Is there a city in North America that loves food as much as Montreal?

[KurtNYC]

They have more restaurants per person than any other city on the continent.

They will eat almost anything -- poutine, beaver, deer, moose, some wild raw cheeses, etc.

They have 4 major produce markets including Jean Talon.


First note that the Jean-Talon Market is in the geographic centre of the city. Next that it is adjacent to Little Italy which has accrued several outstanding restaurants in the last few years while still giving us that solid 1950ish old Italian style in places like Milano and Café Italia, which still has the best coffee in the city. Why any place else charges more than $1.50 for a cappuccino is beyond me. But that's another story.
...
The market is a half block south of Jean-Talon. The northern periphery consists mostly of Sami fruit stands. Look here for imported fruit. There is also a good cheese store and a couple of Italian restaurants. The south side has the trendier action and it starts at the south east corner with Dima, an upscale en vrac (load it up from the bins) food importer at the corner of Henri Julien and Place du marché du nord. Dima also has a shop at the de Maisonneuve market in the east end of the city. This store stocks well known brands and it is a good one stop shopping depot if you are digging through several cuisines. I noted Patak chutneys, La Costeña brand of Latin canned foods, good balsamic vinegar, Valhrona Chocolate, an olive bar, pastas, coffee, teas, and spices...

http://www.montrealfood.com/jtalon.html

A fresh and local produce market in the Little Italy section of the 2nd largest french-speaking city in the world -- Does it get any better?

[Taverner]

1. San Francisco

[davidinalameda]

15. exactly

San Fran has the best food in the world

sorry New York but we win

[usedtobesick]

2. I do love Montreal a lot but...

New York, Seattle, Chicago are still my all time cities to eat in!

[meegbear]

3. I was just there this past weekend ...

and every place I ate at, from Mom and Pops to fancy ones were all excellent.

[KamaAina]

4. New Orleans has to be right up there

still has an open-air market, though it is quite touristy; waitstaff, at the finer places at least, are actually considered to be professionals; and the area has not one but two regional cuisines, Creole and Cajun.

Always wanted to go to Montreal, though; just keep it up, Bush**co...

[KurtNYC]

8. The Cajuns are from French Canada

The French province of Acadia (today's Nova Scotia and surrounding regions) was settled in the 1600s by French colonists, but the area became a British possession soon afterwards. In 1755, as war neared between France and England, the British authorities demanded that the Acadians renounce their Roman Catholic faith and swear allegiance to the Crown. The Acadians refused and the mass exile that followed is well known to all who have read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Evangeline".

The migration of the French Acadians to Louisiana was neither smooth nor immediate. Many were shipped to the New England colonies, others to the West Indies or back to France, and many wandered for 20 years before learning that they were welcome in the predominantly French territory of Louisiana. Here they established small farms along the Mississippi River, Bayou Teche, Bayou Lafourche and other streams in the southern part of the region. Fishing and trapping villages were established in the swamplands. Cajun (the word is a corruption of the original French pronunciation of Acadian--A-ca-jan) Country today lies within a triangle whose base is the Louisiana coast and whose apex is near Alexandria in the central part of the state. The triangle contains 22 parishes and the region's principal city, Lafayette, is the unofficial capital of "Acadiana"...

http://www.state.la.us/about_cajuncountry.htm

[HEyHEY]

12. Many Acadians swore allegence to the crown

And they were kicked out anyway

[peacebuzzard]

5. Thanks for the info Kurt, I have plans to go to Montreal this month.

I will check this out.

[KurtNYC]

7. See you there

I hope to make it up toward the end of this month or early Sept.

The city is a foodie paradise. Competition is strong and Montrealers are pragmatically thrifty so any restaurant that has been open more than a year is probably good.

I find the markets (Atwater, Jean Talon and others) are great for breakfast -- fresh baked bread, fruits, cheese.

Restaurant-wise I love Au Petit Extra for french bistro.
http://www.au-liondor-montreal.com/page/extra.php

On the low end, I love the smoked meat at Schwartz' and EuroSnack. The skin-on fries with flavored mayonnaises.

Also La Grand Comptoir - great food and location, reasonable as heck:
http://www.toutmontreal.com/cgi-bin/guide/cherche.cgi?restaurants,Le_Grand_Comptoir,*restaurants

[peacebuzzard]

9. I am copying all these links.

I want to go primarily to bike in the Grand Royale Park. Ever done that?

