The Montreal you won't find in a guidebook

Name: Budget Travel LLC
Price range: $

By Budget Travel

October 3, 2012

This week, A.J. Kinik and Michelle Marek are guest-blogging here. They write the wonderful blog, "...an endless banquet."

With the help of our friends here on the editorial board at Budget Travel, we managed to squeeze a whole heap of information into our "My Montreal is Better Than Yours" spread, but even so, the process was not without its casualties. It's tragic, but when all was said and done, we had a number of other hot Montreal tips (all food-related, naturally) that wound up on the cutting room floor. One of the benefits of doing a week of guest-blogging here at Budget Travel Online is that we get to make things "right", and throw a few more names and addresses your way. We were able to notify our cartographic division about some of these changes just before they went to press, so you'll even find some of these on your very own, handy-dandy, relatively accurate AEB Montreal maps.

Ange & Ricky, 195 Jarry E., (514) 385-6094

[on Jarry, just a few blocks north of Jean-Talon Market]

Part epicerie, part casse-croute, Ange & Ricky's simple but honest and delicious Haitian soul food definitely made it our number-one find of 2006. This is no-frills cuisine at its best: amazing stews, like their tassot (a jerked beef number), served with dirty rice and fried plantains in a take-away container to be taken away or eaten on premises. Recommended: tassot, fried chicken (served as a platter or by the piece), homemade lemonade with vanilla, and spicy Haitian-style cashew pralines.

Bangkok, 1616 Ste Catherine W., (514) 935-2178

[not far from the Canadian Centre for Architecture in downtown Montreal]

Downtown Montreal is a bit of a desert when it comes to good food at a reasonable price; Bangkok [pictured above] is something of an oasis situated in the most unlikely of locations: the food court of the somewhat ramshackle Le Faubourg shopping center. There, on the second floor, you'll find some of the very best Thai food Montreal has to offer for a song. Recommended: chicken tom yum soup, pad thai, shrimp with eggplant, and black pepper squid.

Byblos, 1499 Laurier E., (514) 523-9396

[on Laurier, at the eastern edge of the Plateau Mont-Royal]

For years, Byblos has not only had one of the most attractive, most inviting dining rooms in Montreal, they've also served some of the city's very best Persian cuisine. They're well known for their "Oriental" breakfasts, featuring homemade preserves, but we're especially fond of their "Dizzy," a traditional Persian stew they offer only on Sundays, their bewildering array of yogurt dips, and their fantastic tea and dessert service.

Cafe Olimpico, 124 St-Viateur W., (514) 495-0746

Club Social, 180 St-Viateur W., (514) 495-0114

{both located in the heart of Mile End, just yards from Euro-Deli Batory]

These two St-Viateur cafes are two of the best Italian coffee bars in town and although there's more and more competition all the time, they continue to be the two most important social centers in Mile End. Many Mile Enders are partial to one or the other, but we like 'em both.

Local folklore: You'll still hear the occasional Mile Ender refer to Cafe Olimpico as "Open Da Night" or "Open D." Don't get flustered; the reason for this is simple, if obscure: It's been gussied up since, but for a long time the only signage visible on the exterior was a weather-beaten painted window which had read "Open Day & Night," but was missing a couple of letters.

Cafe Union, 148 Jean-Talon W., (514) 273-5555

[in Little Italy, just a few blocks west of Jean-Talon Market]

Cafe Union is primarily a coffee roasting house, but they'll also make a fantastic cappuccino for you to have right there at the bar. At just a shade under 100 years old, they're probably the oldest coffee roasters in town, and they're definitely our favorite.

Chez Jose, 173 Duluth E., (514) 845-8693

[in the heart of the Plateau, just a couple of blocks east of Reservoir]

Chez Jose is a quintessentially eccentric Plateau establishment that's known in particular for their empanadas (which are especially good with their house blend, chipotle-laced hot sauce) and their remarkable soup specials. The hearty seafood stew they offer on Fridays and Saturdays is not only the star of their line-up, it's quite frankly one of the city's hidden treasures.

