San Diego for the last 20 years. He hopes that Mess Royale will be his first of many shops to feature Montreal-inspired gourmet comfort food. Other specialities will include poutine, made with twice-cooked fries, cheese curds and homemade gravy, available as is or topped with everything from bacon to chicken and lobster. There will also be grilled cheese sandwiches, pulled pork sandwiches on brioche buns, four ounces of thick cut bacon on a stick and Montreal-style hot dogs, which come on either a steamed or toasted bun with mustard, relish, onions and a special slaw. For dessert, Mess Royale will serve a "treat royale", also known as a Canadian beavertail, which spreads sweet toppings on a paddle of fried dough.

http://montreal.eater.com/2015/1/7/7503509/the-most-anticipated-new-montreal-restaurants-2015 by Ian Harrison Jan 7 2015, 1:00p @Blumsteinboy SHARE(54) TWEET(4) Projet Europa Jérémie Bastien's new home DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW EATER MONTREAL × A look at what's on the horizon. 1. Monarque Location: 417 Notre-Dame Ouest, Old Montreal Major Playesr: Richard and Jérémie Bastien Projected Opening: Late summer The Story: Bastien père et fils (Leméac) will open a "Gramercy Tavern-style" restaurant in the Penny Lane mixed development. Slated for April, the project has been beset by typical construction delays. One result of the holdup, however, was a complete rethink of the space. Monarque will be almost twice as large as originally planned, with a bar area that seats 65 to 70 and a main dining room with room for 100. Two separate kitchens will serve the entire restaurant. · More on Monarque [EMTL] Photo: Project Europa 2. La Petite Maison Location: du Parc, Mile End Major Player: Danny St-Pierre Projected Opening: End of summer The Story: St-Pierre, familiar for his work on Qu'est-ce qu'on mange pour souper? and stints at Derrière les Fagots, Laloux and Auguste in Sherbrooke, calls his first Montreal venture a "traditional restaurant" with a casual vibe but without casual food per se. The chef wants to keep the exact address under wraps for now but calls it "a beautiful space, under 200 square metres." The key, says St-Pierre, will be to find that bang-for-the-buck sweet spot where he can "send out quality food made with quality ingredients at a reasonable price." Expect plates to share on the app side of the menu (spreads, a lot of vegetables) and mains that will stand alone and "have an identity." St-Pierre will soon decide whether to implement a reservation system (maybe) and install a deep-fryer (probably not). A head chef will be hired for the day-to-day management of the kitchen but the overall vision will be St-Pierre's alone. · More on La Petite Maison [EMTL] Photo: Danny St-Pierre 3. Maison Sociale Location: 5386 Saint-Laurent, Mile End Major Player: Dave Schmidt Projected Opening: End of January The Story: Schmidt, the impresario behind such spots as Maïs, Kabinet, Datcha, Le Mal Nécessaire, Thazard and the bygone Café Sardine, partners up with the likes of Na'eem Adam, Philip Tabah, Christophe Beaudoin Vallières, Marc-Antoine Clément and James Benjamin to reboot the old Green Room as a café/restaurant/cocktail bar/new wave social club. Dan Geltner, the former chef at L'Orignal, is no longer involved in the project. Tom Allain, now at Hôtel Herman, will make the move to Maison Sociale's kitchen. · More on Maison Sociale [EMTL] Photo: Maison Sociale 4. Soubois Location: 1106 de Maisonneuve Ouest, Downtown Major Players: Francine Brûlé, Alexandre Brosseau Projected Opening: April The Story: This new restaurant, in the old Copacabana, is from the mother-son duo of Brûlé, the owner of Les Enfants Terribles, and Brosseau, of Flyjin. Other principals include chef Guillaume Daly (Les Enfants Terribles, Grinder, XO), JP Haddad (Globe), Philippe Rainville (Flyjin, Le Filet, Les Enfants Terribles), Thomas Hatzithomas and Christopher Karambatsos. Brosseau calls