[peacebuzzard]

10. the toutmontreal.com had an error message.

[KurtNYC]

14. Pasting breaks the link

Here is a link to a cached page:
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:X3nAdGDgQ1wJ:www.toutmontreal.com/cgi-bin/guide/cherche.cgi%3Frestaurants,Le_Grand_Comptoir,*restaurants+grand+comptoir&hl=en

This restaurant is a great intro to French bistro cuisine for three reasons : the prices, the service and ... the food. The prices are quite affordable (there's a daily special around $9.00 to $10.00 for a soup or salad and a main course). All the main dishes on the ardoise (black board) are around $10.00 and all include the soup. The service is prompt and very friendly (more north american than parisian). And don't worry, the waiters speak perfect english and they'll be happy to explain the menu to you (eventhough the menu in the front window is only in french). It's interesting to see the waiter explain what are andouillettes, rognons or ris de veau to people unfamiliar with he terms by pointing to various corresponding part of this body. The food is typical bistro cuisine, nothing to say here except that it is excellent. For my first visit, I had a toulouse sausage in wine and mushroom sauce with fries. I'm not sure what they do with their fries, but they were some of the best fries I ever had (I think the owner is belgian). At my second visit, I had the yound turkey stuffed with wild boar in a mushroom sauce and carrots in a fine herbs sauce, excellent.. and only $8.95 with the soup.

[peacebuzzard]

11. dupe--I had an error msg.

[KurtNYC]

16. Many great events coming up in Montreal

July 18th - 21 Blues Festival, 2 open air stages
July 19th - 21 Fete des Enfants (if you have younger children this is a free all-weekend party near the Olympic Stadium)
July 26th - 28th Molson Indy formula 1 racing on the islands
July 26th - Aug 5th - Montreal World Film Festival

Another great resource for trip planning is this English language free weekly newspaper (current issue):
http://www.montrealmirror.com/2005/072805/upfront.html

Best of Montreal issue: http://www.montrealmirror.com/2005/051205/bom05_2.html

[peacebuzzard]

23. thanks again, KurtNYC

[XemaSab]

6. Des Moines

n/t

[Beer Snob-50]

13. there is an awesome crepes restaurant in montreal

that i go to when in town. i don't remember the name but it has a little smiley sun for it's logo.

also a great restaurant called weinstein and govoni (it is next to a hard rock cafe, i think that was the name.)

[mcscajun]

17. 3000 restaurants in New Orleans...

...from Cafe du Monde, the home of Cafe au Lait and Beignets, to the Central Grocery, home of the Mufaletta, the hundreds of shops selling Po' Boys in all their incarnations, all the Cajun and Creole foods you'd ever crave, upscale, downscale, street food, and Late Night bites in the French Quarter...

...many places open until 4 in the morning, others just opening then, plus the others than stay open 'round the clock...

...an international food destination with its fair share of old Italian, French, Creole, Soul, you name it...

...red beans and rice, King Cakes, and more...

...and yes, the Cajuns will proudly butcher, cook and serve 'most anything that flies, walks, crawls or swims...

...and the three, count 'em, three, Crescent City Farmers' Markets, where you can rub elbows (if you get up early enough) with the chefs of famed local restaurants...

...and the bottom line...Leave your Diet At Home.

[MsAnthropy]

18. Definitely San Diego!

So many restaurants, so many choices!

[truthbetold]

19. POUTINE!

I love it! Nothing better than crossing the border to Canada, getting ripped, then eating a big plate of poutine!

[getmeouttahere]

20. Montreal is the cuisine capital of North America....

I don't know if he still does this, but the chef at "Toque" Normand Laprise prepares meals for some rich guy in New York, than travels back to Montreal to continue spoiling Les Montrealais...

All you have to do is walk up and down St. Denis and you can take your pick of dozens of different international cuisines...tons of restaurants have "apportez votre vin"...Le Continentale is one of the best bistros...Le Queue de Cheval is a fantastic steak house.

I laugh when I see people saying that some American city is the best...except maybe New York...because there are far too many chain restaurants in American cities for any of them to be the best.

[Redstone]

21. Poutine! Poutine! Give me some poutine! And a

Michigan Burger. Or a half-dozen Dic-Ann's babyburgers.

Heart attack on a tray, those two items together.

I'll be there next week. Can't wait.

Redstone

[hickman1937]

22. Detroit.

They've been doing the ethnic food thing since right after the riots. Fr. Cunningham doesn't get enough credit.