attention montrealers
Mar. 29th, 2006 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rezendiI should probably create a "Montreal" filter, but eh, too much like work.
A friend of mine writes:
I have some exciting news - I just got a job working for the travel channel doing a series of city guides. My first stop is Montreal. We're looking for interesting - off the beaten path type things about the city - restaurants, nature, museums, etc. Any suggestions?
Yes, here's your chance to shape a TV travel guide to your city. Whadday'all reckon?
eta: in case anyone reads back to this post,
1. Food etc.
There are a bunch of fantastic markets, in particular the fairly
massive Marche Jean-Talon, which is one of many places where you can
pick up Forbidden Cheese (cheese from unpasteurized milk; popular in
France, illegal in the USA, very tasty).
The French influence also shows in all the artisan chocolatiers in
town. In particular, a little place called Les Chocolats de Chloe (375
Roy Est) makes chocolate before your eyes, which ought to make for nice
visuals.
The pre-eminent local dish is "poutine", which is basically a big bowl
of fries, cheese curds, and gravy, with other stuff on top. Yes,
really. And yet somehow Montreal is a city full of slender, attractive
people. No one can explain this. Anyway, a friend of mine calls La
Banquise (994 Rachel Est) "the best 24-hour poutine place in the
history of the human race." OK, there may not be many other contenders,
but it's good stuff.
Also, just a couple blocks from me, a longstanding local landmark is
Schwartz's Diner, which has 1940s decor, surly service, long lines out
front at all hours of the day, and the finest Montreal smoked meat
(another local delicacy) in the world.
There are a ridiculous number of great restaurants. The French
influence again. Toque is acclaimed as the best in town. And Restaurant
Emile Bertrand makes their own spruce beer from a recipe that's
hundreds of years old.
2. Nature/outdoors etc.
There's an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence, conveniently
connected to the city by Metro (subway), which features a big
open-space green park, a huge roller-coaster amusement park, and one of
North America's two Formula 1 racing tracks. The coolest thing about
the track is that for the rest of the year, it's open to the public to
use (for free) for cycling and rollerblading. You could probably do
some fun intercutting of stock Montreal F1 footage with the show's
host/hostess blading along the same track. There's a big kayak pool
right next to the F1 track, too, and a (dull) casino in the middle.
Every Sunday in the summer, there's a techno event on the island -
Pique-Nique Electronique - where a few thousand people and a half-dozen
DJs get together and dance through the afternoon below this big
abstract-art sculpture, with a view of the downtown across the river.
Not sure if it starts by early May though.
There are zillions of parks. In particular, Mount Royal, the big hill
that dominates the city, is a single large park (designed by Frederick
Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park and Prospect Park). A cross
atop the mountain marks where the first French expedition erected a
cross some 450 years ago. And at the Belvedere, a grand old building
most of the way up, a big viewing platform shows a spectacular panorama
of the downtown and the river.
And the Botanical Gardens are _stunning_ and huge. Next door is an
Insectarium, which serves up deep-fried bugs to diners one week a year
(not while you're there, I don't think.)
3. Museums etc.
Vieux-Montreal, the old city, is kind of a museum itself, all
cobblestones and majestic old buildings (Montreal is older than
Boston). I'm fond of the Museum of the City of Montreal. The art
museums aren't up to much though. There's a pretty spectacular
cathedral, if you're into that sort of thing.
Oh, and right downtown is the pier that Cirque du Soleil uses to
preview their new shows - they're based in Montreal. Though I think
that only happens odd-numbered years. Also, Cirque has an open house
one weekend a year, and they have occasional circus workshops, and
garage sales where they get rid of old masks, props, costumes, etc. See
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/company/behind/creastudio.htm
Definitely worth mentioning/showing is the Oratoire St-Joseph, the
largest dome of its type in the world outside the Vatican, on the
slopes of the mountain.
Right, and the Biodome - right beneath the huge urban-decay Olympic
Stadium, this dome (which was the bicycle track for the '76 Olympics)
has been turned into a great zoo/natural history museum, with huge
rooms full of different biospheres - a jungle with vines and trees and
sloths and alligators, a local room with beavers swimming around, an
Antarctic chamber full of penguins, and so forth.