Soubois "a French-Canadian bistro" inspired by an "underground enchanted forest." · More on Soubois [EMTL] Photo: Google Street View 5. Fiorellino Location: Quartier International/Downtown Major Player: Buonanotte Projected Opening: Mid-March The Story: Partner Massimo Lecas calls the new spot from the Buonanotte group modern, authentic Italian in the best possible sense—no throwback red sauce menus, in other words. Fiorellino translates as "little flower"; a nod, says Lecas, to the lullaby "Buonanotte Fiorellino" (which, incidentally, is also where the Main supper club got its name). Erik Mandracchia (Le Bremner, Impasto) is in as chef. The restaurant will feature a wood-burning oven for pizzas but, take note, will not be a pizzeria (Lecas is quick to point this out). On the beverage side, look for more of a cocktail emphasis. Bottom line: a concession to the times and "what Buonanotte would have looked like if we had opened it today instead of 23 years ago." The group, incidentally, may also have plans for the old Globe space. · Globe Closes After 21 Years [EMTL] Photo: Buonanotte Photo: Buonanotte 6. Ichi Go Ichi E Location: 360 Rachel Est, Plateau Major Player: Kevin Fung Projected Opening: Any day now The Story: The popular Westmount izakaya Imadake opens a second restaurant on Rachel between Drolet and Saint-Denis. Photo: Google Street View Photo: Google Street View 7. New Charles-Antoine Crête Restaurant Location: Unknown Major Players: Charles-Antoine Crête, Cheryl Johnson Projected Opening: Unknown The Story: Toqué!'s prodigal son, recently seen at Majestique and on À table avec l'ennemi, returns with a restaurant of his own. Partner Cheryl Johnson: "We are excited to be opening a place that we don't know quite what it's going to be. But one thing is for sure, it will be playful and down to earth. A place for people 0-100 years old. Oh, and we won't be serving dinosaur." · Charles-Antoine Crête Tore Up Omnivore Paris [EMTL] Photo: Omnivore Photo: Omnivore 8. Perfecto Location: 20 Duluth Est, Plateau Major Player: Eric Rice Projected Opening: Soon The Story: The chef from Mile End's Fabergé and Roux food truck opens his own place in the old Triangulo. · More on Perfecto [EMTL] Photo: Google Street View Photo: Google Street View 9. Le Red Tiger Location: 1201 de Maisonneuve Est, Village Major Players: Phong Thach and Emilie Nguyen (co-owners of Kaiji Restaurant in Villeray), Dan Pham Projected Opening: Late February/March The Story: Nguyen describes Le Red Tiger as an ode to Vietnamese street and soul food: We love our culture, but Vietnamese food isn’t all pho, noodles, and soups. We see pho places everywhere in Montreal, but when we crave grilled skewered meats, Õc (sautéed sea snails in tamarind sauce), or Thịt Kho (caramelized pork and eggs braised in carbonated juice) they are hard to find, (unless we're in Vietnam, at our mom’s house, or someone else’s mom’s house). The menu will embody our 'street food' experiences in Vietnam that solely require your fingers to eat, and also home cooked meals that we grew up eating at home. More intel on Le Red Tiger: Lawrence Picard from Nectar & Mixologie is behind the beverage program and Guillaume Menard from Atelier Mainor is in as designer. You can see Menard's work at the likes of Joverse, Mme. Lee and Voskin. Photo: Le Red Tiger 10. San Gennaro Location: 69 Saint-Zotique Est, Little Italy Major Players: Mauro, Massimo and Fabrizio Covone Projected Opening: Soon The Story: The family that gave Montreal (and Laval) Bottega Pizzeria opens a caffè and pizza al taglio spot. Photo: San Gennaro 11. New John Winter Russell Restaurant Location: Unknown Major Player: John Winter Russell Projected Opening: Unknown The Story: Ex-Van Horne chef Winter Russell, 2014's prince of pop-ups and a frequent collaborator with Gaspésie Sauvage, has imminent plans to open a restaurant with a "small vegetable/plant driven menu." Photo: Maxim Juneau sent via Tapatalk

