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  • Québec Cheeses (15)

    Local cheeses, all purchased from Montréal. Related: the [l:albums/travel/montreal/poutine Poutine!] pages contain information about fresh cheese curds. Cheese Shops

    • [l:node/1154 Fromagerie Atwater]
    • [l:node/144 Fromagerie Hamel]
    • [l:node/1162 La Maison du cheddar]
    • In a pinch and after-hours - grocery stores such as IGA, Provigo, Metro, Super C, etc. There is bound to be a good place to buy cheese from where ever you stay in Montreal.
    Note that the US has some very strange, bizarre, and restrictive food import policies - see [l:travel/montreal/schwartzs-jewish-deli#comment-5229 Meat, Cheese and US Border Crossings comment] for details.

  • Jazz Fest (29)

    Summer Jazz Festival. More than just jazz. More details at: [l:travel/montreal/montreal-jazz-festival]

    • 2012 Montreal Jazz Festival (6)

      Writeup, along with some video clips also available: [l:blog/2012-07-06/montreal-jazz-festival-2012]

    • 2013 Montreal Jazz Festival (13)

      Pictures and video clips of some of the final four days at the 34th Edition of the Montreal Jazz Festival which ran from 2013-June 28 through July 7. Also included are some pictures from other events going on at the same time. The best shows for me were as usual at either the Blues stage, or the Tropiques/Groove stages next to it: [l:albums/travel/montreal/jazz-fest/2013-montreal-jazz-festival/fatoumata-diawara] [l:albums/travel/montreal/jazz-fest/2013-montreal-jazz-festival/the-harpoonist-the-axe-murderer] [l:albums/travel/montreal/jazz-fest/2013-montreal-jazz-festival/anthony-joseph-the-spasm-band] The pictures below have more info and some video snippet links too. There is also a [l:http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkd3PNh_1yPTqRqrVEGJaa-9tn8C4xyhN playlist of all snippets on YouTube]. And a few more photos, including full size photos, are at the [l:https://picasaweb.google.com/104075696510996624769/2013MontrealJazzFestival?authuser=0&feat=directlink Google Picasa Album] July 9th saw the start of another festival: [l:albums/travel/montreal/jazz-fest/2013-montreal-jazz-festival/festival-de-percussions-longueuil-2013 Details on Festival de Percussions Longueuil 2013] opening show. [l:http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/default-en.aspx Official Montreal Jazz Festival] site. [l:http://montrealcompletementcirque.com/en/ Montreal Completement Cirque] site. [l:http://internationaldesfeuxloto-quebec.com/en/ International Fireworks Festival] site. [l:http://www.percussions.ca/ Festival de Percussions Longueuil 2013] site.

  • Poutine! (11)

    A dish unique to Quebec. [l:http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20130531-how-the-quebecois-came-to-love-poutine BBC article: How the Quebecois came to love poutine]. Fries, Gravy, and fresh Cheddar Cheese Curds (fromage en grains) make poutine! An exclamation point seems necessary for this dish. The process of making cheese from milk goes through a step that results in curds. These are small chunks of solid cheese that are not yet pressed into molds for the final aging process. Fresh cheese curds only last a day or two, therefore are only available in places where a lot of cheese is manufactured. Cheddar cheese curds are available widely in Montreal, and it is the key ingredient of poutine. Fresh cheese curds are easy to recognize - they will make a squeaking sound when you eat them. From fast food joints to celebrated chefs, there is no shortage of places to get poutine in Montreal. [l:http://www.montrealpoutine.com/ Montreal Poutine] has good information on all poutine places in that city. Poutine fries should at least start crispy, and have sufficient amount of gravy to smother the fries. The run-down looking Poutine Lafleur has pretty good poutine. This is the standalone place on Rue Wellington and not the chain of the same name. Maamm Bolduc was not as good - not enough gravy or cheese - but many consider it one of the best, so worth checking out. Many places that claim to be famous, or are very old diners that should probably have good poutine, do not. French fries may be limp and not crisp, sauce may be tasteless, and they dish may not be warm enough. So for a short visit, just try the known-to-be-good places, do not experiment. La Cantine, closed in 2012. This bistro on Mont Royal had excellent poutine, in very nice surroundings. The fries stay nice and crispy to the last bite. There is a photo provided below, which now serves as a memory only! Surprisingly, some fast food joints have good poutine too - such as La Belle Province. And Frite Alors! has amazing fries, and good poutine too. 2013: Schwartz's has gotten onto the poutine act: [l:albums/travel/montreal/schwartzs-hebrew-delicatessen/schwartzs-poutine]. It is essentially fine as a novelty item, but the basic poutine elsewhere, and the smoked-meat sandwiches at Schwartz's, are both best eaten without anything else added to either dish.

  • STM - Métro and Bus (8)

    Montreal subway and bus system. External link: Photographer [l:https://instagram.com/explore/tags/mtlmetroproject/ Chris Forsyth's #mtlmetroproject]

  • Le Petit Alep (10)

    Great good, awesome ambiance. Near Jean Talon metro station.