Le Fromentier, 1375 Laurier E., (514) 527-3327

[on Laurier, just a block west of Byblos]

Located along an attractive stretch of Laurier just to the east of Parc Laurier, Le Fromentier is without question the finest artisanal bakery in town. Our favorites? Le Berlinois (with walnuts, caraway, and cumin--Wednesdays only), La Revolution Noire (dark chocolate, cocoa, and cranberries--Saturdays only), their baguettes, all their savory pasties, turnovers, quiches, and pizzas, and all their Viennoiseries. In other words, pretty much everything. They also have a fine cheesemonger, Le Maitre Corbeau, and an artisanal charcuterie, La Queue de Cochon, on premises.

Jun-I, 156 Laurier W., (514) 276-5864

[next door to Les Touilleurs on Laurier West]

This one's a little pricier than most of our picks, but it's worth it because you won't find better sushi and sashimi anywhere else in town. Musts include the immaculate sashimi sampler, complete with five different types of fish, five different accompanying sauces, and five different garnishes, the spicy scallop rolls, and the delirious BBQ eel dynamite roll.

Now, we could go on and on, but if you're searching for additional Montreal food & drink tips you need look no further than the "...an endless banquet" Montreal Food Guide (your guide to Montreal's best bakeries, barbecues, bars, bistros, boucheries, boulangeries, boutiques, brasseries, cafes, casse-croutes, charcuteries, chocolateries, delicatessens, depanneurs, epiceries, friteries, fromageries, luncheonettes, markets, microbreweries, patisseries, pizzerias, poissoneries, pubs, restaurants, rotisseries, tavernes, trattorias, etc.), which now has well over 150 entries covering all styles, traditions, and price ranges.

--Anthony & Michelle

Earlier: Find This Just In's suggestion for what to see and do in three cool Canadian towns: Edmonton, Alberta; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Plan Your Next Getaway

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Wanna buy Dracula's castle?

Bran Castle is for sale. The asking price for the 13th-century property in Transylvania, Romania, is at least $80 million. [Bloomberg and AP story via Yahoo] Related: Why Haven't You Heard of Sibiu, Romania?

Strawberry Social

[A.J. Kinik and Michelle Marek write the wonderful blog, "...an endless banquet", which covers Montreal and its cuisine in an entirely personal and insightful way. This week, they'll be guest-blogging here at This Just In.] Canada Day weekend got started with what seems likely to become a lasting "...an endless banquet" tradition: the Ormstown Strawberry Social. We'd been talking about going to one of Quebec's many, many strawberry socials for years now. Home-baked shortcake, fresh Quebec strawberries, whipped cream, a little socializing--what could possibly go wrong? So this year Michelle took the bull by the horns and started doing a little research. That's how she found out the Ormstown Strawberry Social in MacDougall Hall. Though it's situated just 60 km [37 miles] southwest of Montreal along a stretch of the Chateauguay Valley that we know quite well, we'd never been to Ormstown before. Michelle had a good feeling, though. So good, in fact, that she could picture the whole thing: the old Victorian architecture, the well-kept gardens and shade trees and the tidy lawns, the central church, and MacDougall Hall, a stately old town hall sitting next to it. She didn't have an address, but she claimed she didn't need one--she'd just know when we got there. And that's pretty much the way things played out. Ormstown was just as attractive as Michelle had imagined it to be, she knew exactly when to make a turn, and, sure enough, there was stately old MacDougall Hall perched just to the left of the central church. It was early still, it was warm and beautiful out, and we'd brought some sandwiches along for a picnic, so we sat down on the lawn in the sunshine and had our dinner before joining the social. Things on the inside of MacDougall Hall were more or less just as Michelle had pictured they'd be too. With your tickets in tow--$6 for a large and $3 for a small--you made your way to the eat-in counter (the take-out counter was located in an alcove off to the right of the front entrance). There you exchanged your ticket for your portion of freshly baked shortcake slathered with the ripest, sweetest strawberries imaginable (just stewed to perfection), and a generous dollop of freshly whipped cream. Once you'd gotten your plate, you sat yourself down at a table of your choice and you were immediately greeted by a friendly man bearing cups and a pot of freshly brewed coffee. We thought we were dreaming. Then we tasted the shortcake and we were sure we were dreaming. People were definitely kind of curious about us--everybody else seemed to know each other--but when some of the organizers found out that we'd come in from Montreal it caused a bit of a stir. "You drove all the way in from Montreal just to come here?" "How was the Mercier [Bridge]?" "D'ya get stuck in traffic?" "Where did you hear about us?" "What? You read about us on the internet?" When the storm had blown over, we went back to our table, finished our strawberry shortcake, and talked about how, at that moment, there was nowhere else we'd rather be. We meant it, too. Want to check out your very own Montreal-area strawberry social featuring real Quebec strawberries? Try the Hudson Strawberry Social in Hudson, QC, just to the west of Montreal at the mouth of the Ottawa Valley. It takes place next Saturday, July 7 at the St. James Church. Start time is 5:30 PM, and, yes, there will be a dessert auction. [In an earlier post, Anthony & Michelle shared their helpfully annotated maps of Montreal.]