#11 - Europea http://montreal.eater.com/2014/10/15/6982791/europea-is-second-only-to-alinea-in-north-america-says-tripadvisor

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/22/travel/best-nightlife-cities/ Montreal is the undiscovered party gem of North America. Beautiful, friendly people, all night dancing to a wide variety of music. And, of course, the summer festivals. Obvious tip, but still good to keep in mind: Don't go in winter. Best place to learn why the French do it better: Wood 35. Good drinks, good food.

For the best food, festivals and fun, head to Montreal, Canada Just like the United States postal service’s motto, “Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail” shall prevent Montrealers from throwing a fabulous festival. Be it musical, comedy, fashion, dance, circus, film or food & wine based, they’ve got it covered, and leave it to those crazy/generous Canadians to throw many a bash for free-particularly in the summer when you can virtually channel surf for festivals. when I was there a few weeks ago, there was almost an embarrassment of riches to choose from including the 35th annual Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, the 30th L’International des Feux Loto-Quebec and the Montreal Cirque Festival. If you’re planning a visit this year here are some upcoming festivals for you check out: 1. Festival Mode & Design Festival-allows you to get an inside look at the world of fashion. Choose from over 50 fashion shows (some of the finest Canadian designers will be represented) live creative sessions, designer showcases and musical performances. A MUST for the fashionista! 2. Montreal World Film Festival-is the only competitive Film Festival in North America recognized by the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) which is a pretty big deal. Now in its 38th year, you can view films from over 70 countries, as well as hear from some well-known filmmakers. 3. Pop Montreal- features Francophone, Canadian, and international pop musicians. , This dynamic five-day festival in September will present more than 600 artists to audiences of over 50 000. 4. La Biennale de Montreal- is a slightly more highbrow international event focusing on film, sculpture, photography, painting and installation art that respond to current conditions by considering “what is to come”. 5. Taste MTL- pack your stretchiest pants if you’re coming to this 10-day fall event with more than 100 restaurants participating. It’s sure to be a winner since Montreal often claims it has more restaurants per capita than any other metropolitan area in North America. To see a year’s worth of events check out Go Montreal Living Festivals and Events link. Where to feast between festivals For a respite from all the noise and commotion try Maison Boulud, one of the newest restaurants from acclaimed chef, Daniel Boulud, in the newly refurbished Ritz-Carlton Montreal, provides an elegant, yet non-stuffy option (including al fresco tables overlooking their peaceful pocket-park). Boulud’s magic touch combined with ingredients sourced from the finest local purveyors ensures a gastronomic dining experience, whether you stopping in for brunch, lunch or dinner. The sparkling arugula, cherry and Parmesan salad was the perfect opener to a succulent, Moroccan spiced chicken dish. Double down by dining at both of Chef Normand Laprise’s restaurants for guaranteed culinary winnings. The cheeky, casual, and much more affordable, Brasserie T , is located right in the heart of all the excitement at Place-des-Arts, Montreal’s cultural hub. If you reserve a seat on the bustling outdoor terrace, you can enjoy the jazz concert while nibbling on luscious little temptations such as pan seared fois gras, glistening salmon or beef tartar, betcha-can’t-eat-just-one farm-fresh deviled eggs or just an absolutely perfect cheeseburger and fries. Don’t forget to make reservations well in advance for a dinner at Laprise’s celebrated restaurant Toqué!, a landmark in Quebec’s gastronomical scene offering haute cuisine without the ‘tude. Toqué! has won more kudos and awards than Meryl Streep, including Relais & Châteaux, AA/AAA Five Diamond, James Beard Foundation, and the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for 2014 cookbook of the year. He was even appointed Knight in 2009 yet you’ll never meet a more down-to earth chef, who is passionate about showing respect for the multitude of cooks, farmers, foragers and fishermen responsible for bringing him the finest seasonal bounty– right down to the humblest root vegetable. This is one night that I recommend you skip all the festival offerings and instead indulge your senses in their unforgettable 7-course dinner with optional wine pairing, although the sommelier’s pairings were so innovative it should be mandatory. Where to stay Le St-Martin Hotel Particulier Montreal, a 17-floor boutique property, is a pleasing blend of luxury, warmth and contemporary styling (think faux-leopard blankets and colorful throw pillows, homey fireplaces, peek-a-boo glass showers offer views all the way through the big bay windows) also offers the perfect festival location: close enough to walk to most of the festivities, yet far enough away to enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep. After navigating the mini-jungle entrance, where the helpful doormen are wearing safari outfits (don’t ask me why) you check in with the unbelievably friendly staff at the front desk. I spent a full hour the next morning with Virginia, who answered dozens of my itievenerary questions and then marked each of my stops on the map in a different color. When she saw that I still looked a little lost, she went to the computer and printed out metro directions for each stop and never stopped smiling the whole time. The hotel recently won a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor which I’m sure is partly based on their exemplary service as well as the fact that their signature Bistro L’Aromate serves an utterly fabulous breakfast, that could easily power you through the whole day. For a quick relaxation break simply step outside to their mini-heated pool, nestled alongside a waterfall, teak bridge and tropical plants for a little private Shangri-La. Within minutes you’ll be recharged for the next round of festivals. http://www.aluxurytravelblog.com/2014/08/01/for-the-best-food-festivals-and-fun-head-to-montreal-canada/

http://www.travelchannel.com/interests/host-central/articles/anthony-bourdains-montreal-travel-tips

