Montreal dinners -- advice please!

Americas - Canada
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I will be in Montreal for about 4 full days, attending a conference at the Le Centre Sheraton Montreal. I will not have a car, but am willing to walk/taxi/uber to dinner, and will likely be dining alone most of the time (not an issue for me; I am female and middle aged). I have not been to Montreal in decades and am just beginning to look at neighborhoods and restaurants. I would love lunch options near the hotel, since the conference is all day and I doubt I’ll be venturing far. I try to eat sensibly for lunch, so healthy options would be really welcome!

For dinner, I’d love at least one quintessential wonderful dinner in Montreal – I eat just about everything, but can’t really tolerate very spicy food. Don’t eat offal. Love French, Italian, Japanese including sushi, would love some great Chinese, plus whatever is a good example of local cuisine and cooking. Price is generally not a problem – probably don’t want to spend more than $100 including a couple glasses of wine, but I am flexible. I have lived in Los Angeles for years, so we have almost everything here, but if there is a particularly good ethnic area where I should try something, I’d really like to know (for example, Ethiopian or Middle Eastern or Indian).

Thank You!

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Found these. Don’t know how current they are. A few of the chefs I’ve heard of. In particular, hyperactive Chuck Hughes seems to be everywhere.

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/montreal-restaurants

Have fun! Give us a report.

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Thanks for the links! I also looked at some other sites, and after much dithering, have booked Ferreira Cafe, Hvor and Bouillion Bilk. Moishes and Toque! were early front runners, but I’d like a bit less formal. Any missteps here? Plan to try poutine (so much for the sensible lunch) and Arthur’s and Viateurs also. Very excited to try everything.

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Very nice. Have a great trip. Post some pics if you feel like it.

P.S. Yes… gotta’ have some poutine.

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I remember salivating while watching the Mind of a Chef (on PBS) episode where David Chang & Aziz Ansari went to Wilensky’s Light Lunch for fried bologna sandwiches!

If I were going, I’d also stop by Joe Beef (which is also featured on that same episode). Seems like a fun, gastropub-y environment. From what I can gather, their menu changes quite a bit, but there are pics on Yelp that should give a good idea of their typical offerings:

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I saw that too :smile:. Good memory.

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I ended up with 3 very excellent dinners at Cafe Ferreira, Hvor and Bouillon Bilk, as well as indulging in a bagel taste test between Fairmount and St. Viateur (a tie, of course), a good salmon salad at Mandy’s, and a filling, satisfying Eggs Florentine at Universel. I also ate at Brigade Pizza and Joe’s Panini, the latter of which is a nice quick stop for a working lunch, the former offering up a way too watery pizza, whose only redeeming characteristic is that it is baked in a Naples oven.

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Awesome!

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For anyone searching in the future:

Just back from a week in Montreal and by far the most incredible meal was dinner at Foxy. I had been to lunch at their well-known restaurant, Olive et Gourmando in Vieux-Montreal, which was solid. But after 5 nights of good, but not mind-blowing meals off the Eater 38 list, decided to do a little more digging and found Foxy. It’s similar to Gjelina (in Venice, CA) in many ways, and has a full bar. Here’s their menu, which changes seasonally:

I also recommend Moishe’s, a steakhouse: http://moishes.ca

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I second Joe Beef.

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joe beef, joe beef, joe beef.

i’ve been twice, loved both meals. hoping to go back again this summer.

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whoops! didn’t notice this thread was last active last summer. anyway, joe beef is my favourite high-end/french-derived restaurant in north america. cannot recommend them enough to anybody going to montreal. (i’ve written up both my meals: here and here.)

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Went to Au Pied de Cochon at 9:30 on Saturday. They’d sold out of most of what I was going to order including andouillettes and white asparagus.

Bread was excellent. Great butter.

Foie gras cromesquis were fun. Breading seemed a bit heavy, never had another version to compare.

Fries in the regular poutine were great when they first came out. Got soggy fast. Curds were not squeaky.

amandine
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Fiddleheads (not mentioned on the menu) were the best part of the amandine. Maple syrup worked better with them than the green beans, though I could have done without it.

chop
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Pork chop was excellent, mushrooms, onions, and wine sauce seemed excessive, but that’s kind of the point, right? Mashed potatoes would have been an excellent pairing.

tart
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The blood sausage in the tart was OK but sort of crumbling into the gravy. Pastry was meh, two bites were more than enough. Potatoes were overkill. I ate the boudin and foie and sopped up some of the gravy with the excellent bread.

Crème brûlée, the custard was great but the maple sugar on top was not caramelized so was grainy and too sweet. Similar story with the ice cream and the syrup on top. Couldn’t understand the chomeur at all, super-sweet sauce with gooey dough on top. Somebody has an insane sweet tooth.

The atmosphere was really fun, seemed like more locals than tourists. I suspect execution was better before it became an institution and Picard an impressario.

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Looks like more misses than hits

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I think you could have a great time with a party of four or six if you ordered the right dishes, but it’s certainly not a must.

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