A plan to make us the capital of food
Tourisme Montreal has a goofy plan to make Montreal the «capitale gastronomique de l’Amérique du Nord». This is silly if only because, while we’re already reasonably well known as a place to get decent eats, we’ll never be able to compete with the range of offerings and cuisines in places like New York and L.A. and – dare I even whisper it – Toronto.
A lot of money can be spent chasing a stupid marketing concept like this, a lot of ink can be spilled, and it’s just hot air.
SteveQ 09:35 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
I beg to differ. Montreal can easily compete with these 3 places. Better, Montreal can outperform these 3 places in certain areas of ”gastronomy”. While I agree with you that in high end restaurants, these rich places may have an advantage, but when it comes to affordable restaurants, you can easily find places for a $10 or $15 interesting meal in Montreal while almost impossible in the other 3.
And that’s not counting what Montreal, and the region, is known for. Other than poutine, bagels, maple syrup, and smoked meat, there’s a world of local products that is worth being put forward to attract the attention of people. An american friend was here several years ago and was being suggested, by other Americans, to do the ”cheese route” and then the ”cidre route”. I didn’t even know we had that. But that’s great !
No wonder why Montreal was a favorite of Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern. And even yesterday, I read that an american director, Jonahan Levine, said in an interview that: ”I admit that the main reason I love Montreal is….the restaurant”.
That kind of ”plan” reasonates very well with ”food travellers”
Therefor, never under estimate your potential !
Kate 09:50 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
SteveQ, if you don’t think affordable food can be found in those cities, it makes me wonder where you’ve been.
Look, you know I love Montreal. But we don’t have as large or as wealthy a populace, and while we may get foodie tourists for some part of the year, they stay away for about half, and who can blame them. Likewise, although Quebec every so often tries to present itself like a province of France in terms of cheese, cider and even wine, we don’t have the ancient terroir or the growing season of France, and we don’t have the climate or farmlands of California that L.A. and San Francisco benefit from.
Given our privations I think we do really well, but we will never be the continent’s capital of gastronomy, that’s sheer silly talk.
Ephraim 10:13 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
They need to justify their existence as a hidden private enterprise that survives on tax money and overpays their management to think of nonsense because even most of the tourism businesses in this city don’t trust them.
We need the city of Montreal to take this away from the Board of Trade and actually bring in representatives from ALL of the tourism businesses and actually do a good job of getting people here. This is one of the biggest industries in Montreal and a profitable one… and we are letting these idiots screw it up.
Ian 10:18 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
Toronto’s restaurant scene is so far beyond Montreal’s it is crazy, except for very specific things like Quebec cheese, Lebanese fast food, and Jewish food. They even have decent poutine now. The thing that makes Toronto exceptional is the incredible diversity. You like Ethiopian? There is an entire neighbourhood where every sign is written in Ethiopian, with dozens of amazing restaurants. You like Chinese? There are 3 Chinatowns, not counting the short trip to Markham, where Montreal has a China block. You like Vietnamese? Again, 2 big neighbourhoods. You like roti? No problem, there are specific places to go for Indian, Jamaican, or vegan. You like Vietnamese ethnic Chinese? There are a bunch of really good places. How about Chinese ethnic Vietnamese? Ditto. You like sushi? Do you want high end or fast food, Korean or Japanese style? You like French food? Tibetan food? German food? Caribbean food? I could go on all day. Toronto’s food scene blows Montreal out of the water, _especially_ for cheap eats.
Shaving truffles and foie gras on everything and calling it fine dining? Yeah. Montreal’s got _that_ market cornered.
walkerp 10:22 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
While I don’t totally disagree with you, Ian, you are clearly missing out on several developments in ethnic food in Montreal. The new Chinatown around Concordia has several really good restaurants that bring up to date regional chinese dishes beyond what there is in the traditional Chinatown (and that neighbourhood to has improved significantly in the last few years). Likewise, Indian food up on Jean-Talon between Parc and Acadie is quite good.
Ian 10:30 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
Yeah I’m aware that the old porn district is now the noodle district. Yes, it is much better than even 10 years ago – though I like the Japanese food in that area .
…but have you really explored Toronto? Next time check out the west Chinatown on Queen just past Parliament, which by itself dwarfs everything Montreal has to offer, or if you like Indian food, the southeast Asian community on Sheppard is vastly more extensive and diverse than Parc-Ex.
I’m not saying we don’t have any good food here, just that Toronto has way more, more options, with way more diversity, from street food to fine dining and everything in between as one might expect in a city that is more than twice the size, far more ethnically diverse, and situated in the most densely populated region of Canada. Quebec has Montreal and that’s it – Ontario has the entire Golden Horseshoe.
SteveQ 10:34 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
@Kate: I didn’t say you can’t find affordable meals in those places. But I will say that with $10 or $15, you will find much more interesting meals in Montreal, no doubt. Unless you count the hot dogs in Toront, the Pizza slices in NYC or the tacos in LA, Montreal will offer more and better for your bucks.