Caught Mapping...in Montreal

[A.J. Kinik and Michelle Marek write the wonderful blog, "...an endless banquet"--covering Montreal and its cuisine in an entirely personal and wonderfully insightful way. They'll be guestblogging here this week.] Welcome to Montreal! Bienvenue a Montreal! Happy belated St-Jean!* And happy belated Canada Day!** In conjunction with the release of the July/August issue of Budget Travel, which includes our somewhat irreverent roundup of the culinary, commercial, and ludic landscape/s of Montreal, and to kick-off our week of guest-blogging at Budget Travel Online, our cartographic division here at "...an endless banquet" took it upon itself to create a series of ultra-high-tech maps in order to assist you in your journey/s (both virtual and real) across our fair city. Consult these maps online or download them onto your very own personal computer and you'll find virtually every single one of the suggestions contained within our exhaustive "My Montreal is Better Than Yours" field report, plus a few bonus suggestions. They're relatively accurate, and, better yet, they're free, absolutely free. So, without any further ado: The cover of our "...an endless banquet" Montreal map: one large-scale A.E.B. map of central Montreal: the A.E.B. Map of the Main, the Lower Main, and the Plateau: and our A.E.B. Map of Mile End, Little Italy, Villeray, and Parc Ex (and Outremont, too): Thanks for reading, Anthony & Michelle *"La St-Jean" is June 24, St. John the Baptist's saint day. It's also the fete nationale of Quebec. **Canada Day, July 1, is, of course, our national holiday. Update: This week, Anthony & Michelle also blogged about their favorite restaurants in Montreal and a strawberry social in Quebec.

Travel Tips

Tell the Feds your views on passports

Under proposed rules, you will soon need a passport to re-enter the U.S. after traveling to any other country--even if you're going on a quickie getaway to the Caribbean or Canada. But the rules are confusing because they keep changing. This winter, a new rule required passports for flights home from Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean, just like other countries around the world. But the government was overwhelmed by a deluge of passport applications, and it responded by relaxing the rules for the summer. Until Sept. 30, if you have a confirmation slip that your passport application has been accepted (which can take a week or more for you to receive), you can still fly home from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, or the Caribbean with a government-issued ID, such as a birth certificate or a driver's license. The rules are different if you're driving across the border or sailing a cruise. You won't need a passport for those trips--at least not for this year. But next year, even driving across the border may require either government-issued ID or a passport, according to the most recent announcement from the Department of Homeland Security. By early January, U.S. citizens may be required to show a passport or an acceptable alternative form of I.D. The bad news: It apparently won't be good enough to show a traditional state driver's license. Under proposed rules, states will be required to create enhanced forms of identification that are more secure than standard driver's licenses. For example, the state of Washington is developing an "enhanced driver's license" that will provide Washington residents, who voluntarily apply and qualify, with a document that is acceptable for use at U.S. land and sea ports. The enhanced driver's license will cost slightly more than a standard one, and residents will need to go through a process of proving their citizenship and identity that is similar to the process for applying for a passport. The enhanced licenses may include electronic chips for faster identification by border control officials using electronic scanners. Until Aug. 27, you can tell the government what you think of the proposed new rules for border control by visiting Regulations.gov and searching for docket USCBP-2007-0061. The website will fetch for you the proposed rule with the title "Documents Required for Travelers Entering the United States at Sea and Land Ports-of-Entry from within the Western Hemisphere." To the right of the document, you'll see link that says "Add comments." Click on the icon that looks like a cartoon balloon of someone talking, and you can submit your comments on the proposed rules. Update (7/5; 9:30 ET): As I have emailed most of the people who commented below, if you want your comments read by the government, you need to submit your comments to the government through the Regulations.gov website, as I described above. Comments posted below are not being forwarded to the government because the government requests that individuals submit their answers individually.

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