I don’t have any breathtaking insights. These questions are hard to answer definitively, and the best example is the latest weather forecast for Montreal:

• Today (Wednesday 12/16): snow and 15°F
• Tomorrow: clear and 8°F
• Fri: clear and 10°F
• Saturday: snow and 15°F
• Sunday: partly cloudy and 17°F

And here’s the norm: 26°F during the day and 12°F at night.

In 6 years of Christmastime vacations in Montreal, we’ve experienced a temperature range from -15° to 40° and heavy snow to rain to dry weather. If you’re planning a short trip of 2-4 days, you can tune your packing more closely to the weather forecast . But for longer trips like ours, we try to be prepared for a broad range of weather, with varying success from year to year.

Here’s the outerwear (and underwear) portion of my packing checklist:

• warm gloves, quality scarf, cap (think cold and wind).
• winter coat: rather than a heavy, long winter coat, I prefer a combo coat and hoodie sweatshirt. Most of the time, you’ll want and need both of them, but for unexpectedly warm days, remove one and wear the other.
• long underwear: your lower extremities will thank you for this.
• socks: we pack a mix of regular winter socks and heavy winter socks.
• shoes: we pack a pair of tennis shoes, and a boot of some kind. I have some Timberland boots that are fur-lined and quite warm. I can wear them every day if I need to (most restaurants are casual). Ideally, your shoes will be waterproof; melting snow can leave huge pools of standing water, especially in Old Montreal. It’s no fun being soaked to the skin.
• umbrella: we had rain briefly in 2007. The cap you packed will come in handy or you can toss a travel-size umbrella in the suitcase.
• sunglasses.

It’s often windy, and even if the forecast doesn’t indicate it, it can still be blustery in the wind tunnel of urban streets. Probably not as intense as a winter day in downtown Chicago, but even if it feels nice when you step out the door of your hotel, I’d still recommend hat, gloves, and scarf.

Layers is the standard recommendation, right? It’s a good idea, especially if your trek around the city includes periods of walking outdoors and walking in the Underground City or while you’re shopping. When you’re indoors, you’ll want to peel off some of your gear without removing all of it.

These recommendations are highly biased (what on this blog isn’t?), and all the hotels are located in Old Montréal. If you want to stay elsewhere, feel free to point your Google at downtown hotels or hotels on Sherbrooke, but here’s my list of recommendations if you want the charm of the Old City, and you want to avoid the most heavily “touristed” area of rue St Paul E. Prices range from about $170 a night to around $300.

Auberge-style hotels

• Auberge Les Passants du Sans Soucy: we stay here every holiday. Nine rooms, each quite beautiful, friendly and helpful staff, with a great breakfast included.
• Bonaparte: This place has 30 rooms; the best are Terrace rooms, facing the gardens of Notre Dame Basilica. They’re a little more expensive compared to other rooms in the hotel, but the view is wonderful.

Boutique hotels

• St Paul Hotel: an old bank building, I think. Beautiful, high-ceilinged rooms. Extremely cool space. This hotel makes a statement and feels regal, but comfortable.
• Hotel Gault: another hotel that’s extremely cool, although the rooms don’t make the same vaulting architectural statement as the St Paul. But if you don’t need a 15-foot ceiling, and you want a sleek, modern aesthetic, you’ll enjoy the Gault.

Recommended tourist hotels

• Le Saint-Sulpice: We’ve not stayed in this hotel but it comes highly recommended by all kinds of people. Its look is more conventional, but very tasteful.
• Hotel Nelligan: Same situation – we’ve not stayed here but we know people who have and they like it, although I’ve seen a couple reviews say the rooms are small.

Chain hotels

• W Hotel: You either love the W or like it, or hate it. We love it. Last I knew (December 2008; I’ll check again next week), this hotel hasn’t been converted to the new white look of the W, so the rooms and hallways are dark and shadowy. The bars are cool and there are always beautiful people to look at.
• Le Westin Montréal: The new Westin opened in 2009, located at the edge of the Old City. For the past two winters, we’ve walked by the old Gazette printing press facility and watched its transformation into a huge atrium for the hotel. It’s new, and yes, it has the Heavenly Bed. Enough said.

Montreal in Winter is just as beautiful, but the weather makes for an entirely different experience that many tourists avoid. Still, thousands of others make the trip in Winter and have an unforgettable experience. So what is there to do in Montreal in Winter? Here’s my personal list:

• Walk the streets: Admittedly, this is a chilling experience, but if you’re made of hardy stock, there’s no reason why you can’t bundle up and get outdoors to see the city. Recommended walks include rue St Paul and nearby streets in the Old City; St Catherine, either downtown or the Gay Village; the Plateau along St Laurent; Little Italy and Jean-Talon Market. That’s enough to get you on your way.
• Walk the Underground City: In my opinion, this is more exciting as a concept than an executed activity. I can say that it’s kind of fun, especially the first time you do it, and it has two distinct advantages: first it get you places, and second, it’s warm.
• Climb Mont Royal: It ain’t a climb, it’s an easy saunter. But it leads to a beautiful overlook, giving you a view of much of the city. Dress warmly, don’t rush it, check out the sledding locals as you near the top, and at the Kondiaronk Belvedere at the overlook, buy a cup of hot chocolate and warm up while you check out the city before you start the trip back.
• Shop: Well, duh. You’ll find all the larger stores and chains on St Catherine, and if you walk in the Plateau, you’ll run into all kinds of fun boutique shops.
• Go to a Museum: there are too many to list, but allow me to note my own favorites. Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal is on the Place des Arts on St Catherine downtown; Musée des beaux-arts is on Sherbrooke near downtown; Pointe-à-Callière is a great museum on Montreal archeology, located in the Old City on Place Royale.
• Visit Notre Dame Cathedral: the basilica is stunning, and there are regular 20-minute guided tours.
• Hang out at Jean-Talon Market: it’s open every day.
• See Cirque de Soleil: it’s pure escapism and lots of fun.

This list is JUST a beginning. Tourisme Montréal has a much more complete listing of events and ideas. What do you like to do in Montreal on your Winter trip?

First, a reset: Each year, we spend the Christmas holiday in Montreal, with a trip of 6-8 days. We’ve done this since 2004. We do it because it’s relaxing, a nice time to reconnect with friends who join us, and it’s become, over time, its own holiday tradition.

We like to eat good food, and so a big part of our planning for the trip is actually planning where we’ll eat. Each year, we choose a mix of favorite restaurants, as well as a few new ones to try.

This year, with 8 nights to fill and perhaps a 9th, here’s the plan:

• Friday 12/18: Toqué
• Saturday 12/19: Newtown
• Sunday 12/20: Laloux
• Monday 12/21: Trois Petit Bouchons
• Tuesday 12/22: DNA
• Wednesday 12/23: Au Pied de Cochon
• Thursday 12/24: Bonaparte
• Friday 12/25: TBD

There are long-time favorites like Toqué and Au Pied de Cochon; restaurants we tried last year and enjoyed, like DNA and Laloux; new restaurants on the list, like Trois Petit Bouchons and Newtown; and the Christmas Eve tradition, Bonaparte. In the case of Newtown, we’re following the chefs, Marc-André Jetté and Patrice Demers, from Laloux to their new venue.

I’ve written about this before, but one of the factors Chuck considers when he’s working on the plans is the style and type of restaurants on the list. He likes a mix of “signature experiences” and homier fare. Naturally, he wants all of it to be good. Now, he’s figuring out whether we’re too heavy on a certain style of bistro cooking – expressed differently at each restaurant, but still similar in style and concept. If that’s the case, I expect we’ll see a replacement of the dinner for Monday night – jumping into one of the ethnic traditions, perhaps.

More to come.

This is the question that vexes the traveler who isn’t planning to spend the holidays with family or friends. And the holidays are a great leveler because whether you’re new to a city or a frequent visitor, you can still be frustrated when you start to feel hunger pangs and you face the prospect of block after block of closed restaurants.

We’ve been spending the holiday in Montreal for 6 years now, and every year, we subject our long-considered list of desired restaurants to the reality of holiday hours. Most of the time we can make it all work out. We arrive about a week before Christmas and leave shortly thereafter, so we can manage our reservations around what’s open on a particular night.

