Weekend in Montreal

Easter · Jan 21, 2011

Oh and if you want to drop a bit more for dinner Europea is good.

Lord-Barrington · Jan 22, 2011

Originally Posted by Easter

Oh and if you want to drop a bit more for dinner Europea is good.

That's the best high end option in town, and far better than Toque in my opinion.

deaddog · Jan 22, 2011

Went to a number of upscale places but two best food experiences in Montreal (as of two years ago) were

1. Portuguese chicken at some hole in the wall called Romados - fantastic food. If weather is ok, make sure to hike around the relatively nearby Park (mont royal?) - very cool

2. Fresh bagels at Fairmont bagels

Don't mean to downplay the quality of the upscale places - they were generally good but nothing you won't find in Chicago or NY. Only real disappointment was Toque: affirmatively bad food, incredibly pretentious and bad service. And, it was expensive.

Another trendy place that I can't recall the name of was on Sherbrooke - food was good but it reminded me of a mid-80's coke palace - lots of twitchy guys in pastel t-shirts and suit jackets with gold chains and the girls to match. Frankly, I loved the vibe - the wife thought it a bit much, however.

Davidko19 · Feb 16, 2011

Has anyone flown into Burlington VT and drove up???

Some buddies are going to VT for a brewfest and I want to take this as a chance to go to montreal since Ive heard it was cool. Worth a day trip? any good breweries in the city center?

audiophilia · Feb 16, 2011

Love Burlington. Drove down umpteen times from Mtl. Easy drive to Mtl. And damn well worth it.

Davidko19 · Feb 16, 2011

Originally Posted by audiophilia

Love Burlington. Drove down umpteen times from Mtl. Easy drive to Mtl. And damn well worth it.

anything cool on the drive? anything good in b-town for some lushes in their late 20s?

audiophilia · Feb 17, 2011

Nothing.

Burlington has a cool vibe. Lots of good restaurants along the pedestrian mall. Clubs? Unknown.

SField · Feb 17, 2011

Originally Posted by Davidko19

anything cool on the drive? anything good in b-town for some lushes in their late 20s?

Uhh.. Vermonters come to Montreal... Montrealers NEVER go to vermont unless it's to ski or something. Americans always go to party in Montreal.

leftover_salmon · Feb 17, 2011

Originally Posted by AlexP

I don't really like Gibby's, you can find much better for the price. Moishe's is so much better for steak.
Moishe's blows, especially if you're trying to make a "value" argument. For $55, you get the same piece of meat you'd get at Gibby's (which costs $45-50 max), only it comes with nothing -- no salad and vegetables/fries/potato -- and you'd be lucky if they cook it right. Moreover, you get to eat in what can only be described as a 1950s era Catskills cafeteria. I've been to both Moishe's and Gibby's a couple dozen times each (at least) and have always preferred Gibbys; moreover, the latter is far more consistent. In any case, Queue de Cheval/40 Westt is much better than both (and the only place approaching American-quality dry-aged steak in Montreal) but you have to deal with pretentious waiters and insane wine markups. Back to the general topic, I would eat at the following places in Montreal: 1. Schwartz's 2. Au Pied du Cochon 3. Ferreira 4. Le Mas des Oliviers 5. Milos That said, I haven't ever eaten at Toque or Europea...I don't think Montreal does that type of haute cuisine well. The lone exception was Anise, which is unfortunately now closed.

SField · Feb 17, 2011

Originally Posted by leftover_salmon

Moishe's blows, especially if you're trying to make a "value" argument. For $55, you get the same piece of meat you'd get at Gibby's (which costs $45-50 max), only it comes with nothing -- no salad and vegetables/fries/potato -- and you'd be lucky if they cook it right. Moreover, you get to eat in what can only be described as a 1950s era Catskills cafeteria.

I've been to both Moishe's and Gibby's a couple dozen times each (at least) and have always preferred Gibbys; moreover, the latter is far more consistent. In any case, Queue de Cheval/40 Westt is much better than both (and the only place approaching American-quality dry-aged steak in Montreal) but you have to deal with pretentious waiters and insane wine markups.

Back to the general topic, I would eat at the following places in Montreal:

1. Schwartz's
2. Au Pied du Cochon
3. Ferreira
4. Le Mas des Oliviers
5. Milos

That said, I haven't ever eaten at Toque or Europea...I don't think Montreal does that type of haute cuisine well. The lone exception was Anise, which is unfortunately now closed.

I disagree, Toque is an excellent fine dining establishment. I also question the wisdom of saying that Schwartz's is the best place to eat in the city. Milos is very good, comparable to the one in NYC.

leftover_salmon · Feb 17, 2011

That wasn't a ranking, just a list of five.

latkaguy · Feb 17, 2011

leftover_salmon;4138800 said:
Back to the general topic, I would eat at the following places in Montreal:

1. Schwartz's
2. Au Pied du Cochon
3. Ferreira
4. Le Mas des Oliviers
5. Milos

QUOTE]

I think that this is a great list to go by. I would add Willensky's, just around the corner from Schwartz's for the Willensky Special and the atmosphere -- a little lucheonette from the 30's that only makes this one sandwich and an eggsalad sandwich, plus pieces of karnatzel (a skinny Roumanian salami). It is one of those "institutions" that Montreal is impossible to imagine without, and unlike most of the others (Schwartz excluded) it is not ridiculously overpriced like, say, Beauty's.

Vastly more high end, my current favourite restaurant in Montreal is Club de Chasse et Peche, for wonderful dishes, all of which combine meat and seafood.

pstoller · Feb 17, 2011

Originally Posted by leftover_salmon

I would eat at the following places in Montreal:

1. Schwartz's
2. Au Pied du Cochon
3. Ferreira
4. Le Mas des Oliviers
5. Milos

That said, I haven't ever eaten at Toque or Europea...I don't think Montreal does that type of haute cuisine well. The lone exception was Anise, which is unfortunately now closed.

Is L'Exotique still in business? I haven't been to Montreal for @15 years, but my one dining experience there was memorable.

Willie5566 · Feb 19, 2011

Originally Posted by gort

The crowd is going to be a bit diverse. We have two guys who are still in school (one in law school, one in undergrad) who are both getting married this year as well so they have little money to spend. A few of us are at six figures or close to it, and two guys are ****** paid school teachers.

Some guys wouldn't mind spending something in the 4 digits while others would cringe at spending over $400 either because they simply can't afford it or are cheap.

Good luck to your budget conscious freinds. It is expensive as ****. I suppose it comes down to what you do while you are there. We went with the typical drink morning to night, bars and strip clubs. Our meals were typically on the cheap. We also stayed there on the cheap. I highly recommend checking out:

http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/canada/quebec#a322

We had two apartments (2 bedroom) that were phenomenal. The nice thing about apartments is there is a lot of room to pack people in and you have all the benefits of home-full kitchen, living room, etc. It came out to $75 each.

We did splurge on one dinner where we went to Globe. Surprised it has not been mentioned. Has a very Hollywood trendy feel to it. A lot of famous people eat their when they are in town. The food was great. Expect to pay $100 each minimum.

Even with saving some money with the apartment, having booze at the apartment and meals it was crazy expensive. I would say plan on $500-$600 minimum a day. It adds up very quickly.

JohnGalt · Feb 19, 2011

it's been a few years, but imo toque was far superior to europea. au pied de cochon ranks up there as well.

while not a great value, or best restaurant, queue de cheval can be a good choice for a bachelor party.

Weekend in Montreal

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