Hope that helps.
is what I sent her. (And I pointed her to this post.)
A friend of mine writes:
I have some exciting news - I just got a job working for the travel channel doing a series of city guides. My first stop is Montreal. We're looking for interesting - off the beaten path type things about the city - restaurants, nature, museums, etc. Any suggestions?
Yes, here's your chance to shape a TV travel guide to your city. Whadday'all reckon?
eta: in case anyone reads back to this post,
1. Food etc.
There are a bunch of fantastic markets, in particular the fairly
massive Marche Jean-Talon, which is one of many places where you can
pick up Forbidden Cheese (cheese from unpasteurized milk; popular in
France, illegal in the USA, very tasty).
The French influence also shows in all the artisan chocolatiers in
town. In particular, a little place called Les Chocolats de Chloe (375
Roy Est) makes chocolate before your eyes, which ought to make for nice
visuals.
The pre-eminent local dish is "poutine", which is basically a big bowl
of fries, cheese curds, and gravy, with other stuff on top. Yes,
really. And yet somehow Montreal is a city full of slender, attractive
people. No one can explain this. Anyway, a friend of mine calls La
Banquise (994 Rachel Est) "the best 24-hour poutine place in the
history of the human race." OK, there may not be many other contenders,
but it's good stuff.
Also, just a couple blocks from me, a longstanding local landmark is
Schwartz's Diner, which has 1940s decor, surly service, long lines out
front at all hours of the day, and the finest Montreal smoked meat
(another local delicacy) in the world.
There are a ridiculous number of great restaurants. The French
influence again. Toque is acclaimed as the best in town. And Restaurant
Emile Bertrand makes their own spruce beer from a recipe that's
hundreds of years old.
2. Nature/outdoors etc.
There's an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence, conveniently
connected to the city by Metro (subway), which features a big
open-space green park, a huge roller-coaster amusement park, and one of
North America's two Formula 1 racing tracks. The coolest thing about
the track is that for the rest of the year, it's open to the public to
use (for free) for cycling and rollerblading. You could probably do
some fun intercutting of stock Montreal F1 footage with the show's
host/hostess blading along the same track. There's a big kayak pool
right next to the F1 track, too, and a (dull) casino in the middle.
Every Sunday in the summer, there's a techno event on the island -
Pique-Nique Electronique - where a few thousand people and a half-dozen
DJs get together and dance through the afternoon below this big
abstract-art sculpture, with a view of the downtown across the river.
Not sure if it starts by early May though.
There are zillions of parks. In particular, Mount Royal, the big hill
that dominates the city, is a single large park (designed by Frederick
Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park and Prospect Park). A cross
atop the mountain marks where the first French expedition erected a
cross some 450 years ago. And at the Belvedere, a grand old building
most of the way up, a big viewing platform shows a spectacular panorama
of the downtown and the river.
And the Botanical Gardens are _stunning_ and huge. Next door is an
Insectarium, which serves up deep-fried bugs to diners one week a year
(not while you're there, I don't think.)
3. Museums etc.
Vieux-Montreal, the old city, is kind of a museum itself, all
cobblestones and majestic old buildings (Montreal is older than
Boston). I'm fond of the Museum of the City of Montreal. The art
museums aren't up to much though. There's a pretty spectacular
cathedral, if you're into that sort of thing.
Oh, and right downtown is the pier that Cirque du Soleil uses to
preview their new shows - they're based in Montreal. Though I think
that only happens odd-numbered years. Also, Cirque has an open house
one weekend a year, and they have occasional circus workshops, and
garage sales where they get rid of old masks, props, costumes, etc. See
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/company/behind/creastudio.htm
Definitely worth mentioning/showing is the Oratoire St-Joseph, the
largest dome of its type in the world outside the Vatican, on the
slopes of the mountain.
Right, and the Biodome - right beneath the huge urban-decay Olympic
Stadium, this dome (which was the bicycle track for the '76 Olympics)
has been turned into a great zoo/natural history museum, with huge
rooms full of different biospheres - a jungle with vines and trees and
sloths and alligators, a local room with beavers swimming around, an
Antarctic chamber full of penguins, and so forth.