But it’s not easy. Not only do most restaurants close for a few days (or longer) but others close capriciously – and here’s what I mean by that: last year, we reserved at Bronte about 3 weeks before our trip – it had been on our list for a couple years and we wanted to check it out. A week before our trip, Bronte called. They wouldn’t be able to fulfill our reservation on Open Table because they were actually closed that night. Why they’d not communicated that with Open Table? I’m not sure, but during the phone conversation they told us they’d be open on Boxing Day and they could accommodate us. So, we reserved for 12/26. On the afternoon of 12/26, Bronte called again: “We’re sorry but we won’t be open tonight.” It’s likely they looked at the number of reservations for the evening and decided it wasn’t worth bringing in the staff. Understandable, but frustrating, and Bronte is now off our list.

Christmas Eve is usually workable. A number of reputable restaurants are open because families and large parties often eat out before Midnight Mass or other celebrations. Christmas night is another matter. With the exception of hotel restaurants or Chinese restaurants, most everything is closed. Our Christmas dining record? Four Christmas night meals at Otto (W Hotel) and one dinner at Koko (Opus Hotel).

Whenever I mention Otto as the Christmas Night meal, it seems, a Chowhound or foodie will write to say something like, “I hardly think Otto is a great choice for someone interested in food.” To which I always respond with a sanitized version of, “Duh, but please suggest a better restaurant that’s open on Christmas Night.” I’ve never received a suggestion.

Chinese restaurants are a well-known option for Christmas Night because many of them are open. That’s something we’ve considered, except that our other Christmas Day tradition, dim sum for lunch, provides us with enough Chinese food for the day.

Locals can’t often provide much help with this question because most of them are at home with family and friends, recovering from a huge Christmas dinner.

But surely someone – tourist or local – has gone to a restaurant on Christmas Night in Montreal. If you’ve done so, where have you gone? What can you recommend?

photo: Christmas Day dim sum consumption at Ruby Rouge

… and much of Canada, of course.

This was one of the more welcome stories of the week, especially for the thousands of tourists who visit cities like Montreal and Toronto every year – many for the first time. There’s nothing like being able to get a sense of a place before you go there, and with mobile devices like the iPhone and Android-based phones, you can easily access street views while you’re out and about.

If you’re like me, it’s a fun way to take a little walking tour of your favorite city, and that’s what I’ve been doing over the past few days since launch – virtually walking down the streets of the Old City, Little Italy, the Gay Village, and the Plateau.

The screenshots? Rue Notre Dame in front of the Basilica; Avenue Pins, looking at Laloux; St Catherine looking at Place des Arts.

This follows a somewhat lukewarm review from Lesley Chesterman in the Montreal Gazette – albeit just a few weeks after the restaurant had reopened.

Perhaps a few hiccups at the outset, but they now seem to be firing on all cylinders. Friends of mine confirm this from their recent visit to Newtown, and we’ll be there in a few months to see for ourself.

I’m proud of Montreal’s Cafe Myriade because Anthony and Alex both placed in the Eastern Regional Canadian Barista Championship several days back: Anthony in first place, and Alex in third. Both will represent Montreal in the national competition in Vancouver in October.

Myriade produces beautiful coffee – something that’s not, strictly speaking, impossible to do. It serves it with a smile and without attitude, and after watching baristas at Intelligentsia or Ritual sigh or roll their eyes at customers who unknowingly broke this or that cardinal rule of coffee drinkery, I had come to believe that these achievements were mutually exclusive. Not so.

1432 rue Mackay

photo: Chuck’s excellent macchiato, prepared by Anthony at Cafe Myriade on December 20, 2008.

Readers of this blog know that food matters a lot to us, and on a vacation where the goal is to relax and do little or nothing, planning meals takes center stage.

Each year, we choose a mix of old favorites, as well as new restaurants to try, and for our 8 dinners this winter, here are the 10 restaurants that have made the first cut:

• Laloux
• Newtown
• DNA
• Le Club Chasse et Peche
• Toque
• Mas Cuisine
• Au Pied de Cochon
• Restaurant La Chronique
• Bonaparte
• Otto

Favorites:

Laloux is now helmed by Eric Gonzalez, and the initial reviews are good, as expected. We ate his food at Cube in 2006. We went to Laloux twice in 2008 and loved it. Newtown is where you now find Marc-André Jetté and Patrice Demers, lately from Laloux. Their review in the Gazette in July was more guarded, but we were so impressed at Laloux that we’ll head to Newtown. DNA is impressive; we had an excellent meal there in 2008, and our friends enjoyed it again in May of this year. Plus it’s kind of fun to sit in a space that looks like a Borg cube and watch the holiday fireworks over the Old Port. Toque has had its ups and downs with reviewers, but we’ve had two excellent dinners here in 2007 and 2008, so we’ll return. The wine list is also quite good. Au Pied de Cochon – well, what can we say that hasn’t been said? A dinner here is de rigeur.

New Entrants:

La Chronique has floated around the planning list for a couple years now, and I think this will be the year when we give the bistro a try. Le Club Chasse et Peche is another restaurant that’s landed on our restaurant list at least twice, only to drop off. Not a statement about the quality of its food, but more the result of difficult choices. Mas Cuisine is run by the former chef from Bruinoise, which was a restaurant we loved in 2006, now just a memory. Brunoise is still fresh in our minds, so we’ll hope for a repeat at Mas Cuisine.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Night:

These two days present their own challenges, since so many restaurants close for one or both days. Hotel/Auberge dining options are usually reliable, and while Bonaparte and the W Hotel’s Otto aren’t what I would call stunning, each is reliably good. And as I’ve said so many times here, Bonaparte is kind of special on Christmas Eve, with its traditional, beautifully cooked, French/Quebecois food.

I’ll say more as we get closer and start working the list against our calendar and each restaurant’s plans around the holidays.

We had this dessert twice at Laloux, and Chuck re-created it at home for friends earlier this year. As of this writing, it’s not on the menu at Laloux or Newtown, but we hope it will reappear at one or both restaurants!

Laloux

In the Montreal Gazette, Lesley Chesterman visits and finds much to praise in the cooking of Eric Gonzalez and pastry chef Michelle Marek. First the setting, which hasn’t changed a bit and that makes her happy (and us, too). Next, the food and wine, both of which meet her high expectations.

We saw Gonzalez in action in 2006 at Cube, just before it closed, and we’re pleased that he continues to dazzle.

If you’re thinking about restaurant choices for your next trip to Montreal, or you’ve been to Laloux in the past and want to make sure its reputation is untarnished, this review should help you arrive at a decision.

Newtown

Next, Chesterman’s review of Newtown, under Marc André Jetté and Patrice Demers, both recently departed from Laloux. Chesterman’s visits occurred only about 6 weeks into their tenure there, and the results are mixed. With Jetté, her issue seems to be with execution rather than vision, and she has quibbles with Demers’ approach to portion sizes for desserts.

Her biggest problem seems to be with the venue, which despite a few touchups here and there is still basically the same space it was in 2001. Time for a change, and Chesterman suggests it’s worth considering a name change – something we thought might happen back when the Chef Musical Chairs got underway.

Our Plans

We ate at Laloux twice on our last trip. It was a brilliant dining experience both times. We plan to return, to discover firsthand what Gonzalez and Marek are up to. And despite the less stellar beginning for Newtown, we’ll be there in a few months, too, because Jetté and Demers are remarkably talented and we expect them to be into the swing of things, and producing great meals.

And, based on the word of Montreal Foodie, which we’ve come to trust over the years, it might be worth a free look around, but perhaps not for lunch.

Mari-Claude Lortie of La Presse blogs that Éric Gonzalez will be the new chef at Laloux, replacing Marc André Jetté, who has departed for Newtown with Patrice Demers, as we’ve already noted.

We’re familiar with Gonzalez from his time at Cube until late 2006 (we ate there the final night); he went to XO at the Hotel St James after that.

In the meantime, over at Newtown, Lortie reports that there’s no decision yet on changing the name of the restaurant, but it will be closed for about a week for some redecorating. It re-opens on May 26th with Jetté and Demers at the helm.

Demers and Jetté will move to the kitchen at Newtown on May 17th. We don’t know a lot about Newtown, but its reputation (if you read the Chowhound boards) seems to stand on its current bar/club/dining atmosphere, more so than the food.

Whatever the case, it looks like we can wipe the slate clean because there are likely to be some cosmetic changes to the restaurant, perhaps a name change, and most important, Demers and Jetté will overhaul the menu.

