Montreal Restaurants @ a Glance

It’s hard to pinpoint when restaurants started to take their place as an integral part of Montreal culture. But some of the highlights are easy to trace, particularly since some of our most well loved places have been around for 80 years or more.

Montreal delicatessens got their start when Ben and Franny Kravitz opened Ben’s Delicatessen in 1908; it moved to its current retro-style digs on the corner of Maisonneuve and Metcalfe in the 1950s. In 1919, Isadore Shlafman opened Montreal ’s first bagel bakery, which moved from Saint-Laurent Boulevard to Fairmount Street in 1949. Today, Isadore’s grandchildren still make their famous bagels in the traditional wood stove at Fairmount Bagels in that same spot. In 1927, Myer Dunn founded Dunn’s Famous Restaurant, a Montreal institution known for sandwiches stacked high with smoked meat. His grandson Elliot Kligman still runs the place.

Though the city of Montreal certainly felt the Great Depression in 1929, legal drinking and a scintillating nightlife made Montreal a destination of choice throughout the American Prohibition from 1920 to 1933. (Quebec’s version of the Prohibition lasted just a year, from 1918 to 1919!) Montreal nightclubs enjoyed their heyday from 1925 to 1955, and restaurants played an integral part of the scene along with vaudeville acts and jazz music.

1933 saw the inauguration of two public markets, Atwater and Jean-Talon, which among others are still thriving today. Everyday shoppers and restaurant chefs alike surf there for fresh produce and treats du terroir, including Quebec ’s wide variety of specialty cheeses. Montrealers have come to expect our restaurants to serve only the freshest food; Alouette Steakhouse (1176 Ste-Catherine West, Montreal), for example, has been thriving since 1948 on its reputation for succulent steaks and delicious seafood.

In 1967, Montreal hosted Expo 67, a major world cultural fair that saw 50 million people flood the city over six months. This of course gave an enormous boost to the city’s restaurant industry, and some of the resulting establishments are still going strong today—among others, Alexandre et fils (1454 Peel, Montreal), a French restaurant created by Alain Creton, who became a chef at 19 and still greets customers at the door today.

Some of Montreal’s best food can be found in the small, single-location restaurants that line the Main and pepper the Plateau, not to mention nestling in every conceivable nook and cranny of every neighbourhood in the city.

Montreal has seen many influxes of immigrants over the past century, from Jewish war survivors in the 1940s and 50s to Chinese, African, Caribbean, Lebanese, Greek, Italian and Portuguese populations at various other times, to name just a few. Today, you can hear dozens of languages spoken on the streets, and the city is full of cultural institutions, bookstores, specialty food shops—and of course, restaurants—that both reflect and cater to the resulting cultural diversity. Enjoy delicious Greek on Prince Arthur Street , Italian in the North (such as Roberto’s on Bélanger), Japanese on the Plateau, Mexican in the Old Port , and Ethiopian and Afghani downtown, just for starters. The variety is mind-boggling—from steaming 99-cent pizza at street-corner dives to funky vegan eateries (check out Café Blue Monday in Verdun) to five-star dining at the Casino.

French cuisine is of course easy to find too, from lovely crêperies in the Old Port and Mile End (try Une Crêpe?) to delicious chocolateries all over the city to gourmet spots downtown (check out Le Paris at 1812 Ste-Catherine West, Montreal). The European tradition of open-air terrasses during the warmer months is alive and well, and some say that our current trendy gourmet coffee culture found its beginnings here also—not hard to believe given our huge number of artsy cafés and bistros.

Today’s Montreal restaurant scene is second only to New York City in number of restaurants per capita in North America . With a rich history and a flourishing present, our Montreal restaurant scene is well worth discovering for yourself!

Beyond sampling and approving wine, asking for a description of a dish your uncertain of, asking for wine recommendations, knowing to work from the outside in with cutlery or tipping 15-20% there are little nuances to dining out in Montreal restaurants that can make an important occasion or meeting go more smoothly and enjoyably.

