Montreal Restaurant Tips by Dabs Top 5 Page for this destination

La Banquise: Poutine

Poutine is something you just have to try if you visit Quebec, but first you need to put your diet on hold and turn off the calorie counter in your head, I really don't want to know!

I had never heard of it before starting to research this trip. I can just imagine the guy who dreamed this stuff up, sitting huddled next to a fire listening to the cold, cold Montreal wind whipping around in the winter and saying I need an extra layer of fat to keep me warm so I'm going to take some french fries and smother them in gravy. Wait, that's not enough insulation, let's add some cheese curds!

There's a whole poutine website devoted to this Quebec treat and La Banquise was one of the places that earned their top rating so we decided to have our only Montreal poutine experience here just hours before leaving to go back to Chicago.

Favorite Dish: I tried the Poutine Dulton which I had tried in Quebec City, in addition to the normal poutine ingredients of french fries, gravy and cheese curds, they add in ground meat and unlike the one in Quebec City, they also added onions here. David tried the Poutine Dan Dan, bacon, pepperoni and onions. I thought we had accidentally ordered the grande size but turns out the regular is a heaping portion. I didn't see anyone order the grande.

Address: 994 Rachel Est

Comparison: least expensive

Directions: Rachel at Boyer

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 5

Theme: Local

Ben's Deli: Downtown-Smoked meat Ben's Deli Review

Updated December 2006-CLOSED! Workers went on strike over wages and the owners closed the deli

The guidebooks all recommend two places for smoked meat and we happened on Ben's first after deciding that $24CA was a bit too expensive for a bowl of mussels at nearby L'Actuel. Walking into Ben's is like walking into a time capsule of a 1950s era diner with specials written on signs hanging from the ceiling and grumpy waiters that have probably worked there for 30 years shuffling around. Ben's was much larger than Schwartz's, at 1:30 pm on a weekday there were surprisingly few people inside Ben's.

Favorite Dish: We mistakenly thought we could split a Big Ben sandwich thinking it would be like the monstrosities served at Carnegie Deli in New York or Perry's in Chicago but when it came, it wasn't any bigger than a regular sandwich. So I ordered a regular smoked meat sandwich to supplement which was actually quite small. The damage for the Big Ben and fries, a regular sandwich and 2 cherry cokes-$22CAD OUCH!

I'm actually not really sure what smoked meat is after eating at Schwartz's Deli and at Ben's, the two meats were entirely different. Ben's consistency reminded me of the ham you get at the local grocery deli and Schwartz's, which I MUCH preferred, reminded me more of corned beef, juicy, coated in spices and with the requisite fat that makes it so darn yummy. If you have time for just one smoked meat sandwich, go to Schwartz's!!!!

Comparison: less expensive than average

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 2

Theme: Local

Schwartz's: Smoked meat-the sequel Schwartz's Review

I was so disappointed by Ben's I thought we just have to try Schwartz's to see how it compares. So after eating that HUGE portion of poutine at La Banquiese, we headed over to Schwartz's for our last meal in Montreal. It was about 2:45 pm when we arrived and although they were busy, there wasn't a huge line like I expected. Perhaps the key to eating here is to go a little off normal lunch and dinner hours. We sat at the counter, good thing as our first sandwich arrived and it was slathered with yellow mustard, the most fiendish of condiments. Our server caught my sandwich before it was delivered and changed it to sans mustard, WHEW! I happily gazed upon my sandwich before inhaling it, now this was a SANDWICH!

One of the guidebooks suggested this was a bit of a tourist trap but I have to disagree as my definition of a true tourist trap is overpriced, underwhelming food. Although I wouldn't have wanted to wait in a long line with all the terrific options for food in Montreal, it's definitely a place worth a visit. Just be sure not to go at peak lunch and dinner time, Schwartz's is a much smaller restaurant than Ben's. On the up side though, the sandwiches are so good that you practically inhale them so the turnover of tables is pretty darn fast, this isn't a linger over your meal kind of place.

Favorite Dish: The sandwich here was SOOOOO much better than the ones we had at Ben's, the meat more like corned beef, spices coating the edges, juicy, plenty of fat, stacked high like a real sandwich should be, I had meat falling out all over the place. Our server asked us if we wanted dry or moist, I assume now that means with a lot of fat or not, I went for the moist. Order with a cherry coke for the authentic experience. YUM!

You can also opt for the low carb version (ha, ha) and get a HUGE plate of smoked meat without the bread. Also, you can get smoked meat to go, I'm pretty sure US Customs would snatch it away though if they knew we had it. And then they'd probably eat it ;-)

Address: 3895 St. Laurent

Comparison: less expensive than average

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 5

Theme: Local

Website: http://www.schwartzsdeli.com/index2.html

Bieres et Compagnie: Quartier Latin-Belgian

Moules Frites was also on my list of must tries in Montreal, I had planned on eating at L'Actuel but $24CAD for a bowl of mussels???? Plus it was lunchtime, we were in shorts and it looked like it was filled with business people dressed a lot nicer. So we passed on that and found Bieres et Compagnie when we were wandering around the area at Mont-Royal and St. Denis.

It was around 6 pm and it was crowded but we were able to get seated right away, the service was quick and pleasant.

Favorite Dish: They have 30 different varieties mussels starting at 12CAD, I tried the mussels Roman, in a white wine cream sauce, with garlic, bacon, onions, shallots and croutons. The croutons didn't add anything to the dish, it could have used a little more shallots and bacon but they were still pretty good. They come with a side of fries (frites) with your choice of dipping sauce, I went for the spicy garlic, David went for the dijonnaise, both were yummy. The night we were there they had an all you can eat mussel special, I think they have it Monday-Wednesday but honestly I didn't even make it through the first pot!