This brings upheaval to Laloux, which has a long history in the neighborhood. The restaurant languished a few years before the arrival of the duo in 2007. Demers and Jetté are young, but have a list of accomplishments that belies their age, and we look forward to what they plan for Newtown.

Actually, it’s worth mentioning a few other shifts because they impact another restaurant we’ve blogged about here.

Le Local is losing Alexandre Gosselin and Éric Dupuis. Gosselin is moving to the new Bar et Bouef, soon to open in Old Montreal. Dupuis is going to Leméac. Charles-Antoine Pariseau of Leméac? He’s going to Le Local.

Got that? Bottom line, everything we’ve said about Le Local and Laloux is no longer applicable.

One final note about Laloux: a restaurant is an experience that includes more than just the chefs and the meals. It’s the ambience, the waitstaff, the sommelier David Vincent, too, and all were exceptional at Laloux. We’re also looking forward to what happens there.

I’m not all that great at talking about coffee using the special words that true coffee lovers use; I could certainly afford to study the beverage more closely. But I’ve had a lot of coffee, a lot of good coffee, too, and even if my appreciation of coffee outweighs my knowledge of varietals and brewing methods, I can say that the coffee we had at Myriade was the best coffee I’ve had anywhere, thus far. It beats Ritual, Intelligentsia and Blue Bottle – all of which are excellent.

But, coffee aside, the best thing about Myriade is the guy who is most often behind the machine. Anthony Benda is one of the most effortlessly customer-focused people I’ve met. Your visit to his cafe is about you, not about him, and in my opinion, that’s the chief reason why your choice of coffee, or brew method, or size of cup, isn’t an opportunity for you to be lectured in proper coffee etiquette at Myriade. If you want education, you have plenty of opportunities, with scheduled and, sometimes, impromptu tastings, if he’s not too busy.

Montreal is in the midst of a coffee renaissance. Cafe Myriade is the youngest offspring, but I think it’s the new leader.

the Cafe Myriade blog

First, a few notes about the trip, in general. We were there 8 days this year, longer than any previous trip. And I think we found this trip to more enjoyable than ever, precisely because we stayed longer. There is a sweet spot to a vacation and Chuck and I have come to think that 8 days is just about perfect for Montreal: it’s enough to absorb some of the life and the vibe of the city, and when we reach the half way point of the trip, we don’t dread the coming end of the trip. After all, there’s still another four days to go. Of course, we always regret leaving the city, but we do have to leave some time, you know.

And thanks to the recent devaluation of the Loonie, in relation to the US Dollar, our lodging expenses were nearly the same as last year, despite the two additional nights. While I’m mentioning it, our transportation expenses were also much lower this year, too. Overall, it was a much more affordable trip, thanks to the convergence of the weak economy, falling gas prices, the resulting lower airfares, and the falling Canadian dollar.

So, while plans can always change, we’ve booked eight days for next year, too: December 18-26. We liked arriving on Friday and leaving on Saturday enough that we’re going to do it again, even though it means we’re leaving on Boxing Day. I won’t go into all the tiny reasons for this, except for one: there’s a decent chance Olive et Gourmando will close for its month-long holiday on Saturday 12/19/2009; a Friday arrival ensures at least one trip to OeG before they go on hiatus. If you’ve been to OeG even once, I think you can understand why this has factored in our planning at all.

One other general note: last year, we went back and forth on the idea of having friends join us. Would they be bored with our general laziness there or would we find that having friends along was a drag on our fun? Well, I can only speak to the second question and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Four friends joined us last year, leading to great memories and legendary meals. Two of those friends returned in 2008 and we picked up right where we left off.

Well, more to come in the next few weeks. The purpose of this blog is to bring to life the joy of vacationing in Montreal and perhaps provide some advice you’ll find helpful in planning your own trip. We hope to fulfill both in the coming weeks.

Joyeuses Fetes!

The SDF to IND to DTW to YUL trek might just bog down in DTW, where as of this writing, we expect 6-10 inches of snow to fall in a 12 hour time window from 4am-4pm Friday. This piece of weather appeared seemingly out of nowhere on Wednesday afternoon.

One can respond a few ways, ranging from curling up in a ball and crying, to a laissez faire approach, to a proactive rebooking strategy.

I’m a relatively new convert to the more zen “vacation starts when you leave and whatever happens, happens” worldview. Despite that, I’d still like to know that we can get to Montreal on Friday, without being delayed for a few hours or until Saturday.

Detroit has a good reputation these days for pushing the traffic through, and keeping the runways in good shape, even in heavy snow. If our flight to or from DTW isn’t canceled preemptively or because of wind/snow, we’ll probably make it with a moderate delay. If it’s canceled preemptively, or the storm forecast worsens, I have an ace in the hole – an extremely cheap direct flight to Montreal from another nearby airport unaffected by weather. I might use that escape hatch tonight. Chuck is even less tolerant of delays than I am.

Our friends Bob and Michael are scheduled to arrive late Friday night via Chicago, which will endure this storm tomorrow, too.

We’ve been quite lucky along the way. In 2004, we were delayed around 6-7 hours in Toronto, while the airport tried to dig itself out of smaller snowstorm. That was rather chaotic, but we made it. And up until now, our trips have been uneventful, on time, even.

Well, here goes… we’ll talk to you on the other side!

We’re not the only ones. The majority of email we get from readers about Montreal has to do with winter weather. How cold does it get? Is it windy? What should we bring for a December or January trip?

These questions are the hardest to answer, and the best example is the current weather forecast for Montreal:

• Today (Saturday 12/13): cloudy and 7°F
• Tomorrow: light snow, clouds and 37°F
• Monday: rain, windy and 48°F
• Tuesday: sunny and 26°F
• Wednesday: snow or rain and 36°F

And here’s the norm: 28°F during the day and 14°F at night.

You can look at this forecast and get tied up in knots while trying to pack. (We’ve been there.) The weather during your trip could be quite normal. Or your trip could be the outlier: our first holiday there in 2004 was extremely cold and windy; last year, we arrived days after a huge snowstorm (even for Montreal), and all the snow melted in warm weather; we had a couple days with the temperature near 40°F.

Environment Canada generally publishes forecasts for four days out, unlike the National Weather Service and private forecasters in the US, which often give you a week-long snapshot. If your trip is brief, you might be able to pack with some certainty (as far as you can trust the forecast), but if you’re planning a longer trip (8 days for us this time) you need to follow some rules of thumb. Here are ours.

• warm gloves, quality scarf, cap (think cold and wind)
• winter coat: rather than a heavy, long winter coat, we prefer a combo coat and hoodie sweatshirt. Most of the time, you’ll want and need both of them, but for unexpectedly warm days, remove one and wear the other.
• long underwear: your lower extremities will thank you for this.
• socks: we pack a mix of regular winter socks and heavy winter socks
• shoes: we pack a pair of tennis shoes, and a boot of some kind. I have some Timberland boots that are fur-lined and quite warm. I can wear them every day if I need to (most restaurants are casual). Ideally, your shoes will be waterproof; last year, all the melting snow left huge pools of standing water, especially in Old Montreal. It’s no fun being soaked to the skin.
• umbrella: last year was the first year we had rain. The cap you packed will come in handy or you can toss a travel-size umbrella in the suitcase.
• sunglasses: yep, I found these very useful last year.

That’s our list. What did we miss? If you travel to Montreal (or some other cold place) in the winter, what do you take with you?

• December 19:
• December 20: DNA
• December 21: au Pied de Cochon
• December 22: Laloux
• December 23: Le Local
• December 24: Bronte
• December 25:
• December 26: au Pied de Cochon

I noted earlier this year that we couldn’t resist dining at APDC twice on this trip, but we reserve the right to restrain our foies gras desires, should reason prevail.

We’re happy with this list because, with the exception of APDC, every restaurant is a new experience for us. December 25th is a big uncertainty. On Christmas night, very little is open except for hotel restaurants. For the past four years, we’ve had Christmas night dinner at Otto in the W Hotel. That’s a perfectly acceptable choice for this year, too, but we’re keeping our options open – perhaps the restaurant at Le Germain or the St. James or the St Paul. Or there’s Niu Kee, which is usually open on Christmas night.

This weekend, he’ll be calling restaurants to line up reservations, while I choose a handful of things we might do while we’re there.