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/smartertravel/10-most-fattening-foods-i_b_5107205.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063<header style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, FreeSans, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"> You might think that the United States, with its super-sized portions, absurdly high obesity rate, and uniquely American innovations like the Doritos Locos Taco, is home to the world's most fattening foods. But you'd be wrong! Our national dishes have nothing on these artery-clogging bad boys from around the world. Here are 10 of the most decadent foods you'll find in other countries. </header>Acaraje, Brazil You know what's really not great for you? Palm oil. A mere tablespoon of the stuff contains a whopping 7 grams of saturated fat—which is too bad, because saturated fat makes food taste really great. Case in point, Brazil's acaraje: black-eyed peas formed into a ball, deep-fried in palm oil, and then stuffed with vatapa and caruru (spicy pastes made from dried shrimp, ground cashews … and more palm oil). Churros, Spain Forget your boring breakfast of Special K and skim milk. In Spain, a popular way for locals to start the day is with a meal of churros. These fried-dough pastries are dipped in sugar and cinnamon and then—here's the fat kicker—dipped in a thick hot-chocolate drink. Talk about a morning sugar rush! Poutine, Canada On its own, the humble potato is a relatively healthy starch. But in the hands of Canadians, it becomes poutine—French fries smothered in gravy and cheddar-cheese curds. This cheesy dish is so popular that it's even sold at Burger King in Canada, where (according to the chain's nutritional information) the dish contains 740 calories and 41 grams of fat. And that's just the traditional version. There are entire restaurants that solely serve varieties of poutine. Smoke's Poutinerie dishes up Triple Pork Poutine (with chipotle pulled pork, double-smoked bacon, and Italian sausage), Nacho Grande Poutine (with homemade chili, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, and jalapeno peppers), and Bacon Cheeseburger Poutine (with prime ground beef, double-smoked bacon, and cheese sauce). Khachapuri, Georgia Eating off a plate is so boring. What if your food were served up inside a bread boat instead—and what if the bread boat were filled with melted cheese? Georgians have the right idea with their khachapuri. It's a bread bowl that is stuffed with melted cheese and topped with an egg and a large pad of butter! Nutella Crepes, France Just one serving (2 tablespoons) of sweet, chocolaty Nutella spread has 200 calories (110 of which are from fat). And when using a spoon (or a finger) to eat the hazelnut spread straight out of the jar just isn't enough, you'll want to head to France for a Nutella crepe. There, many street carts and restaurants fry up batter in butter and make thin pancake-like pockets in which to deliver your Nutella. Even better, the crepes are usually topped with powdered sugar and sometimes even whipped cream. Aligot, France You know the stereotype that French women don't get fat? We have to wonder how that's possible when a dish like aligot is served up in the country's L'Aubrac region.Aligot is made with mashed potatoes, butter, cream, garlic, and melted cheese, all whipped together into a thick, rich dish. According to calorie-counting websiteFatSecret, 1 tablespoon of aligot contains 6 percent of the recommended daily amount of saturated fat. Deep-Fried Mars Bars, Scotland After you've tried the deep-fried fish and deep-fried potatoes in Scotland, what should you have for dessert? A Mars bar—deep-fried, of course. Who wouldn't love a chocolate bar gone all melty and encased in a satisfyingly crunchy shell of fried dough? Answer: The Mars candy company, which reportedly feels that the deep-fried dessert is not in line with the company's goal of promoting a "healthy, active" lifestyle. Because, you know, nothing says healthy like chocolate candy! Jalebi, India Sure, plain ol' fried dough is unhealthy on its own. But India really steps up the game with jalebi, deep-fried dough that is soaked in a sugary syrup. Funnel cake, you're on notice—a sprinkling of powdered sugar just doesn't cut it anymore. Calzone, Italy Did you know that a traditional calzone uses the same amount of dough as an entire pizza—and that it's meant to serve four people? Or did you, um, think that the whole delicious calzone was all for you? We have the Campania region of Italy to thank for birthing this version of pizza that is even unhealthier than the original. In a calzone, tomatoes, mozzarella, and other traditional pizza toppings are stuffed into an easy-to-eat dough pocket and then served. Ramen, Japan Ramen has exploded in popularity over the last few years—and we don't mean the sad, dehydrated Cup Noodles kind of ramen, either. We're talking about the traditional Japanese soup dish, consisting of noodles in broth, topped with a variety of meats and vegetables. Soup is basically a health food, right? Unfortunately, the broth (often made with beef, lard, and oil) really packs a fat punch, even if the noodles aren't fried. —By Caroline Morse Read the original story: 10 Most Fattening Foods in the World by Caroline Morse, who is a regular contributor to SmarterTravel.

http://www.playboy.com/playground/view/ben-affleck-batman-playboy-interview [h=1]PLAYBOY INTERVIEW: BEN AFFLECK[/h]by Michael Fleming[h=3]PHOTOGRAPHY BY LORENZO AGIUS[/h] PLAYBOY: The Sum of All Fears. AFFLECK: I met Morgan Freeman, which was great because I was able to ask him to work for free when we did Gone Baby Gone. We shot The Sum of All Fears in Montreal, and it almost killed me. That town never closes. The food is amazing, the drink is amazing, the girls are gorgeous. It’s not a place to focus on your work.

La gastronomie montréalaise rayonne dans le Food Arts Magazine! Un dossier de 12 pages sur la gastronomie mettant en vedette Normand Laprise et le Restaurant Toqué! a été publié en juillet dernier dans le magazine spécialisé Food Arts, bien connu des restaurateurs et des professionnels de la gastronomie aux États-Unis. Jim Poris, éditeur principal du magazine, a été accueilli par notre collègue Catherine Morellon en mars dernier. Il a ensuite mandaté la Montréalaise Lesley Chesterman pour l’écriture de l’article suite à sa visite. Bonne lecture! https://membres.tourisme-montreal.org/fichiers/Docs/1-Revue%20de%20presse/Food%20Arts%20Magazine%20-%20Ils%20se%20souviennent%20-%20Toqu%C3%A9!.pdf https://membres.tourisme-montreal.org/fichiers/Docs/1-Revue%20de%20presse/Food%20Arts%20Magazine-%20A%20Distinct%20Society%20.pdf