There's an extensive beer menu, of course, we opted for a pint of cider which was perfect with the dish.

Address: 4350 St. Denis

Comparison: about average

Directions: St. Denis at Rue Marie-Anne, nearest metro Mont Royal

Price: US$21-30

Rating: 4

Theme: Local

Website: http://www.bieresetcompagnie.ca/

Fonduementale: Quartier Latin-fondue

Fondue is one of my favorite foods so I wanted to make sure I tried it in Montreal. Fonduementale came recommended in the Access Guide to Montreal so we headed up St. Denis from our hotel and stopped here for dinner on our first night in Montreal.

The restaurant is located in one of the rowhouses that line St. Denis in the Quartier Latin, since it was a Monday night and already late, there was only one other table of people, a couple of adults and several children who I could hear exclaiming just how much they loved the food at this place. The interior walls are painted bright colors but the lighting is dim and I could see this being a place for a nice romantic dinner. Unlike the popular fondue restaurant in Chicago, it didn't have that greasy smell that you sometimes get with the meat/seafood fondues.

Favorite Dish: The menu had several meal combinations with pretty names like L'Adventure and the Romantic and the not so pretty Mental for 2 or more people, priced per person, which include cheese fondue, meat or chicken or seafood, and a dessert fondue. Prices per person range from $31-$45 CAD.

I really like cheese fondue and although the meat options are usually good and come with good dipping sauces, we usually just order the cheese. They had several ala carte cheese options, we opted for the traditional, a mix of emmenthal and gruyere cheeses, white wine and garlic with croutons to dip in the cheese. It was very good and very filling. But I just had to try the dessert so we shared (OK, I confess, I ate almost all of it!) a chocolate fondue that came with fruit to dip. Tres bien!

Sorry to say I was tired of lugging around my camera so I have no photos of the food.

Address: 4325 rue St. Denis

Comparison: more expensive than average

Directions: Between rue Marie-Anne and rue Rachel, closest metro: Mont-Royal

Phone: (514) 499-1446

Price: US$31-40

Rating: 4

Theme: Local

Website: http://www.fonduementale.com/

Une Crepe?: Plateau-crepes

Even though I could barely walk after eating a huge bowl of moules frites at Bieres et Compagnie, I smelled the crepes and saw the jar of nutella and thought heck, I'll give crepes one more shot even after two disappointing experiences in Quebec City. Just when I thought the folks in Quebec couldn't make a proper crepe, a place selling them from a window turned out to be the best!

They also had seating inside and there's another location listed at 221 St Viateur Ouest in the Mile End, corner of Jeanne Mance

Favorite Dish: I opted for my favorite crepe combination, banana and nutella. The crepe was perfect, not dry like the ones in Quebec City, and was properly filled with a spread of nutella and a healthy portion of banana. Fold that into one of those paper cones, walk down the street with nutella dripping down your chin, the quintessential crepe eating experience.

They also had a list of savoury crepes, I would have gone back for some of those if I had more time in Montreal.

Address: 425 Ave du Mont-Royal

Comparison: least expensive

Directions: Ave du Mont-Royal at St. Denis, closest metro:Mont-Royal

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 5

Theme: Local

Pizzadelic: Mont Royal-Unusual pizza toppings

It's well after lunchtime, we've tramped all over Mont Royal and to St. Joseph Oratory (wish I had seen the escalator before I got to the top!!!) and I haven't had any breakfast so when I spotted this little stretch of restaurants along Cote-des-Neiges and recognized one of the names from a guidebook, I decided that this was where we would eat. And I could get the pizza that I knew we would have to get out of the way!

Favorite Dish: We decided to split one of the "large" pizzas, on most days I could have easily finished off one of the large pizzas on my own but we had decided that we were also going to get something at Monsieur Falafel next door and decided to eat lighter here.

The pizza was good but not good enough that I would recommend using up one of your meals here, so many other good options in Montreal. But if you have fussy eaters or kids, this might be a good option.

Address: 5153 Cote-des-Neiges

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: Cote-des-Neiges at Queen Mary

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 3

Theme: Pizza

Monsieur Falafel: Mont Royal/Cote des Neiges-Middle Eastern

We were heading back to our car parked at Parc du Mont-Royal after visiting the St. Joseph Oratory, there's a stretch of restaurants along Cote-des-Neiges at rue Queen Mary that include Monsieur Falafal and Pizzedelic. We stopped in Monsieur Falafel before heading to Pizzedelic and decided to go easy at lunch so we could stop in here afterwards and try some of the yummy looking Middle Eastern/Lebanese food.

This is a casual spot to eat, order at the counter, there are pictures of the food to help you out or you can see some of the already prepared items that just need to be heated.

There are several locations in Montreal, check the website below for the other ones.

Favorite Dish: I think this may be one of the best, if not the best, chicken shawarma sandwiches I've ever had. And believe me, I've eaten A LOT! Shawarma are sort of like doner kebabs or gyros, you start with pita bread, meat slow cooked on a spit, vegetables like cucumbers, onions, lettuce and tomatoes and a sauce, usually garlic or chili. This one had plenty of moist chicken, no crunchy bits of chicken you have to eat around and a terrific garlic sauce. Yum!

Address: 5171 Cote-des-Neiges

Comparison: least expensive

Directions: Cote-des-Neiges at Queen Mary

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 4

Theme: Middle Eastern

Website: http://www.restomontreal.ca/restaurants/index.php?section=viewresto&resto_id=1408