We’ve been to Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal before, but there’s an exhibition on rock and roll that could be fun. There’s also a Warhol exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts that looks good. As far as historic tours go, we’ve had Chateau Ramezay on the list for a couple of years, but at the top of my personal list is the Margeuerite Bourgeoys Museum at Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secoures Chapel. There have been some amazing archeological finds underneath the church and you can walk amongst them. After touring Pointe-à-Callière Museum last year, which has excellent walking tour of some of the oldest ruins of Montreal in the basement, I’m excited to see what’s beneath the chapel.

We’re firmly of the opinion that one planned activity (besides dinner) is plenty, so a couple museum visits over 8 days seems a good balance.

We eliminated shopping from last year’s trip – the first time we’d done that. But I think we’ll spend a couple hours scouting for bargains here and there, and doing so is even easier now that many stores and chains roll out “Boxing Week” rather than “Boxing Day” sales.

We’re coffee people, all four of us on this year’s trip, so there will be at least a couple stops at Cafe Myriade to sample what locals have been raving about in the weeks since it opened. Cafe Veritas is near the auberge where we stay, so we’ll go there, as well.

Three weeks out, that’s the extent of our planning. Our transportation to Montreal is the cheapest it’s been in at least 3 years; the Loonie will possibly give us our best value in 3 years; and the weather – well who the heck knows? Regardless, as the Thanksgiving holiday becomes history, we have Montreal on our minds.

We’re told it’s a selection of French, Spanish and Italian dishes, and the two reviews I’ve seen so far (both highlighted on the Barroco web site) are positive.

What is a good thing is the opening of another bistro in the less-trafficked, less-touristy “West of St. Laurent” section of Old Montreal. This is the part of the old city that we find most enjoyable, and it’s where we stay every year. Olive et Gourmando is a fixture on this side of St Paul, and there are notable restaurants like Titanic, Holder, Gandhi, Stash, etc., etc. But Barroco, DNA and some of the other new openings this year are most welcome and will bring new life to “our end of the street.”

One thing we can say about Barroco is the great location. We used to go to Cobalt before it closed in early 2007, and it was a cozy (I hate that word) rustic space with a front window you could fling open in the summer to welcome the sounds of the street.

• Barroco
• 312 rue St Paul Ouest
• 514-544-5800

Nota Bene in Toronto takes the #1 spot, but right behind is a new Montreal restaurant that we’ve mentioned a few times: Le Local on William in Old Montreal.

enRoute describes the restaurant as a little baffling:

First there’s the location, somewhere between Old Montreal and an expressway on-ramp. Then there’s the fact that the floors are concrete and the walls are hardwood. Angled mirrors reflect not the diners but the buzz of the open kitchen. The staff can seem rude one minute, gracious the next. Don’t look to the menu for any help; it offers a cochonnailles plate with “a mixture of interesting things,” cassolette d’escargots and deer tartar with pickle cream. The butternut squash soup and chestnut purée is served with what resembles a baby spoon.

In a less food-savvy city, such a scene might detract from the food or cause the kitchen to get lazy. Not here.

Chowhounders have not been uniformly happy with the service here, but from the chatter, it’s clear they’re paying attention. So are we.

Also of note: Liverpool House (from the people who brought us Joe Beef) also represents Montreal on the list. (2501 rue Notre Dame O.)

We haven’t seen an exchange rate of about 78 cents to the US Dollar (as of Friday 10/24) in more than three years. Getting into all of the ramifications of this shift is beyond my understanding, but here are a couple ways in which it’s not a bad thing: first, all things being equal, it can help the competitiveness of Canadian commodities on the world market by making them more affordable; second, for those of us traveling from the US to Canada right now, we get a more favorable exchange rate, with meals, hotels, and many other goods (not all, however) available at a “discount.”

Speaking for myself, I spent a lot of money in Montreal last year, when the Loonie was at parity with the US Dollar. If the rate holds, I look forward to saving some money and also spending some more at the businesses I patronize in the city.

Anthony is the latest sign of a true coffee culture in Montreal. After working at other people’s cafes, he’s now opening his own place. It joins Cafe Veritas and Caffe in Gamba, among others, and this can only be a good thing, as each cafe educates its clientele, which in turn, increases demand for the good stuff.

The first time I went to Montreal, I was bewildered by the Second Cups and the Van Houttes, and the apparent lack of any good coffee in the city. It turned out to be more an issue of scarcity and visibility, but that’s changed a lot in the past 4 years.

That’s great for the locals, but it’s good news for us tourists, too. We don’t have to be a slave to the chains when we’re visiting; chances are, whether we’re bedding down in the old city or downtown, there’s good coffee nearby.

Chowhound has a few threads – you can start with this one.

UPDATE: I heard from a couple patrons of Cafe Myriade on its first day, both of whom thought their cup of coffee was excellent. I also corrected the typo in Anthony’s last name. Sometimes, you can look at a post 20 different ways and not see somethng so obvious.

This is the first list we’ve created to roughly approximate the number of dinners we’ll have in Montreal. I wish I could say it represents the results of exhaustive research, but it doesn’t. However, Chuck and I have been reading menus for the past few days.

• Dinner 1: Laloux
• Dinner 2: Au Pied du Cochon
• Dinner 3: DNA
• Dinner 4: Le Club Chasse et Pesce
• Dinner 5: Bonaparte
• Dinner 6: Le Germain: Laurie Raphael
• Dinner 7: Yoyo
• Dinner 8: Au Pied du Cochon

This order isn’t exact – we need to rationalize it with the restaurant holiday schedules, but it’s a good start. There are several first-time visits: Laloux, DNA, Chasse et Pesce, Laurie Raphael, Yoyo; only two repeats – Bonaparte and APDC.

Why in heaven’s name would we visit APDC twice in one trip? Despite the caloric burden, Chuck has repeatedly suggested this since our last visit in December 07. Well, while we’ve eaten better food elsewhere, our experiences at APDC – the ambiance, food, service, conviviality – have been unforgettable. (Our friend Howard sums it up beautifully here.) I hesitate to refer to any one restaurant as the quintessence of Quebecois dining; no single place captures that. But for us, it’s come to represent this city that celebrates pleasure.

What about Gandhi? Holder? Well, there’s always lunch, and thus, the planning continues.

An interesting discussion about purchasing wine in Quebec has popped up in Chowhound in the past couple of days, and if you travel to Quebec and like to buy wine, you might find it worth reading.

SAQ is Quebec’s provincial liquor monopoly; you can buy some wine elsewhere, in grocery stores and dépanneurs, but it’s only a small amount compared to what SAQ moves every year.

The conversation thread on Chowhound adds some depth to my knowledge and also provides some options for getting access to a wider variety of wine. For tourists, this isn’t optimal because it entails ordering wine in advance and then picking it up at a SAQ outlet. If you have friends in the province, perhaps they can do this for you.

A couple other observations that took us a SAQ visit or two to figure out:

• There are different kinds of SAQ outlets. The Wikipedia entry is helpful here. We discovered through trial and error that Sélection and Signature offer the kinds of wines and the selection that we desire. Express sells a lot of popular wines; it’s a good fall back if it’s the only SAQ outlet near you.
• We’re constantly reminded of the near invisibility of US wines outside the United States. The first time you walk into SAQ and see a couple of shelves devoted to California wines, and the shelves are filled with Beaulieu, Bogle, Mondavi, Fetzer and other such wine producers, you can get quite a jolt. California wines are world class, but finding anything but commodity California wine outside the US takes an effort. That said, there’s often excellent French and Italian wine. So if you “retune” your expectations, you’re likely to leave happy, with some excellent wine under your arm.

The same Chowhound correspondent reported in May that the cafe was closing because of a dispute with the landlord.

Fans will be delighted to enjoy the brunches, the homemade caramel sauce and incredibly good chocolates (a serious holiday weakness of ours) once again. Those of us who visit Old Montreal will have to get out to Mile End – not a bad idea, since there’s much to do and eat there. We’ll keep an eye open for official word of the re-opening.

• Bouchees Gourmandes
• 1226 Bernard
• 514-845-3663

We had some wild evenings… drinks before dinner at the W Hotel and the Ritz-Carlton, followed by not-to-be-forgotten dinners at Toque, Pintxo and Au Pied de Cochon. And this doesn’t include brunches at Olive et Gourmando, coffee at Cafe Veritas, and walks around Old Montreal.

Even after Howard and Donovan returned to the US for the holiday, we were pleased to have Bob and Michael with us for dinners at Otto and Gandhi, and a performance by Cirque du Soleil.