THE NAVIGATOR Where to Eat and Drink in Montreal 11:00 AM / APRIL 23, 2013 / POSTED BY Bon Appetit 29 COMMENTS (0) What Broadway is to New York City, Boulevard Saint-Laurent (or, as locals refer to it, La Main) is to Montreal: the city's main artery and the ideal way to discover some of the best old- and new-school restaurants Picnic Spot Kentucky-born chef Colin Perry cooks his grandmother's Southern recipes, like pinto beans studded with smoked hog jowls and served with cornbread and green-tomato relish. And while Dinette Triple Crown has a few seats for eating inside, most patrons get their fried chicken thighs and meat 'n' threes packed in nifty picnic boxes and take them to the Little Italy park between La Main and Rue Clark. Fried chicken thighs and meat 'n' threes at Dinette Triple Crown British Accent Looking for crazy-high-quality ingredients prepared in a straightforward, un-gimmicky way? Look no further than Lawrence. While the food is ostensibly British-style nose-to-tail cooking (as in rabbit offal tart, lamb's heart with prunes and bacon, or marinated smelt with beets), chef Marc Cohen is of the Mediterranean-inspired school, which means there's an un-remitting emphasis on seasonality. The smart cocktail and wine list is curated by rising-star sommelier Etheliya Hananova, the pastries span such French standards as tarte Tatin and praline-filled éclairs, and the weekend brunch is deservedly the most popular in town. Style-Central The cozy-chic Hotel Herman is a brand-new dinner spot in Mile End. Featuring a U-shaped bar and open kitchen, the elegant space feels as though it belongs in a 1930s train station, a place where people are coming and going and everyone is happy to be there. With its focus on natural wines, pre-Prohibition cocktails, and small, shareable plates of precise, Scandinavian-influenced dishes (including Boileau deer with beets or homemade goat cheese with crosnes, a root vegetable), it's the ideal place for a late-night bite. Pre-Prohibition cocktail at Hotel Herman in Mile EndThe Institution Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, the legendary Jewish steakhouse Moishes is as good as ever--if not better. The wood-paneled, chandeliered room is electrifying, the chopped liver appetizer is the tastiest version this side of the Borscht Belt, and the bone-in filet mignon will convert die-hard filet haters. (Those wanting a more traditionally marbled cut will like the charcoal-grilled rib eye.) For sides, get the boiled verenikas and the Monte Carlo potatoes, and maybe an order of grilled mushrooms if you're craving something umami. Insider tip: Their new late-night menu gets you an appetizer and an entrée for only $25 after 9 p.m. The kitchen at Moishes Hidden Gem It might be surrounded by discount electronics stores and punk bars, but Bouillon Bilk offers seriously refined cuisine. The room is stylish (think Nordic modernism) and the vibe laid-back and cool. Super-talented chef François Nadon specializes in high-wire flavor combinations like bone marrow with snails. It makes for a special night out before or after a concert at the nearby Quartier des Spectacles cultural center. Pop-Up Plus Montreal's red-light district isn't exactly where you'd expect to find the city's most exciting kitchen. Société des Arts Technologique's Labo Culinaire FoodLab serves rustic meals in a high-ceilinged space on the third floor of the glitzy new-media performance center. Creative duo Michelle Marek and Seth Gabrielse are deeply knowledgeable chef-bakers who simply make whatever they're passionate about at any given moment: One month they're serving Russian Easter classics or Chinatown favorites, another they're grilling souvlakis or doing an homage to Richard Olney's Provençal menus. Trust them. A dish at Labo Culinaire FoodLab Chinese Theater For a bare-bones basement noodle-shop experience--and one of the city's best cheap eats--you can't beat Nudo at lunch. The Chinatown fixture specializes in hand-pulled Lanzhou-style noodles, which you can watch being twirled while you wait for your food. (The loud thud of dough getting pounded around makes for a unique sound track.) Their braised beef shank noodle soup is profoundly satisfying. Don't miss the surprisingly good vegetable sides, especially at $1.25 each. Go ahead and splurge $5 on the top four: radish salad, spicy shredded potato, seaweed, and soybeans with potherb mustard. It's timeless, run down, and beat up in some places but stylish and spiffy in others. It's Boulevard Saint-Laurent--Montreal's main artery, known around these parts as La Main. Running all the way from the cobblestoned Old Port waterfront in the south of town up to the island's north shore, it divides Montreal into east and west, winding through established and emerging neighborhoods including Mile End, Chinatown, and Little Italy. A walk along it is a perfect way to get a sense of the city's heartbeat and to explore its booming restaurant scene, from classic joints to the most vibrant new places in town. And there are plenty of one-of-a-kind coffee spots and bakeries to sustain you on your journey. --Adam Leith Gollner Get Your Coffee Fix The three best cafés in a city famous for its café society are just steps away from La Main. Your expertly pulled espresso awaits: Café Sardine serves up superb third wave coffees using beans by Canadian roasters Phil & Sebastian. Bonus: The hot dogs at lunch are not to be missed. Barista Chrissy Durcak operates the mobile espresso truck Dispatch Coffee, which serves out of a garage on Avenue Van Horne in winter and roams the streets in summer. (Check dispatchcoffee.ca for locations.) For a traditional Italian café with deep conversations and stylish patrons, linger over lattes at the beloved Caffé San Simeon on Rue Dante. It's also a hit with many of the city's best chefs. No Pain, No Gain Like any self-respecting Francophone metropolis, Montreal takes its boulangeries seriously. The current leader of the pack is Joe La Croûte, near the Jean Talon market. (Its chestnut-flour bread and Kamut baguettes are winners.) Good loaves can also be found at Boulangerie Guillaume in the Mile End. Some of the best croissants in the city are made at Au Kouign-Amann, a short stroll from La Main down Avenue du Mont-Royal. Be sure to try a slice of its namesake pastry, a buttery Breton cake. Where to Stay Casa Bianca is an upscale B&B in an old home in the Plateau neighborhood overlooking Mont Royal Park. The Hotel 10, formerly The Opus, is perched on the corner of Saint-Laurent and Rue Sherbrooke, making it a good base for exploring La Main. (Credit: Photographs by Dominique Lafond, Illustrations by Claire McCracken) Adam Leith Gollner is the author of The Fruit Hunters and The Book of Immortality, to be released this summer. RELATED Montreal: For Lovers of Food Sugar-Shack Cuisine from Martin Picard Mile End Sandwiches: Beyond the Brisket More from The Navigator Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2013/04/montreal-boulevard-saint-laurent.html#ixzz2RQ3MznDh

