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Chuck and I spend all year talking about the restaurants we visit in Montreal over the holidays, and planning for the next holiday trip. I realize this can seem a bit freaky, but it’s not really because a large percentage of our conversation is about food and restaurants. It’s just kind of a natural thing.

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 but we had three great meals there, we like the Thai food here 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.

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

What about lunch? That’s next.

I mentioned Anthony’s departure as barista at Cafe Sante Veritas a short while back, Anthony now provides some details about his new place, to be opening in downtown Montreal in October, most likely.

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. That’s still too rare. 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.

Montreal’s Apple Store opens this Friday, downtown at 1321 Rue Ste-Catherine Ouest. It’s been awhile since we talked about this - renovations began last November. (Photos of MENS, the previous tenant, here.)

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.

A while back, we noted the passing of Anise… and then the opening of its successor, Bazaar Anise.

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.

Anthony Benda has posted to his blog about his decision to leave Cafe Sante Veritas, and apparently strike out on his own, with a new cafe to open in the near future in downtown Montreal.

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.

That question causes no end of thinking and re-thinking. And, of course, it’s not really about Montreal; it’s about traveling and packing, in general. Every time I travel, I over-pack, filling a suitcase to overflowing with all the stuff I think I might wear, as well as all the shoes to match, and the supporting cables for my growing array of gadgets. And every time I return, I assess the pile of unused stuff in the suitcase and try to remember what I was thinking.

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.

I’ve extended an invitation to our traveling companions: write about the experience you had in Montreal. Howard Schaefer brings his talent at description and scene-setting to three of our most memorable meals during their stay.

- - -

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.”

For any food-lover, this is the most difficult and time-consuming aspect of any trip. It’s not drudgery, it just consumes a lot of energy, when you want to make each dinner special, or you have a long list of must-try restaurants that you’d like to put a dent in.

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?

For at least a couple years, we’ve intended to tour the Pointe-a-Calliere Museum in Old Montreal. The museum is housed in a contemporary building, built on the site where Montreal was born. (In fact, from what I can gather, it’s only been recently established beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is the spot where Montreal began.)

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.

For about six months, we’ve been reading raves from various Chowhound contributors about Cafe Veritas, the three-group Synesso machine, the coffee from 49th Parallel Roasters, the prowess of Anthony, the cafe’s celebrated barista. So, about two hours after getting off the train, we stopped in for coffee. This close to the holidays, we never assume any business is going to be open with regular hours.

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.

Forgive me for not writing anything during the actual trip - I’ll try to make up for it with a number of posts over the next few days.

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’ve been busy all month with lots of work, but in the back of our minds, we’ve been thinking about one thing: the annual trip to Montreal for the holidays.

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!

This is going to be a fun holiday in Montreal. For the first time in three years, it won’t be just Chuck and me; we have two other couples joining us for portions of the holiday.

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.

Brunoise closed after service on Saturday night.

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.

The year has gone by quickly - I can remember our last trip to Montreal as though it was only a few weeks ago, but the bottom line is, in about 10 weeks, we’ll be back in the city.

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.

I forgot to note this a couple months ago, but Cobalt, the cafe/jazz club on St Paul Ouest in Old Montreal, has closed permanently. The web site finally disappeared in July. No word yet on what will replace it, but it’s a prime location.

Montreal will get it’s first flagship Apple Store - also the first flagship Apple Store in Canada - in the not-too-distant future!

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.

Overall, a positive review of Vauvert, the new restaurant in the St Paul Hotel on McGill.

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

Chuck and I were around for Cube’s final night in December, and since then, we’ve been waiting to see what would come next at the Hotel St Paul in Old Montreal.

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 news came in an email, followed by Chowhound - Racha Bassoul is to open BAZaAR Anise on May 17th! The new web site is up, and there’s a menu, too.

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

It’s always hard to follow this from afar, but we’re doing our best to keep up with a few personal favorites on the Montreal restaurant scene… at the same time that we’re looking for new potential favorites.

To that end, a couple notes from Chowhound:

The old Les Chevres space looks to morph into Le Joli Moulin, opening soon and specializing in steaks and seafood. This may well be an existing restaurant finding a new location.

Eric Gonzalez left Cube after it closed on December 23rd (we were there for the final night, quite coincidentally) is now at XO in the Hotel St. James.