Now, Michael and Bob tell us they might join us in Montreal again for a few days. We’re pretty happy about this, not only because we greatly enjoy their company, but we have a few new restaurants we’d like to explore. It’s also a city best shared with friends.

I like the idea of a solitary vacation in Montreal, but it’s not as easy as it used to be. The Old City is changing every year, and even though my first holiday there was in 2004, I’ve noticed each year that, not only are there more businesses and boutiques in Old Montreal, there are more people there around the holidays, or so it seems. I’m sure part of it was the romance of the Old City, but on Christmas Eve 2004, I felt like we were the only ones there. It was a great experience that I’ve sought since then without achieving it.

After all that stuff about solitary vacations, I also like having friends around. I went in 2004 at the invitation of friends, participating in their annual Montreal tradition. As they moved on, I revived the tradition for myself, and I’ve found that I enjoy it more each year, especially as we’ve been able to welcome other friends to the tradition.

It’s hard to predict the impact of having friends with us again this year. I expect us to continue and expand our exploration of bistro food in Montreal. But we might do some touristy things this year – like going to Schwartz’s, for instance, or making the bagel tour of St. Viateur and Fairmount that we’ve always talked about. We’ve not trekked up Mont Royal since Christmas 2005. That was an invigorating, enjoyable walk for Christmas Day; perhaps it will return.

Montreal is a wonderful city. It represents all that’s best about the people and culture of Canada, with a Francophone joie de vivre that exists nowhere else.

This blog has chronicled our restaurant thinking and planning since 2006, and you can see the 2006 redux, as well as the 2007 discussion and a review of some of the 2007 restaurants from the inimitable Howard Schaefer. It’s chronicled restaurants that closed before we got to them (Anise, Bazaar Anise, Chevre) and some that closed after one visit (Cube, Brunoise) when we would have liked a second opportunity to dine there.

Truth be told, I’m more into this thing about making a list 120 days out from a trip than Chuck is, but from our previous visits, here are the prime candidates for a repeat visit.

2007: Pintxo

In 2007, there were two significant additions to our dining list: Toqué and Pintxo. Toqué was a celebratory event, an evening with all four of our friends for a dinner that would be memorable. Toqué doesn’t disappoint, but I doubt we’ll go back this year because we’ll be alone and less in need of the over-the-top dinner event. Pintxo, on the other hand, is a top candidate for 2008. It was a supremely pleasurable experience, and despite ordering everything on the menu (except the mixed salad), I think there’s more to enjoy there.

2006: Au Pied de Cochon

A significant percentage of web text about Montreal restaurants is devoted to this establishment, and this blog has contributed a fair amount, too, so I’ll spare you an additional review here. But our dinner there in 2006 led to a group celebration in 2007; and following those smashing successes, we’ll be back again this year. We’re spending a record 8 nights in Montreal this holiday, and we’ve talked about going twice, once before Christmas and again after. The caloric weight of two visits in such a short period of time may be more than my body can bear, but I’m willing to put it to the test.

2005: Gandhi

I written alot about Gandhi here; we think they serve some really good Indian food, and we like to visit often when we’re in Montreal. It’s also just steps away from the auberge where we stay, which makes it a convenient stop when we’re hungry and tired after a long day of leisure.

2004: Bato Thai, Bonaparte, Otto

Unless I’ve miscalculated, we’ve not been to Bato Thai since 2005, so I can’t vouch for its current state, but we had three great meals there, we like the Thai food there a lot, and I’ve heard little since then to convince me otherwise. It might be worth another visit. Bonaparte is one of the our most visited restaurants in Montreal, in part because it’s close to the auberge, and it’s a nice “French dining experience.” I enjoyed it most for Christmas Eve, and we kept that tradition until 2007. It could return this year, and so could Otto, which has been the Christmas night restaurant since 2004. It’s just good food, the menu changes regularly, service is good, the wine list is fine. Christmas night choices for dining are limited, naturally, and although we’ve talked about Niu Kee for a couple years, so far we’ve booked at Otto every Christmas.

So to summarize:

Candidates for a repeat visit:

• Pintxo
• APDC
• Gandhi
• Bato Thai
• Bonaparte
• Otto

New Contenders (new to our list, I mean):

• Laloux has actually been on our list for some time, and Chuck is concerned that we make 2008 the year we get there. A search of “Laloux” will bring up enough reviews to confirm that this is a restaurant that deserves to be on the list. It’s been called the best in Montreal by many, and the best in Canada by some. We hope to draw our own conclusion.
• Le Local has generated a fair amount of buzz, not all of it positive, since it opened. I expect Chuck and I will give it some consideration.
• Holder has been around longer, and also receives generally positive reviews. We’ve kept this restaurant as an option for a couple years now… perhaps this year.
• Joe Beef
• Niu Kee: 1163 rue Clark
• Restaurant YoYo

The New Contender list will grow, I’m sure, and I’ll keep you up-to-date.

What about lunch? That’s next.

Cafe Myriade will be located on Mackay, between Ste. Catherine and Maissoneuve, which means it’s pretty close to that weird new Rice Pudding place (try not to confuse the two).

I’m excited because Montreal can use another good place for coffee, and the guy running the place is someone who cares about coffee. The other big thing about Myriade that makes me happy is the attention Anthony promises to give to drip coffee, which is something I care about a lot. You can go to places like Blue Bottle in San Francisco (it springs to mind because we’ll be there next week) and drink drip coffee that tastes, not like what you’d expect, but what you hope, drip coffee would taste like… fresh, rich, free of bitterness.

Even if you don’t get all frothy about drip coffee, you have to be heartened to know that this won’t be another shop with timers sitting on big pots of brew.

And now, a word about our next trip to Montreal. We don’t begin planning our next Christmas holiday in Montreal the day after we get back from the last one; we start the day we leave, when we book for the following year. This year, we’ll be at Auberge Les Passants du Sans Soucy from December 19-27. It will be our longest trip ever, and the best. Today, I bought the airline tickets, and that takes care of the second major element of our planning.

More to come on this, but with 129 days to prepare, we have some time to think about it.

I’m happy to know that on future trips, we’ll be able to take care of any iPhone, iPod or MacBook Pro needs that might arise.

UPDATE: A few photos from opening day are here.

Now, comes word that Bazaar Anise will close on July 13th, due to the owner’s health and a doctor’s recommendation, according to the Chowhound member.

We’re sad to discover that this will likely be the last incarnation of Anise.

I wrote about Veritas a few months ago. We went there practically the minute we got off the train in Montreal on our last holiday, hoping he would be working the machine, but he was on holiday. Nevertheless, we had great espresso then and on subsequent visits. Veritas is one of those cafes that looks just slick enough that you wonder if they really care about the coffee. The first sip confirms beyond the shadow of a doubt that they do.

I’m sure Veritas will retain its high standards – we’ll be back on our next trip in December to make sure. And we’ll be watching for news of the new cafe.

I’m much better than I used to be about packing, but I still pack way too much stuff. I’ve discovered that the way to solve this problem is to get at the assumptions that drive it:

*My leisure travel experience is going to be so different from my leisure time at home.

If I liked to ski or was into climbing, the assumption might be correct. But, in fact, my leisure travel experiences boil down to lounging around, walking around, eating, sleeping, sitting in a cafe, walking through a museum… in other words, despite the change in location, my activities are not that different from when I’m at home. The clothes that I wear when I travel don’t need to be anything special.

*Packing is worst-case scenario planning.

Yes, but what if the Prime Minister invites us to dinner? A bit carried away, but I find that one of the biggest traps I fall into is trying to plan for all kinds of possibilities. The result is usually an array of different outfits stuffed into the suitcase – many of them “just in case” I need them. Usually I don’t.

*I’m going to wear lots of clothes while I travel.

Actually, I won’t. At home, over the course of a week – 5 weeknights and 2 weekend days – I probably wear 3 different shirts and one pair of jeans. But if I’m traveling for a week, I pack 7 shirts and 3 pairs of jeans. Why? The truth of the matter is that when I’m traveling for pleasure, I wear the clothes that I like more than once, just as I do at home.

For me, those three assumptions get at much of what is wrong with my packing. So, taking the 7 day trip to Montreal as my example, here’s my plan for the next trip in December 2008:

* Choose one core color
I have lots of black shirts, sweaters, shoes, etc. If I put one brown thing in the suitcase, it’s all over because I have to pack the brown coat, the brown shoes, the brown belt. So I can choose one or the other, but not both.