Obama's favourite burger place has opened in Montreal. I just wish them the best of luck. Seeing Johnny Rockets failed back in the 90s. Krispy Kreme donuts died only within a few years of entering the market in Montreal. Same goes with Red Lobster. (Courtesy of The Montreal Gazette) I just wonder why they opened up on McGill and Saint Maurice (Old Montreal). Of all places. Why not more in the city? Plus right across the street, there is a British-type Fish and Chips restaurant opening up.

In the Village, off St-Cat west of Papineau and around the corner from Pappas Tapas. Ate there last week. Was already hard to get a reservation for 2 a few days in advance, but with this review it will be even harder. Fine Dining: Mezcla is a wish come true My stellar dinner featured some seriously delicious food, filled with beautiful flavours and diverse textures BY LESLEY CHESTERMAN, GAZETTE FINE-DINING CRITIC OCTOBER 5, 2012 The pork main course at Mezcla, in Montreal on Thursday September 27, 2012. (Allen McInnis/THE GAZETTE) Mezcla Rating: 3 out of 4 $$$ 1251 de Champlain St.(at Ste. Rose St.) Phone: 514-525-9934 Website: http://www.restaurantmezcla.com Open: Tues. to Sat. 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Licensed: Yes Credit cards: All major Wheelchair access: No Parking: Easy on the street Vegetarian friendly: Not especially Reservations: Essential Price range: Starters: $10-$16; main courses $19-$33; desserts: $6-$9. Five-course tasting menu: $39 For a city to be considered a serious gourmet destination, there must be a good mix of established restaurants along with the new and exciting. Montreal certainly has the former, but seems to have hit a bit of a wall when it comes to the latter. Granted, restaurants like Bouillon Bilk, Van Horne and the fabulous new Park and Hotel Herman have brightened up the scene tremendously over the past few years. Yet there are also many newbies that fall flat with fuzzy cooking, tired concepts and waiters who are trying their best to hock the same ol’ seared scallops and crème brûlées. It’s starting to feel like forever since I heard someone go bonkers with happiness over a restaurant. And then, it happened, and of all places on Facebook, where chef and Journal de Montréal restaurant critic Thierry Daraize posted a wildly enthusiastic endorsement of a restaurant called Mezcla. Mez … what? I had never heard of the place. And as someone who keeps a tab on restaurant matters with an obsession some might consider disturbing, I should have. But kudos to Daraize for discovering the restaurant, which opened in May, though his unbridled enthusiasm has made Mezcla one tough table to book. Once I eventually nabbed a table, I headed down to The Village to see what he calls one of his “grands coups de cœur” of 2012. Located on a side street just off Ste. Catherine, Mezcla is a warm, 50-seat space with high ceilings, an open floor plan, and a bistro-ish vibe. The “chaleureux” ambience is further boosted by low lights, sexy background tunes and an open kitchen in the back of the room. The decor provides few clues about the style of cuisine, which isn’t the usual French bistro but … aahhh … nuevo latino. When I think nuevo latino in Montreal, I immediately picture chef Mario Navarrete Jr.’s restaurant Raza. How nice, I always thought while sipping pisco sours, would it be to have more restaurants playing with these Central and South American, Cuban, Puerto Rican and Spanish-Caribbean ingredients and flavours? And now my wish has come true. I immediately recognized our host and waiter, a handsome Venezuelan by the name of Gerardo Labarca, who last served me years ago at that great tapas restaurant Pintxo. Turns out Labarca is an owner at Mezcla along with Marie-Hélène Barrière. Already that’s great news because the ever-smiling Labarca made my first Pintxo meal so memorable. As for the talent in the kitchen, that belongs to two gentlemen, Marcel Larrea, who trained Cordon Bleu in Peru and worked here at Thai Grill, and Georges-Étienne T. Tremblay, whose Montreal experience includes La Chronique and Les Enfants Terribles. Larrea may have last been cooking Thai, yet his background is Peruvian. Peruvian cuisine is hailed as the next big thing, and whenever I hear that I roll my eyes a little as the Peruvian cuisine I’ve sampled (and I’m no authority by any measure here) hasn’t been what I’d call earth moving. Yet after tasting this kitchen’s take on it, I’m intrigued. These boys are making some seriously delicious food, filled with beautiful flavours and diverse textures. Like Daraize, I gotta say, dinner at Mezcla turned out to be one of my best meals of the year. The