Always make reservations when going out to dine in Montreal restaurants, to name the number in your party and make any specific inquiries about menu, prices, special access or arrangements in advance. This will allow you to avoid disappointment and have some advance knowledge of the menu before you go to the restaurant. It might be important to you that the meal ends with port and a cheese selection. So, don't wait until the moment arrives only to find nothing of the sort is offered. Many of our reviews include samples of what is offered on the menu and you can always ask the restaurant to fax you a wine list or sample menu.

Montreal restaurant diners tend to find the pairing of wines with their food the most perplexing task when eating out. However, this part of dinner should prove simple armed with a bit of knowledge.
First you should remember that we are not all expected to be wine experts. A good Montreal restaurant will have waiters that understand the restaurant’s wine offerings and will often have the services of a sommelier (wine expert) at your disposal. Make use of these people! Experts love nothing more than to be asked for their advice and will usually provide it in spades, in a range of prices. If you have a particular price in mind you might point out an example on the wine list and ask if that seems like a good choice. The wait staff will immediately get your drift and find a selection in your range.

If you prefer to order on your own that's fine. Keep the following classical rules in mind: Dry white wines pair well with seafood and dry red wines are a standard accompaniment to meat dishes. Also, rich wines go with rich foods in either category and lighter wines pair best with lighter foods. So, for example, you are have ordered steak au poivre (steak with pepper sauce). You would want a rich red like a Cabernet Sauvignon. If you are having Shrimp Newburg (a richly sauced seafood dish) you would want a Chardonnay. In the whites a Sauvignon Blanc would match a simple poached fish dish and in the reds a Merlot would suit a simple veal dish.

Finally, a few more simple rules will make you comfortable in Montreal restaurants. Order with authority and confidence. Hence, even if it's a shot in the dark, you may have made a serendipitous choice and your partners will applaud your savvy. On the other hand, if the choice is less than perfect, your guests might assume they have yet to have acquired your superior taste! Secondly, don't order the most expensive wines on the list or the cheapest. In a good restaurant, the wines will all have been selected with care. You can assume that most of them will be decent. Price is never an assurance of quality. Thirdly, avoid Burgundy wine because of the great variability in quality from year to year and from one winery to the next. Cabernet Sauvignons are fairly consistent in quality and the Bordeaux's are good selections for a mature wine. American Pinot Noirs are almost foolproof choices.

Amongst the fortified and dessert wines you will find Vermouth, Sherry, Port, Marsal and Madeira. So, when would you order these? Vermouth on ice or blended with ice is most often an aperitif to go with an appetizer. A good selection here is Noilly Pratt. Sherry is an ideal wine for Tapas (Spanish), or any sort of appetizer. Sherry can also be served after dinner, like a Port, with cheese or just coffee. Port is classically served with Stilton cheese and walnuts and the end of a meal. Port is traditionally served with Stilton cheese. Stilton and other blue cheeses set up a counterpoint of complementary textures and flavors, but cheeses like Cheddar and Glouster are also good. In addition, walnuts, chestnuts, cashews, and hazelnuts help bring out the best in Port. Desserts based on strawberries, raspberries, cherries, currants or similarly full-flavored fruits, are a natural ally of Port. Marsala is a fortified Italian wine similar to Port and can be used in much the same way as can Madeira. Don't be afraid to experiment!

So you've wined and dined at Montreal’s best restaurant and now the bill arrives. How much should you tip? Quebec wait staff are taxed on their income from tips regardless of whether or not they actually receive them. Keeping that in mind, a regular tip is 15% of the bill before tax. Excellent or exceptional service can be tipped at 20%. A tip can be reduced by a few percentage points for a bill inflated by alcohol due to the fact that alcohol service does not represent a great deal of extra work for the wait staff. It is always unfair to avoid tipping or leaving just a token amount. If you are angry or upset with some aspect of the service you should speak to the staff. Never penalize wait staff for things that might have annoyed you but were not their fault.
Bon apetit & enjoy your stay!

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