Articles

Montreal - Sub Categories

  • 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.

Souvlaki Village Grec

Souvlaki Village Grec

654 Jean-Talon W.
Best Doner (gyro - vertical rotisserie meat). See short writeup in the Montreal food section.

Save Park Avenue

Save Park Avenue

28 November 2006: Sad day for Park Avenue in 2006 - Mayor Tremblay rammed through a name change, now a historic street with a 123 year heritage, Avenue du Parc, will be named "Bourassa" to celebrate another politician. This will be the second street named Bourassa in Montreal now.

The photo above is a composite - night photo of the current street sign, and posters that tried to send a message (unsuccessfully) to prevent the change.
In November, news reports suggested that people felt powerless to do anything about this, one example from Gazette - Park Ave Doomed.

January 2006: Gazette - Don't Write off Park Ave now shows increased opposition, and some hope for stopping the change.

7 February 2007: Park Avenue is saved! Gazette Feature on Park. This is truly an amazing story - news reports back in November had most people resigning themselves to the change, then continued buildup of the energetic opposition, finally leading to success! This is thrilling news, to see the people winning one against the dumb actions of politicians! This incident again adds to the things that make this a great city - people, places, and attitude. Related sites: causes.ca/duparc and help save parc, many more on the web.

Street View

Street View

Supermarket, along with usual stuff, large selection of Middle Eastern fare - come here to take home Arahova Restaurant's famous tzatziki sauce. Also has a cafe serving food and pastries in the supermarket.

From Sauve metro, take the 121 bus going West. Address is: 2001 Sauve W.

Les Délices de la Mer

Les Délices de la Mer

Les Délices de la Mer - Saturday noon, come here for excellent fried fish - long line waiting to pick up the small package of fresh fish, fried, to be eaten standing up! It is very good. Cod, Turbot, or Halibut, is usually on the menu. This stall is outside the covered market - on the opposite side of covered market is another fish store - Aqua Mare - that sells fried calamari, another must have food here.

Across from Les Délices de la Mer stall, is a shop selling various types of sausages on a stick - bison, duck.

Rubber Wheels

Rubber Wheels

Subway trains run entirely on rubber tires, do not use steel wheels. So, makes for a quieter ride, and probably also makes going up inclines underground easier.

Inside a Train

Inside a Train

Bus

Bus

Winter's day, few tourists, great time to be in Montreal! A subway pass allows for travel on all STM buses and the subway.

Berri-UQAM Station

Berri-UQAM Station

Marché Jean-Talon

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.

STM - Métro and Bus

Montreal subway and bus system.

External link: Photographer Chris Forsyth's #mtlmetroproject