wine list is another plus. Spanish heavy, well-priced with a good mix of private imports and SAQ selections, the list also features bottles well suited to this spicy/meaty/seafoody cuisine. The Albarino Condes de Albarei 2011 we enjoyed not only enhanced everything we ate, but at $42, didn’t put a dent on my budget. Nice. Now on to the food, which started with a simple plate of ceviche. Wait, did I say simple? Scratch that, because what started out looking like a pretty mound of raw fish and seafood bathed in a slightly spicy sauce turned into a complex dish when we were given a trio of crispy ingredients to mix in, including fried corn kernels, twisty yucca chips and a tangle of deep-fried carrot strands. Was it ever great, with the soft and silky seafood and salmon chunks mixing in with the crisp bits of chips and the crunch of the corn. Every taste was so clean, so fresh and I loved the surf and turf contrast between the fish and the vegetables. Huge. The next dish was almost as amazing, and consisted of tuna tartare set atop potato croquettes placed alongside mounds of crabmeat with avocado and coriander. Again, what a play of textures — dewy, crispy, creamy, chewy — along with all those fresh and bracing flavours. Really gorgeous. And I saved the best starter, the shrimp, for last. Served wrapped in fried yucca ribbons, the jumbo shrimp were meaty, fresh, resilient and cleverly served with two contrasting sauces: a close-to-fluffy avocado cream and a sweet chicha syrup made with smoky black corn. With every bite I said to myself, this is the best thing I’ve tasted all year, and considering the amount I eat, that’s saying a lot. I can’t wait to come back and try this dish again. There’s more. When I asked for a menu recommendation, Labarca’s face lit up and he said the blood pudding was a must. He’s right, it’s very good. Served on a light corn cake, the round of blood pudding is layered with julienned apple and slices of chorizo. Don’t want to get boring here, but again, the mix of textures won me over, and I also admired that these boys are using organic chorizo from Charlevoix, and finished the dish off with a Calvados-laced beurre blanc. What a pleasure to see updated ethnic cuisine made with the best local ingredients. Now that’s what I call modern cooking! More traditional but just as scrumptious was a simple plate of grilled duck hearts, with papa amarilla (yellow potatoes), choclo (corn cob, in this case, black corn) and gently spiced “panka” sauce made with dried amarillo peppers. I’m big on hearts for their filet mignon-meets liver taste and consistency, and these babies were wolfed back in record time. The size of the starters is larger than tapas, yet I’d still recommend ordering many plates to share. Main courses are more costly (in the $30 range), but the quality of ingredients merits such prices. For instance, the main I enjoyed was a duo of Gaspor pork that included three chops from the rack as well as a melting slice of braised flanc. Add to that chanterelles, carrots, parsnip purée and a light ’n’ herby sauce, and you have yet another reason to race over to Mezcla. As for desserts, I cannot deny I was discouraged to see only three, and three that included that predictable Montreal trio: crème brûlée, molten chocolate cake and pouding chômeur. Cue the groans. But wait, not so fast. Just when I thought I’d had my fill of molten chocolate cake, along came one so deeply chocolatey and ideally crusty-melty that I remembered what seduced me about this famous dessert in the first place. And that unemployment pud was also staggeringly good, full of maple flavour, firm yet still unctuous without falling into the dreaded mushy/icky/cloying pouding chômeur trap. To say I had a faultless meal at Mezcla would be an understatement as it was so creative and just downright delicious as well. And I only scratched the surface of this menu. All I want to do now is go back, go back to try the clams with chimichurri, the braised bison, the fish stew, the Cornish hen with yucca fries. Or better yet the five-course $39 tasting menu, which considering the quality of ingredients sounds like the deal of the century. What an orgy of tastes this restaurant has to offer. And at risk of never being able to get a last-minute table here myself, I end this review with just one suggestion: GO. criticsnotebook@gmail.com For more food and wine talk, tune in to Dinner Rush with Lesley Chesterman on Saturdays from 4 to 5 p.m. on News Talk Radio CJAD 800. © Copyright © The Montreal Gazette Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Fine+Dining+Mezcla+wish+come+true/7343470/story.html#ixzz28X00XnVC