Cobalt has closed temporarily because of a recent flood. The web site emphasizes that it’s temporary, although we’ve seen some speculation on food discussion boards that the closing may turn out to be permanent.

We hope not! The cafe/bar features good food and great jazz music… and in the summer, it opens its windows onto St-Paul Ouest.

It’s definitely a work in progress, but there is at least a placeholder for a new web site for Cluny Art Bar, on rue Prince near Old Montreal. You can find some basic details about the menu there, as well as some of the backstory on the old Darling Foundry.

We enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing hour there, sipping tea and coffee on a late Friday afternoon in December. On our next trip, we’re planning lunch there. Until there’s more tantalizing detail, either from us or from the Cluny web site, enjoy this review of Cluny from one of our favorite foodie blogs.

Cluny (257 rue Prince, 514-866-1213)

You can walk down the narrow streets of Old Montreal and pick up that sense of Old World meets New. But you can delve deeply into the stories of nearly every building in the Old City here.

I’ve spent hours “walking the streets” on this site, looking up building after building, reading about the previous owners, the construction history, the changing uses of the edifice over decades and even centuries. It’s the kind of exploration that exposes the history of the city, layer by layer. I can’t get enough of it. Unfortunately, most of it is in French only, but the site offers up a few English records, “for demonstration purposes only.” (Apparently, this is to demonstrate that translation is actually possible.) Among them is the record for 171 rue St Paul ouest, the present day auberge where Chuck and I stay every year.

Check out the detailed history of the buildings, as well as a very complete timeline of events in and around Old Montreal from the 17th century to the present. It will give you a deeper understanding and appreciation - not just of Old Montreal - but also of the way cities and buildings change and morph as time passes.

I’m a pretty devoted reader of a few Chowhound boards, including the discussions around Montreal and Quebec. Some of the most interesting discussions arise from the simplest questions. A one sentence query about the best Indian food in Montreal has resulted in a few dozen replies so far, and the number of growing.

A few highlights: it’s apparent that Bombay Mahal is one of the strong contenders, at least among the Chowhound crowd. It also popped up in the 2005 Reader’s Poll from the Mirror. (not in 2006, though)

Bombay Mahal (1001 Jean-Talon W., 514-273-3331)

Others getting a number of mentions:

Maison de Cari Golden (5210 Saint-Laurent, 514-270-2561)
Ganges (6079 Sherbrooke W., 514-488-8850)

Chuck and I are both partial to Indian food. (Actually, we’re partial to any food.) In Montreal thus far, our exploration of Indian food has been limited to Gandhi in Old Montreal. Gandhi isn’t what I would call a bargain. Lunch there has cost us $35 for two; dinner, $90, including wine. But I think we’ve been impressed by the quality of the food. Gandhi seems to specialize in subtle, balanced flavors. So while I could say that the food is never as spicy as I’d like it, the balance is right, and that seems to be one of the key elements of Indian cooking. The first time we were there, I thought the naan was astounding - the best I’ve ever had. It may have been true - it may simply have been my overjoy state at having just arrived back in Montreal. I’m not sure. Even though I’ve not had this same experience subsequently, I still measure all of my naan encounters against that standard. I’ve written elsewhere that Gandhi offered a dinner on Christmas Eve in 2006. They might have done this in years past - I don’t remember that they did.

In any case, there’s likely to be another visit to Gandhi this year while we’re in Montreal, but I think we’ll also consider branching out - perhaps to Bombay Mahal.

Gandhi (230 rue St-Paul ouest, 514-845-5866)

For the past two years, we’ve had Anise and Les Chevres on our list of restaurants to visit. Les Chevres was the first to close before we got there, and now we’re about to lose Anise, as well. Given the talent in both establishments, we’ll be paying close attention to what comes next.

You know, it’s never too early to prove one’s obsession with a city. So, in the spirit of obsession, here’s our first pass at lunch and dinner plans for December 2007.

Dinner
Friday 12/21 - Holder???
Saturday 12/22 - Brunoise???
Sunday 12/23 - Anise???
Christmas Eve 12/24 - Gandhi
Christmas Night 12/25 - Niu Kee
Wednesday 12/26 - Au Pied du Cochon

Montreal Bagels
Tokyo Sushi on St. Paul

Lunch
Olive et Gourmando
Pho Bang New York
Au Petit Express
Cluny
Titanic

* One lunch plus one dinner in Chinatown