* Realistically assess how you’ll wear what you pack
Over seven days, I can easily get by with 3-4 t-shirts for casual wear during the day, maybe less if I’m going to be wearing sweaters or sweatshirts, too. Two pairs of jeans is plenty. You want to think about what happens if something gets dirty, but don’t think about it too much. For evening wear, again be realistic. This year I took two dress shirts and a pair of dress pants, just in case I wanted to wear them to dinner. They never left the hotel room. If your dinners are going to be at casual restaurants, don’t bother with that stuff. If you want to turn up the knob just a bit at dinner, you can put on a nice sweater without having the ditch the jeans. That sweater will probably do you just fine for any number of dinners where you want to look a bit nicer. And if you’re like me, most of the time you’ll be happy enough to stay in casual mode when you know the restaurant allows it.

Those two steps will cut the volume of clothes I pack by at least a third. Now, to the cords and shit that our connected generation requires.

* Pack a powerstrip
No hotel has enough outlets for all the stuff we cart along with us. A small powerstrip makes life so much easier.

* Portable speakers
There are times when I like having music on in the hotel room and I don’t want to be enclosed in headphones. Chuck bought me a small JBL speaker system with an iPod dock a couple years ago. This is a perfect solution, especially in hotel rooms that don’t feature the newer clock radios with aux jacks. It’s a one piece solution for soothing sounds in your room. It also charges the iPod.

* Cable management
“Management” is the best you can do – most devices have nothing in common when it comes to cords. Those travel chargers with all the various connectors are a big help, but I’ve also had success without them. I focus on charging and syncing, gather the cables that I need, and stow them neatly in the suitcase.

* Backup protection
You’d be crazy to backup your computer before a trip and then take both the computer and the backup drive with you – but I think you should have some kind of backup media along for the ride, especially if you’re going to be taking lots of pictures and uploading them to your laptop, or doing some writing while you’re away. I back my stuff up to 4 different places, two of them off-site, so I don’t feel like I’m living dangerously if I take my Time Machine portable backup drive with me. If both get stolen or destroyed, I might lose all my photos from that trip, but everything else is safe. And as off-site backup solutions improve, and quality (in other words, true high speed) wireless internet becomes more common at hotels and cafes, I can upload even large numbers of photos easily to off-site backup locations.

That’s the current state of my education in packing. I’ll apply my new rules to upcoming trips and adjust them as I need to. I’m sure there’s much more to learn.

- – -

Opening Night: Toque!

As an eating team, we should have been dubbed The High Flying Locusts, for truly it was a swath we cut through Montreal haute cuisine. At Toque’, the delight in the presentation of each course paired with its wine was palpable around the table. I could be projecting a bit here. Robert and Michael eat everywhere fabulous, more fabulous and most fabulous, so this may not have knocked their socks off, but they looked well pleased. An exciting presentation style with handsome servers attending the table, announcing the food in English, and the exotic Pascal Paradis announcing (possibly in English) well-chosen wines from all over the world, made this meal for me the celebratory event that Todd had predicted. Todd also took momentary leave of his senses and hosted the meal entirely, a Herculean demonstration of courage and generosity. Funding the meals of The High Flying Locusts in major cuisine ports of call is not for the faint hearted.

I must say I am so easily amused. I just loved all the different plates that came out with each of the seven courses, blobby shapes, round, oval, square, different colors; it kept things a little off the expectable. This discovery, and the mid-century color palette in the dining room, caused me to think I had found the key to the name of the restaurant, which Donovan translated as ‘crazy.” I couldn’t identify anything else crazy about this place. Foodwise, I was well pleased with tastes, textures, amounts, presentation and progression, but especially memorable for me was the at times uncannily smooth continuum between the special tastes in the food and in the paired wines. I recall that Donovan later said to me that we had been at table four hours. I was surprised to hear this as the time went by so pleasurably fast. This ranks high as a truly memorable and festive meal with a relaxed, but precise signature. Chuck worked his elfin magic and scored us a tour of the kitchen. I normally would excuse myself from this sort of thing. The bright lights after a shaded dining room scare me off. But I must say this kitchen tour was a fascinating bonus. There were separate work stations for the cold appetizer, the hot appetizer, and all other components of the meal. The people looked like a precision team of experts. They smiled at us and seemed amused by their sighting of The High Flying Locusts. The place was spotless. I thought maybe I could fit in. The cellar was to die for. I especially wanted to work in the cellar. But I was sure Chuck already had the cellar or would have it soon. Maybe we can jobshare.

Lounging @ the W Plateau

Now, backing up a moment, I do wish to comment on the Mezzanine Bar at W Hotel in Montreal. Pretty much a country mouse, I attend places like this with a geewhiz shazaam viewpoint. I am the opposite of hip. But I do appreciate seeing the sheer volume of beautiful people in a place where they are expected to be beautiful and they goddam well deliver. I wore a Harris tweed sport jacket and a fine tie. Donovan said I looked like I was at work. I regretted not acting upon his comment when I saw a triumvirate of young men enter with their shirts stylishly hanging out in demonstration of affect that said “Oh God this is SO daily for us.” But I felt better when courteous Michael said I looked dapper. Dapper is good. At my age, dapper is something. Dapper is better than many other looks. It might not make GQ, but I would not humiliate myself when interviewed on NPR, if dapper.

Cleaning our Plates at Pintxo

Next evening, Pinxto was Proustian. I mean those late night bacchanals he hosted. Proust was in this case played handsomely by Michael. If I die tomorrow, I can at least say I have lived long enough to have dined with someone who actually said, quite grandly, “We would like every dish on the tapas menu, except the mixed salad.” You must know there were some 25 tapas on the menu. I think we suddenly were kicked up a notch by the owner, who realized that this was indeed his moment, The High Flying Locusts had arrived!! Donovan and I took great delight the next day in recalling that all tapas except the mixed salad had been ordered. We decided that the mixed salad was just too banal in name to even appear on the table. But then the parade of tapas did commence, in a well spaced progression from the kitchen, each one a treat, each one delicious, each one enticing in its uniqueness. I do not recall the wine singing here with the skill of the food, but it certainly was serviceable. Unbelievably, although each Locust also ordered an entrée after the tapas marathon, we all did acknowledge the next day that the entrees were probably de trop. Honorable mention must go to Robert, who exhibited manly restraint and actually allowed a portion of his food to be taken away unconsumed.

Stepping back again, we all met for cocktails in the bar at the Ritz. This bar is characterized by well spaced tables and courtly service that inspire good conversation. A great place to start an evening and focus on each other. Donovan and I are relatively new to The High Flying Locusts, so we appreciated the opportunities on this visit to converse.

The Foot of the Pig

On our last night, we experienced Au Pied de Cochon. It is truly a great experience when, amidst the swirling chaos of this place, one also realizes that one is dining at a restaurant that will be short-listed in one’s dining journal for various reasons: service, ambiance, food dynamism, portions (Oh Ye Happy Band of Men, Ye Happy Locusts), hospitality and just sheer fun. Our personal sommelier, Chuck, chose to outfit himself in native garb this evening, including a blue stocking cap tilted back on his head, giving him the allure of the woods, the musk of the logging camp and the cachet of après ski. He already has several categories of allure, so this really was grabby of him, but we forgave him instantly because he befriended all service staff with secret codes and signs, and soon we were in like Flynn with everyone who had the keys to our hungry hearts. Wines flowed in comfortable sync with an array of foods that came and went, crossed our table this way and that with tastings, commentaries and second offerings. Not what you would call an uptight restaurant!! The sought-after Sugar Pie got reserved ahead of time for our dessert phase. Special reserve dessert wines appeared. Somehow one knew this was no ordinary nice restaurant; this place was breaking boundaries and categories right and left and the peak moment seemed to be right now.

Our world class server bounced both of her hands in front of her mouth, gathering her extended fingertips around her thumb, to show us that the pork appetizer special that evening was “simple, simple, but so delicious.” Later, in commentary, Michael showed us with the same gesture that his appetizer had indeed been “simple, simple, but so delicious.” I am still smiling about that. You would have to see Michael do that to get the wit. Basically, his gesture might get me through the whole winter. The server in question should be put on Quebec’s list of National Treasures. Nanette would work for her name if that isn’t in fact her name. She is the Piaf of Pork! I was so enamored of her excellence that upon leaving I actually kissed her hand in the fashion of the European courts. Of course, this was totally inappropriate, but I hasten to add that only the most cautious nearness to her skin was involved, not even real contact with my lips. I read somewhere that was how you do it to be cool, so I was cool within my jerkiness. I can see Michael here, saying: “simple, simple, but so delicious.”