36 Hours in Montreal. CANADA’S second-largest city may be the second-largest French-speaking metropolis on the planet (after Paris), but the attention lavished on its Frenchness — Bistros! Baguettes! People saying “Bonjour”! — tends to nudge aside the many other ethnic communities within Montreal’s remarkably diverse urban sprawl. Italians, Portuguese and Lebanese have a very visible presence, and the city hosts annual festivals dedicated to everything from Asian-American films to Caribbean food. Throw in a pulsing alternative community and creative scene (this is a place that engendered talents as diverse as Saul Bellow, Arcade Fire and the irrepressible William Shatner), and a whole new Montreal opens up. Whether your passion is Syrian cuisine, contemporary art or vintage shopping, Montreal is serving it up with aplomb. C’est vrai... http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/travel/36-hours-in-montreal.html

http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2012/06/11/a-taste-of-adonis-downtown/

Ça Ressemble à du copié-collé de plusieurs autres textes "vu d’ailleurs" mais au moins, ils parlent de Montréal. Source: BBC Edgy, unapologetic, seductive, nonconformist… these words often spring to mind when talking about Montreal. The city is Canada’s epicentre of fun and fabulousness, a cultural chameleon with a unique sense of style, jumping nightlife and amazing food. There is always something happening here – even on Sundays, when you can rock to the rhythm of the Tam Tams (a legendary weekly drumming festival) or groove to the hottest electro beats at Piknik Électronik (an outdoor dance party). Plateau du Mont Royal Congenial and charming, the Plateau is one of Montreal’s hippest districts. Once a run-down, blue-collar neighbourhood, it now boasts arty residents, great bars and restaurants, and a bohemian vibe. The distinctive architecture, characterized by spiral staircases and colourful old Victorian houses, is what makes this area so cool — a refreshing change from cookie-cutter homes in the ‘burbs. Montreal’s favourite son Leonard Cohen still keeps an apartment right in the Plateau, just steps away from St Laurent Boulevard (known as “the Main” to locals). The best way to explore the ‘hood? Grab a bixi bike and take a random tour, cruising its tree-lined streets (Gilford and Esplanade are pretty scenic options) and picturesque boulevards. If you are on the Main and need a pick-me-up, be sure to join the locals at Euro Deli for an espresso or an allongé. Culinary treats Montreal’s lively foodie culture and culinary scene are famous across North America. Whether you are seeking haute cuisine, or keen to sample local specialities such as smoked meat, maple syrup, bagels and poutine (fries smothered in cheese curd and gravy), you will be well catered for. Dining options are endless, and the food is both tasty and reasonably priced. The iconic Schwartz’s Deli on St Laurent Boulevard is Montreal’s mainstay for smoked meat. But Montreal is a city of contrasts, and it is no surprise to find popular vegan restaurant Aux Vivres just up the road. Permanently packed with veggie lovers, this place is so good that even die-hard carnivores will not miss their meat. Of course, after fuelling up on a healthy meal here, you will be in the mood to indulge. For the ultimate in sweet decadence, La boutique Grandbois offers high quality, handmade chocolates with some unforgettable flavour combinations… ganache and Monte Cristo cigar leaves, anyone? Vieux-Montreal Montreal is known for its European charm, which is especially evident in the cobblestone streets of the Old Port. Meander along the river or stroll down St Paul, before stopping for a croissant at celebrated café and bakery, Olive & Gourmando. Feeling un peu fatigué after all your sightseeing? Take a soothing break in the eucalyptus steam bath at Scandinave les Bains. After some pampering here, you will be refreshed, relaxed and ready to continue exploring the stunning architecture of this historic area.

(Courtesy of the Montreal Gazette) I have been wanting to check this place out for 3-4 years now, I should totally go now.

(Courtesy of Food & Wine) Right behind New York on this list Not sure if Vegas would have been a notable mention or not, seeing it is mostly foreign chefs that have restaurants there, but still a great place to eat. Plus I hear now, that Mexico City is a foodie place.

C'est de la grande classe. Avec Gordon Campbell, les stars internationales de la gastronomie vont-elles faire de Mtl un terrain de compétition? Ce serait vraiment cool. http://www.montrealgazette.com/Boulud+Ritz+resto+will+lift+competition+chefs/4619441/story.html

Not sure if this really counts as a renovation of sorts. Cineplex is planning on fixing up one or more cinemas with their UltraAVX. Plus the larger seats are supposedly in pleather. Whats funny that Montreal and Canada are finally making the cinema experience more upscale. In Mexico and Thailand certain cinemas have been like this for years. Especially the ones in Bangkok at the mall called: Siam Paragon (massive mall). The Paragon Cineplex in the mall has 15 screens. 1 of them only for members called: Enigma. One of them in Ontario or something is open to people only 19+ because they serve alcohol in one of the cinemas also they have food delivery to the seats.

(Courtesy of Mercury News)