  • Marché Adonis (4)

    Excellent middle-eastern grocery store - large selection of fruits, ready-made food, feta cheeses, tzatziki, and sweets. They now have a home page: [l:http://www.adonisproducts.com/pages/accueil_en.asp adonisproducts.com] DISCLAIMER: please note that this web page has no association with the Marché Adonis business. And this site is not in Quebec, so English readers are the majority here, and French may not be understood by most. Thank you!

  • Marché Jean-Talon (8)

    The Jean-Talon market is a couple of blocks east of the intersection of Jean-Talon and St-Laurent, near the the Jean-Talon metro station. Newly refurbished in 2005, visit this place for fresh fruit, groceries, cheeses, bread, fish, desserts. Great food available in the market itself, additionally, surrounding area is Little Italy, which has many good restaurants.

  • Schwartz's - Hebrew Delicatessen (12)

    Absolutely the most addictive food in the world, the best smoked-meat in the world.

Halal 786 - Lahori Fish Fry

Fri, 2007–Dec–28
Halal 786 - Lahori Fish Fry

Pakistani restaurant, excellent Lahori Fish Fry and Chicken Charga. See short writeup in the Montreal food section.

Halal 786

Fri, 2007–Dec–28
Halal 786

Pakistani restaurant, excellent Lahori Fish Fry and Chicken Charga. See short writeup in the Montreal food section.

Grillade Farhat - Sandwiches

Fri, 2007–Dec–28
Grillade Farhat - Sandwiches

CDN area, great grilled meat sandwiches - top one is merguez, lower is kafta. Writeup in the Montreal Food posting.

Grillade Farhat - Outside

Fri, 2007–Dec–28
Grillade Farhat - Outside

CDN area, great grilled meat sandwiches. Writeup in the Montreal Food posting.

rue McGill

Fri, 2007–Dec–28
rue McGill

December 2007, snow and holiday lighting.

Inside - Front

Tue, 2007–Nov–27
Inside - Front

Rare sight - nearly empty, see it like this before 11AM or after 11PM. This is the front section of the small deli, with the cutting station at the front next to the door, where all the meat is hand-sliced.

Inside - Back

Tue, 2007–Nov–27
Inside - Back

Rare sight - all empty! See it like this before 11AM or after 11PM.

Schwartz's Smoked Meat

Tue, 2007–Nov–27
Schwartz's Smoked Meat

This is a picture of the sandwich - one bite and you are in heaven! Note the perfect size too - unlike the huge Carnegie or Katz's offerings in the USA. This shows the medium meat so there is just the right amount of fat with the meat, and this combination makes for a great taste.
Lean meat is also available but that is to be avoided, and then full fat or gras style is also available, and that is too extreme on the other end - too rich.

In the picture, the slices that look whole will taste very tender, given the fat with it.
The broken-down crumbs are the lean variety, and there is an abundant amount of black pepper spices seen on the meat. So each bite can be medium, lean, spicy, just as you like it. And wash it down with the Black Cherry Soda, or black tea works well too.

It is this combination of hand-sliced meat, meat that fall apart easily, and the small slivers of lean meat, and the special spices that make the Schwartz's experience so different from other smoked meat places which seem to have a more orderly, sameness in consistency all across, and spices not as good - Schwartz's beats them all in taste and experience. The color is the first indicator - smoked meat that is pink or light red - and not dark red - never tastes as good as the dark red smoked meat.

Those with a larger appetite can order the small plate, which is equal to 2-3 sandwiches. There is also a large plate, but that is probably best when shared with multiple diners.

Additional comments in the Schwartz's Jewish Deli posting.

Sampling of the price of the sandwich in $CAD - an inflation indicator!
September 2006: $4.55
November 2007: $4.95
February 2012: $6.15
July 2013: $6.65
July 2014: $7.75
November 2014: $8.70
February 2015: $9.35, so more than doubled in 8.5 years. 9% annual rate of increase, higher than inflation which was 0.5% to 3% over this same period.
May 2016: $9.60

STM Tourist Card

Sun, 2007–Nov–25
STM Tourist Card

The old Montreal Metro's 3-day Tourist Pass, for use on the metro and bus. Note that this card cannot be used for the new stations now open in Laval, beyond Henri-Bourassa on the Orange line.

This is no longer available since the OPUS card was introduced.

When this was available, you would purchase a pass, mention the date you want the pass to start, and the ticket seller would scratch off the appropriate days. This pass does not allow for automatic entry through the turnstiles - to enter the metro, show the pass to the person in the ticket booth, who will then open the turnstile closest to the ticket booth.

Tzatziki, Feta

Sat, 2007–Nov–24
Tzatziki, Feta

At the left is tzatziki - there are usually two varieties available. Everything else in the picture is feta - multiple varieties, and more in the shop to the right section not seen in the photo.