Hope that helps.
is what I sent her. (And I pointed her to this post.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 05:06 pm (UTC):)
no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 06:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 05:41 pm (UTC)I would suggest a visit to the Ethiopian restaurants in montreal, where everyone eats with their hands scooping bread from a communal dish. If you think you`re friend would like addresses, let me know, and I`ll go get them.
We also have the Free museum day every year on the first sunday of May, which is always fun. I`m a huge fan of the Pointe a Callieres museum in the Old Port, whose permanent exhibit is the underground archeological site it sits on. They`re currently expanding it to include part of the canal system they`ve been able to restore. Walking through history is a pretty big high for some with wonderful interactive stations.
Any tourism video would have to include the botanical Gardens. You could probably make a whole video just about it with its included museums: The Arboretum, Insectarium, GreenHouse, Chinese and Japanese gardens, etc.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 07:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-30 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 09:36 pm (UTC)Try the Binerie Mont Royal (if it’s still there) on the north side of Mont Royal, just west of St-Denis. A hole in the wall but they serve tourtiere and creton and, of course, feves au lard. The pouding chomeur is right and the price is low.
Cabanes a sucre. Something above 90% of the world’s maple syrup is produced within ~ 200km of Montreal. More sugar, fat, and salt than one needs in a month but yummy. There are some cabanes that serve year-round.
There are still a couple of places that brew their own spruce beer. I seem to remember a casse-croute on Notre-Dame, between Guy and De la Montagne. I think it’s called Chez Georges.
When I moved away from Montreal, I expected to miss bagels and smoked meat. It’s not that I don’t miss these things but I’m amazed at what did jump out at me. Smoked meat was never an everyday experience for me and I still visit often enough to curb any cravings and I can get decent Montreal-style bagels in Ottawa. Souvlaki, barbecued chicken, and submarine sanwiches. I don’t know whether they are Montreal strengths or Ottawa weaknesses. For pity’s sake, mention good croissants.
Le Commensal’s model is spreading but I don’t think that it has yet become common, elsewhere. I continue to like Café Santropol. Wilensky’s. Believe it or not, Bar-B-Barn has a particular way with ribs that I haven’t found elsewhere – it’s not to every taste but I think that it compares well with what southern barbecue I’ve had.
Montreal is still one of the cheapest cities in which to eat out and one is hard pressed to find a bad restaurant meal outside of the chains. Wine in depanneurs and bring-your-own-wine restos should be mentioned. Check out http://www.chowhound.com/canada/boards/montreal/montreal.html for excellent info on Montreal restos that hasn’t been ruined by the chi-chi crowd. Entries by Carswell are of particular use.
Other stuff
Everyone goes on about the outdoor stairs. I like them, too. They are strange and wonderful to the outsider. Consider adding fountains to such a tour. Montreal has a number of gorgeous public squares that have little fountains surrounded by well-aged trees. The most famous is probably Carre St-Louis but there are a bunch down through St-Henri, Point St-Charles, Verdun, Cote-St-Paul, and Ville Emard. My favourite is Carre Sir-George-Etienne-Cartier.
Church tours are already popular but I like to mention St. Joseph’s Oratory, the second-largest dome of it’s kind in the world, after St. Peter’s, in Rome.
Public markets are almost always cited in tourism information for cities that have them. Only a few cities do. Atwater and Jean-Talon are fun and colourful.
It’s only one weekend per year but I love the Cirque du Soleil open house.
I liked the Biodome but haven’t yet seen the Biosphere. Regardless of whether one pays to get in, the giant Buckydome should be seen. Habitat ’67 is another building that is worth making a special trip to look at from the outside.
The Mosaiculture exhibit. There are other topiary exhibits but they don’t seem to be common.
The NFB library.
More as I think of it.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-30 02:34 am (UTC)And Les Chocolats de Chloé located at 375 Roy E - they make all their chocolates and let you watch.
Restaurant Emile Bertrand for spruce beer - their recipe is hundreds of years old.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-30 04:41 pm (UTC)