We’re driven by both imperatives, each trip to Montreal, and we felt that the stakes were higher this year because it wasn’t just us – we had four friends along for the ride. Yes, all were easy-going, all love great food, and most of them had been to Montreal before, but we still wanted to create a special experience for them, and highlight some what makes Montreal special to us.

I’ve already outlined the plan, so please allow this post to be about the experience of each restaurant; not a review per se, but a recounting of our time there.

Toque!

This was the celebratory dinner – the first night in Montreal for all of us; a chance to leave behind work, the 2008 Election, all things USA, and kick back. Toque was a great choice for this. Yes, it’s expensive, especially if you choose the tasting menu with wine, but we find that, more and more, we enjoy having the chef create the experience for us and match wine to it. In the best of circumstances, this can be the way to truly discover how a chef thinks and cooks, as well as the sommelier’s knowledge of wine. We were pleased with the experience at Toque; we found the atmosphere enjoyable, the food was delicious; and we were pleased that we could get a brief tour of the wine cellar and the kitchen afterward.

Pintxo

As I’ve explained previously, this was our choice to highlight the great neighborhood restaurants of Montreal. It’s hard to pick one and hope to do justice, but the point is to chill and enjoy it. Pintxo was great fun – we ate nearly every one of the small plates on the menu, and ordered seconds of a few of them. Several of us dived into a main dish, only to discover that we were more full than we expected; a few more tapas would have been excellent and we could have skipped the mains. The atmosphere at Pintxo is tight and convivial; we were a little loud, but then, so were our fellow diners at neighboring tables. No one cared; we all had a great time. The best part was the food, no surprise. There’s nothing quite as fun as getting exposed to new tastes in a no-pressure atmosphere. I wouldn’t call myself a fan of blood pudding, however nearly all of us had a taste because that’s all that was required of us – a taste. Plus, who wouldn’t enjoy seeing new plates of food arriving every couple of minutes? If Brunoise had survived a few weeks longer, we would have eaten there instead, but this “second choice” turned out to be really wonderful.

Au Pied de Cochon

I’m hesitant to admit that this was our second visit there… and still no foie gras. That’s another reason to go back. I think it would be hard to overstate our pleasure with this meal. All six of us ate till we could eat no more; we had excellent wine; we had a server who is a contender for Best Server of All Time – she fostered and magnified the sense of joy we had eating there, and her excitement and enthusiasm were so infectious. Martin Picard’s restaurant isn’t about pretension; it’s about eating good food. It’s loud, a bit raucous, a touch chaotic… but the food is consistently good. The cassoulet was tremendous; the venison tartare, delicious. I had bites of just about everything the others were eating, and it all tasted great, too. This year, we got Sugar Pie. (Last year, there were out of it.) In the company of our best friends, this rises above all other meals as the best dining experience of Montreal.

Gandhi

We’re fans of Gandhi – we like the food, the naan, in particular. We broke our rule and dined there twice – on Christmas Eve and again on Boxing Day. (It’s close to where we stay; I had a cold. It was easier just to go back than to venture out.) I think we were all pleased with the food, but it was one of those moments where you understand how important the ambiance is to your enjoyment of the evening. The restaurant was nearly empty – it was early, first of all; and on Christmas Eve, Indian food is often not at the top of one’s list. Well, we enjoyed the meal, as we did again on Boxing Day, but the traditionalist inside me wishes we had gone to Bonaparte again on Christmas Eve. As I’ve noted before, the Bonaparte menu is pretty much unchanged over 4 years of Christmas Eve dining, but it’s always full on Christmas Eve, and its Quebecois/French cuisine is what traditionalists like me enjoy on such a night. Perhaps next year.

Otto

This is the fourth year in a row of dining on Christmas night at Otto – the restaurant in the W Hotel. After three years of a nearly empty dining room, we were surprised to see the place get positively busy; so were the staff – they were calling in reinforcements. The menu has changed in recent weeks, and although we’ve always had good experiences, I think this was the best meal we’ve had there so far. We often feel like we’re copping out by going to Otto – after all, it’s a hotel restaurant. But on Christmas, there’s precious little open; hotel restaurants are our best option. Perhaps we could have been more adventurous – our list included untried restaurants at the St James, St Paul and Le Meridien Hotels, but Otto proved to be not only a comfortable dining experience, the food was also very enjoyable.

Final Thoughts

Unless our friends flat out lied to us, they enjoyed themselves at these restaurants. I think it’s hard to arrive at a perfect choice, the larger your group gets. But we were blessed to be a group of six hungry, curious guys, who live food, love wine, and genuinely enjoyed each others’ company.

Does it get any better than that?

Many structures have stood on the site of the present day museum, and excavations beneath the site have uncovered layer upon layer of history, from the old fortifications to foundations of buildings, to the first graveyard of Montreal. The underground excavations are arranged as a fascinating tour that extends beyond the museum itself, under the street to the nearby Place Royale, the 19th century customs house, now renovated as a souvenir shop for the museum.

What makes it even more interesting is that the archaeological work continues, there have been new discoveries, and the tour will grow over time to include part of Montreal’s old storm water system.

The museum also includes temporary exhibits – the current exhibit looks at the politically tempestuous period of Quebec (and Canadian) history in the late 1830’s, leading up the burning of the Parliament building in Montreal.

A few notes about the museum: there’s a video presentation that presents a brief, stylized history of Montreal. But “stylized” is certainly the word for it. If you have a very basic understanding of the development of Montreal, it might be best to skip it because the target audience seems to be schoolchildren. It’s not terrible, it’s just a bit juvenile.

The tour is a lot of fun, although I would say that because guided tours are only available at specific times, you may find yourself encountering artifacts or portions of the excavation that aren’t explained as well as you’d hope. I’ve done a fair amount of reading about Old Montreal but I found I was often struggling to “connect the dots” with what I was seeing. That said, there’s signage with a certain level of detail. If you’re like me and you’re obsessed with Old Montreal, then get a good history book to fill in the blanks, or take the guided tour.

Tour info, museum prices, and hours are here. Anyone interested in history will find this an enjoyable visit.

Veritas is located in Old Montreal, 480 St. Laurent, near the corner of Notre Dame Ouest. It’s a cool, modern interior… probably not a space where I’d curl up with a coffee for a few hours to work on the computer, but it’s smart, with a clean and utilitarian layout.

Chuck ordered a cappuccino; I, an espresso. I’ll say first of all that Anthony was away on holiday, but my espresso was the best I’ve had in a very long time. The 49th Parallel blend they use has bright, fruity high notes, but it’s also rich and deep, no bitterness, perfect crema. Chuck was impressed by his cappuccino. The owner was really cool about explaining the benefits of the Synesso machine to my former barista boyfriend, and chatting about the business in general.

The cafe was to be open the next day and then close for the holidays, so we got there in the morning for our second Veritas experience and it was brilliant again. With a fully manual machine like the Synesso, you quickly “taste” each barista and how he or she pulls the shot. So my espresso the next day had a deeper, darker texture with few high notes, but it was still good, and variation is a part of the experience of coffee.

Veritas was my best espresso in Montreal. There’s a lot of bad coffee in Montreal, as is the case everywhere, but the city also has some really good coffee - Caffe in Gamba and Caffe Art Java, to name two. The arrival of Veritas, in June of 2007, raises the bar even higher.

Why no posting during the trip this year? Well, we were busy. It was interesting – this was one of the most relaxing of the Montreal trips, even though we did more things, and we had four friends along for the ride. Here’s why:

We didn’t go shopping. In years past, we’ve spent at least a few hours on St. Catherine, scoping out things to buy. It’s fun, but everyone in Montreal is there, doing the same thing. The result is an experience, that – even at its best – is stressful. We didn’t have to drop all shopping from the itinerary, it’s just the way it worked out. But it meant we didn’t have to brave the crowds.

Fewer activities. We’ve never stuck to a firm schedule for anything in Montreal, except dinner. But we’ve had a stable of activities, some of which have been “traditional” or considered obligatory, and for this trip, we cleared the schedule of those activities, too, primarily because we had others along for the ride. This, combined with the general ethic do what you feel like doing, led to an enjoyable vacation.

