To recap, Marc André-Jetté and Patrice Demers left Laloux in May 2009 to relaunch Newtown, and Eric Gonzalez moved over to Laloux from XO. Both moves resulted in good reviews for Newtown and Laloux. We ate at Newtown and Laloux on December 19th and 20th 2009, respectively, and we loved both restaurants, giving a slight edge to Gonzalez’s stellar performance at Laloux.

Even as we dined there, Gonzalez had already announced he was leaving for a new project, which we now know is Auberge Saint-Gabriel in the Old City.

Well, that was long. So, here we are today, with Seth Gabrielse at the helm of Laloux. It’s his first time in charge of a kitchen but he’s had excellent training at the side of Racha Bassoul, who ran the long-closed, long-lamented Anise. (Bassoul joined Gabrielse at Laloux in February for a special dinner.)

Voir has published what looks to be the first major review of Laloux in its new, Middle Eastern-flavored version, and overall, it’s quite positive. The kitchen is “less spectacular” than it was under Gonzalez, writes the reviewer, but there’s praise for the subtle spicing of the new dishes, and there are still a few Laloux and bistro classics on the menu. Special notes for Michelle Marek, Laloux’s incomparable pastry chef, and well as the assistant sommelier Theo Diamantis. We met him in December and greatly enjoyed him. (Sommelier David Vincent is also brilliant.) The Voir assessment: This is the kitchen of a promising young chef, who will only get better.

photo credit: Christine Bourgier

… 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.

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.

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.

• 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.

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.