Midrange food options + small restaurants

[JeremyEG]

Hello,
My girlfriend and I are coming to visit Montreal for the first time in August. We are going to Toque for our "upscale" meal but are very open to suggestions for mid range and smaller restaurants for the rest of our trip. We are staying near the Latin Quarter but can travel.

We are both NY Hounds and I can tell by your board that you guys hate overly vague questions but we are absolutely open to any kind of food. Sushi, sandwiches, seafood, middle eastern, whatever. Most important is great food and friendly owners. We also enjoy visiting new neighborhoods and centering our visit on good food so we're willing to travel anywhere. We will have a car although we'd prefer to go by train if possible.

Also, if you guys have wine bars (NY has become overrun with them!) we'd love to hear your suggestions. Thanks for your help in advance and osrry for the long posting!

Jeremy

[C]

You can't go wrong in Montreal with Middle Eastern and Greek. Seafood is not a specialty of the city, so stick with the finer restaurants for that. Same goes for sushi. I'd recommend Joe Beef for a spendy meal, as well as Au Pied de Cochon for a truly Quebecois experience. Otherwise, in the mid-range, head to the plateau and you'll find a ton of good food.

[Michelle]

Hi Jeremy,

I would try having a sandwich and tea out on the terrace of santropole for a lunch. It's wonderful there.

Link: http://www.montrealfood.com/restos/sa...

[Sam]

It isn't that just that vague questions inspire "hate", but that there is so much wonderful food to choose fun. Spend a bit of time reading this board, but here are some general recommendations, in addition to your high-end meal:
- pick one or two bring-your-own-wine spots (see the board for a discussion of which ones will suit you)
- if you are touristing in Old Montreal, choose carefully (Version, Chez L'épicier and Olive & Gourmando are good bets) to avoid the usual tourist-area traps
- try poutine - and not just the fancy stuff turned out by some restos with foie gras, etc
- there are several wine bars, but many are overrated, IMHO. My favourite is Bu, on St. Laurent. Nice selection, interesting composition of flights, good snacks (try the stuffed olives).

[Dave]

If you're venturing on the Plateau Mont-Royal, I'd say to hit Café Byblos on Laurier Est for typical iranian breakfast, the feta omelette is to die for. While you're there, there's a small pastry shop called Saveurs du Plateau a couple doors next to Byblos and they have crazy croissants and cakes. Also a few doors down, head towards Le Fromentier for great bread, located in the basement of a building where you can see a video store above street level. Also on the Plateau but closer to quartier latin, head to la Banquise for typical poutine, on Rachel Street. Great burgers and fries at Chez Paryse on Ontario, right in the heart of Quartier Latin.

For great pizza, try Pizzeria Napoletana on Dante, it's bring your own (wine only though, no beer) and about $30 for 2 tip and taxes included. Great pizza and atmosphere.

Schwartz is a not to miss on St-Laurent for smoked meat so is le Roy du Plateau on Rachel west of St-Laurent for portuguese wood roasted chicken.

Looking for good mexican food? La Hacienda on Van Horne in Outremont is pretty darn good and not to expansive.

Going in the Old city, I'd suggest Titanic on St-Pierre st. for a good sandwich for lunch or Cluny and Le Cartet also in the same area.

[carswell]

With all due respect to Dave, with whose other reccos I concur, I can't imagine either La Hacienda or Napolitana providing Mexican food or pizza that wouldn't be bettered by any number of places in the NYC area.

Affordable resto reccos are a problem since there are so many deserving candidates and any list is going to be highly personal. Some on mine include:
- Le Jolifou (www.jolifou.com), Le Bouchon de Liège (8497 Saint-Dominique, 514 807-0033), Bistro Le Repertoire (www.restaurantchristophe.com), Tapeo (www.restotapeo.com) and the Ethiopian Le Messob d'Or (5690 Monkland, 514 488-8620), all of which are in far-flung neighbourhoods that you'll have to take the metro to get to but that will give you a non-tourist's eye view of Montreal
- the unmissable east-end bistro Au Petit Extra (www.aupetitextra.com)
- BYOBs Le P'tit Plateau (330 Marie-Anne East, 514 282-6342) and O'Thym (www.othym.com)
- Old Montreal's Olive et Gourmando (www.oliveetgourmando.com) and Cluny ArtBar (www.cluny.info), both for lunch
- Hue-style Vietnamese Au Cyclo (5136 Parc, 514 272-1477
)- the $22 after-10-p.m. table d'hôte menu at Leméac (now with a website! www.restaurantlemeac.com)
- fries and whatever at Frite Alors! (www.fritealors.com), but only the Parc and Laurier East outlets
- Syrian/Armenian Le Petit Alep (191 Jean-Talon East, 514 270-9361), especially when combined with a tour of the Jean Talon market, especially this time of year
- sandwiches, etc., at Meatmarket (www.meatmarketfood.com)
- brunch, lunch or supper at microbrewry Réservoir (9 Duluth East, 514 849-7779)
- Portuguese piri piri chicken at Mavi in Côte-des-Neiges (www.teiaportuguesa.com/mavi/menu.htm) or Portugalia or Ramados on the Plateau
- etc., etc., etc.
Most if not all of these places have been discussed here. You should also visit ...an endless banquet (endlessbanquet.blogspot.com), the city's best food blog (pay special attention to the Montreal Food Guide linked to in the left hand column), and the archives of Maeve Haldane's weekly food column in Hour (www.hour.ca/food/food.aspx).

Another thing to bear in mind is serendipity. Montreal's a great walking city and there's something to be said for just pointing youself to an interesting neighbourhood (Bernard, Laurier and Van Horne in Outremont; St-Laurent, St-Viateur, Parc in Mile End; Mount-Royal, Duluth, Marie-Anne, Guilford, Laurier in the Plateau; Monkland in NDG; etc.) and wandering until you stumble across a place that appeals.

There are three wine bars of note: the already mentioned Bû (www.bu-mtl.com), cool, laid-back and with the most interesting wine flights overall; POP! (www.popbaravin.com), with its delightful Danish modern decor, appealing menu (it's connected to the upscale bistro Laloux) and limited but always intriguing wine selection; and Pullman (3424 Parc, 514 288-7779, their website appears to be inoperative), the most middle-of-the-road of the bunch. Note that all three are technically restaurants, meaning you have to order some nibbles along with your wine.

If beer's your thing, make a beeline for Dieu du Ciel (www.dieuduciel.com), whose only shortcoming is its lack of food beyond munchables of the nacho variety. Also worth a detour are Le Cheval Blanc (www.lechevalblanc.ca) and, for its Czech-style pilsner so delicious and authentic that it's the house beer at the Czech consulate, L'Amère à boire (www.amereaboire.com).

Coffee has been covered in a recent thread. But if you have any interest in tea, make time for a visit to Camellia Sinensis (camellia-sinensis.com), possibly the best tea shop and salon in North America.

[JeremyEG]

Wow. What wonderful suggestions. You guys have such diverse food options. Thank you so much. We can't wait to visit! And please let us know if you ever need NYC recs!

Jeremy