Our friends. They were so much fun, that the prospect of spending next year in Montreal without them seems kind of boring.

More specific posts are on the way, but in general, this was a great trip.

We wish we could make 5 trips there a year – or, better yet, move there – but this is all we can cram into our schedule at this point. And so, these 7 days in the city take on great importance.

I’ve been watching the weather forecasts across four different cities for the past week, looking for any signs of approaching storms which might delay our travel. Frankly, I’m more concerned about US airports than I am with Toronto (where we’ll land); Pearson has a pretty good record when it comes to staying in operation through major storms – witness this past weekend. In fact, many travelers found they were able to land at Pearson in the snowstorm, but they couldn’t get out of the airport by car or bus.

Well, I’ll fret (minimally) about potential delays to The Plan until we arrive on the Via Rail platform in Montreal on Friday afternoon.

In the meantime, off we go!

We’ll rendezvous in Toronto on December 20th with Bob and Michael, and they’ll join us on the train to Montreal on 12/21. When we arrive in Montreal, we’ll meet up with Howard and Donovan. They be with us until Christmas Eve; Bob and Michael will return home the day after Christmas.

As I’ve noted before, the presence of others has caused us to shift our approach to dining plans. Both couples have been in Montreal before, but not during the holidays. What we’re aiming to give them is a small taste of the city, knowing that we can’t begin to show everything we’ve discovered about Montreal, much less the vastness of the city we haven’t yet discovered.

Here’s how things are shaping up:

Toronto
12/20: Rain – the Rubinos are celebrities, and their restaurant gets some backlash because of it, but over multiple visits, we’ve loved the experience. Guy Rubino creates some really amazing dishes; we like the design of the space; Robert Gonsalves is one of the best pastry chefs around. I still remember a food and wine pairing from a tasting menu two years ago that was the most seamless expression of a pairing that I’ve ever had. Toronto has some good restaurants; in the “great” category, there’s Susur and we must break old habits to visit it soon. But sometimes it fun to drop in on an old friend, after nearly two years to the day since our last visit to Rain, we’re looking forward to it.

Montreal
12/21: Toque – this restaurant regularly surfaces in the “top restaurants” lists, and it has a solid reputation. We’ve never been, so I’ll have more to say in about a month. Chuck chose it because it’s likely to be a perfect “first night” restaurant, one of those places you choose to go because you’re in a celebratory mood and you want a crowd around you. I think it’s a great choice.

12/22: Pintxo – this was to be our night at Brunoise, which closed about a week ago. Forced to make another choice, we went with another restaurant we’ve not visited, but one that lets us focus on the smaller neighborhood bistro, which, despite the loss of Brunoise and Anise, seems to flourish in Montreal. Pinxto has a solid reputation; again, we’ll have more to say after we’ve been there.

12/23: Au Pied de Cochon – Martin Picard’s restaurant hits several buttons at once: quintessential Montreal, neighborhood establishment, solid reputation, den of decadence. Where else should one worship foie gras than in a loud restaurant, packed to the gills with diners who can’t get enough of it? Chuck and I ate here for the first time last year, and it’s been on every version of this list we’ve made since then.

12/24, 12/25 and 12/26 are still up in the air. I have a soft spot for Bonaparte on Christmas Eve; it’s traditional French/Quebecois, a little frumpy – it just feels right for Christmas Eve, where the stately meal is followed by bedtime viewing of “Scrooge” on CBC. Chuck, however, notes that the menu hasn’t changed in three years. This is largely true. So Bonaparte maybe out this year – at least for Christmas Eve. Christmas night, it’s hard to find much open, so it might turn out to be our lifesaver that night. Last year, we noticed that Gandhi had a special meal for Christmas Eve – we hadn’t noticed this in previous years. That’s tempting, if they’re planning it again for this year.

Lunch: I expect we’ll visit the usual suspects: Olive et Gourmando, Titanic, Holder, Cluny.

More updates as we nail it down.

This is truly sad news for us – we found out today when the reservation we made last night for our upcoming trip, returned via email today with a note from staff about the closing.

Another one bites the dust, eh? Comments on Chowhound reference an article in the Montreal Gazette the other day; it seems the restaurant struggled to make money, in competition with other restaurants in its price category. Other factors were cited, too, including the sale of the building.

La Brasserie Brunoise will continue in operation, so that’s a saving grace, but it’s sad to see restaurants with a high caliber of cooking, like Anise and Brunoise, go away. (Anise also continues in another form)

Luckily, we had the chance to dine at Brunoise last year. It was a night of freezing rain, and we went sliding out of the Metro station to St Andre to enjoy a really wonderful meal, capped off by the vanilla panna cotta with basil syrup.

We have the memory, at least.

It’s a different trip this year, in a couple ways. First, we’ll have two great friends joining us for the days leading up to Christmas Eve. I wouldn’t say we’ve tried to over-script those 3 days, but we have rearranged our plans somewhat to give them what we hope will be an enjoyable snapshot of the city. This means plenty of downtime, but also a few focus destinations – probably Musee d’art contemporain and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; perhaps a visit to Notre Dame Basilica. Up to now, we’ve avoided Schwartz’s, but we might make our first visit this year, using our friends as a good excuse.

Because Chuck and I are foodies, we’ve also started rearranging our restaurant plans to highlight particular favorite restaurants while they’re with us. The leading candidates for “Dinners for Four” are Au Pied de Cochon, BAZaAR Anise, Brunoise, and Bonaparte.

I would hesitate to portray these choices as quintessential. I think that’s a mistake a lot of people make when they visit a place – they either have a list set in stone that “represents” a city, or they become overwhelmed trying to create that kind of list. We won’t play that game, but we do have a rationale for our choices, which takes into account the menu, the chef, the reviews, the patron buzz (Chowhound and elsewhere), proximity to our hotel or accessibility via Metro, previous experience, etc.

“Cochon” isn’t a restaurant that “represents all of Montreal” but it certainly represents the vision of Chef Martin Picard, and there’s something about that place that makes you think it would be hard to locate elsewhere. Bonaparte very nicely executes the French/Quebec theme and the ambience is quiet and restrained. As neighborhood bistros, Brunoise and BAZaAR Anise might offer an experience no different than you’d find in any other bistro, but again, it’s the menu, flavors and execution that make these restaurants shine.

Then there’s lunch! Frankly, I could have lunch every day at Olive et Gourmando and never be unhappy, but I expect Chuck will expand the lunch choices.

So that’s where we are now. This list will change, I’m certain.

AppleInsider reports that the new store will be downtown (1321 St Catherine Ouest) in a storefront currently occupied by MENS. They’ll vacate in November, at which point the site will undergo heavy renovations to accommodate cool features like the glass-enclosed staircase… opening sometime early in 2008, one would assume.

When we’re there next, I’ll try to grab some pictures of the renovation project.

There was a flavorless gazpacho, but the reviewer went all frothy over the mains. The French language reviews have been positive, overall, too… based on my bad French language skills.

We’ve developed a bias against hotel restaurants, but we enjoyed the space, food and experience at Cube, so we might give its successor a try.

Vauvert
In the Hotel St-Paul, 355 McGill
514-876-2823

Cube was open for private parties and events a few months after closing, while its former chef, Eric Gonzalez, left for XO, the concept at the St James Hotel, a few blocks away.

Now, a new restaurant is on the way – Vauvert. My information about Vauvert, so far, is limited to the French language page posted at the old Cube web site. One learns little from the description beyond the desire to offer Montreal diners something different, something that respects the tradition of Cube, a menu that is accessible, etc.

Chef Pascal LeBlond is a Cube veteran. To quote the web site:

Il a reinvente des classiques de la cuisine Francaise Meridionale en leur donnant une tournure resolument Quebecoise.

We’ll keep an eye on it, and check it out in September if it’s up and running by then. In the meantime, we’ll watch the Vauvert web site; at present, it’s closed to public access.

The food looks to be more casual than the first incarnation – beek, pork, veal, venison… and some delectable appetizers – grilled Lebanese sausages with pomegranate molasses and lamb samosas flavoured with seven spices, pine nuts and red pepper tapenade – among the selections. Good, earthy food, drawn from a range of influences.

As with the first Anise, the second will be one to watch!

BAZaAR Anise
104 rue Laurier Ouest
(514) 276-6999