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.

• 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 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.