But I agree with you when I comes to high end restaurants. While we are dojng very well, much more than expected, it is hard to compete with their wealthy populace, as you say.
JaneyB 10:35 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
I’ll have to agree with Ian on this one. I love Montreal in a thousand ways, one of which is cheese related, another potluck picnic etc. Still, Torontonians eat out as a form of recreation. They spend most of their leisure dollars on restaurants. It’s just nuts. The food scene there is vast and lots of it is affordable ethnic eats (that really only locals can find). It doesn’t just sport restos however. For instance, you can access dozens of Iranian bakeries, each with specialties. It really is extraordinary there.
Ian 10:40 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
@SteveQ it’s not just smog dogs – you can get really inexpensive food from all over the world. The roti scene alone is amazing, but you can also eat cheap in any of the southeast Asian styles, they kind of specialize in it, you know… and yes, you can walk into any Chinese or Vietnamese restaurant and get an amazing hearty bowl of soup full of veg and noodles and meat if that’s your jam – or if you are strictly vegan there are dozens of strictly Buddhist restaurants. Like I said, I could go on all day. Also like Janey points out there is . ton of specialization, not because they are rich, but because there is the population to support it. Even finding fresh natas or chinese bbq is a struggle in Montreal because food inspectors don’t comprehend ethnic food.
walkerp 10:40 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
Yeah, I don’t know about these cheap eats in Montreal. No decent slices. No deli sandwiches. No burritos (or barely). No bbq pork noodle places. What am I missing?
Ian 10:44 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
You’re right, we really do have some good cheap eats here. Some. What you’re missing is the diversity, range, and availability. Even burritos are a relatively new thing here, a decade ago there were almost no Mexican places in Montreal. Toronto was well in on the burrito scene as far back as the 80s, again, there is no comparison. You sound like somebody from Laval saying they have all the same stuff Montreal does so there’s no point coming in to the city.
walkerp 10:46 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
I am agreeing with you about the lack of cheap eats and was asking where I could find them.
Ian 10:53 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
Oh my bad, I know where you can get all that stuff, just not the variety. Depending on what you mean by decent slices though, there’s no real NY style slices here AFAIK. Assuming you don’t mean smoked meat, deli sandwiches are best had at a deli. My fave is Charcuterie Atlantique now that Boulangerie Clark is closed, but Snowdon deli is pretty awesome too. For BBQ noodles your best bet is Hong Kong style fast food in Chinatown, there’s a good place in the basement of the building Kim Fung is in (shhh) but there’s also My Canh on St. Larry just below R-L for the best Vietnamese soup in Chinatown (IMO) or if you like freshly hand made beefy noodles there’s the place right by the escalator to the grocery store in the basement of the Swatow. For burritos specifically I like Arriba Burrito on Mont Royal but for Mexican in general with more of a homestyle vibe I adore Tamalera on Fairmount.
Like I said, you can get all this stuff… just the diversity and availability are more of a struggle in a smaller city, local specialties aside.
walkerp 11:38 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
Ah those delis are a trip for me but will keep them in mind for when exploring those nether regions.
It is odd how rare decent, cheap lunch food is here. Mile End around Ubisoft has improved considerably with that massive market, but I still see a massive market for decent slices or burritos. It’s either fast food or way too upscale.
SteveQ 11:38 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
@ Ian: I totally agree with you, especially on Asian restaurants. Even though we can get good and interesting meals in Asian restaurants here, Toronto, Vancouver, LA, SF and NY are ahead of us no doubt.
But where we stand out is by being different than other places with an almost perfect balance beetwen all that the world can offer. From the affordable BYOB in the heart of the city to the OKA area cheese producers, from the underground snack bars to the Jean-Talon and Atwater market, from the french offerings in the Plateau to the Lebanese joints in Chomedey and St-Laurent, from the Haitian mom and pop places in Saint-Michel to the East Europeans of the Main, from the québecois bineries to Little Italy, from the Cheskie’s to the Romados of this world, from the many micro-breweries to the still standing farmlands surrounding Montreal, from the Joe beef to the Pied de Cochon, from the Morrocan bakeries on Jean-Talon East to the Greeks joints in Parc-Ex, from the Chez Toqué to Chez Claudette and…. (I have to end this eventually), from the Peruvians restos in Villeray and St-Hubert street to the Irish pubs on Crescent/Bishop area….
I think we are doing pretty well and have an amazing array of diversity of food that is hard to match.
There’s also very good Iranian places in NDG and Sherbrooke west. More and more Afghan restaurants both on L’Acadie and in Chomedey. Indian and south indian in Parc-ex, 3 asian neighborhoods (The original Chinatown, the Ste-Cath west and Brossard), Caribean places in La Salle. Falafel joints in St-Pierre and one in Mile End and of course plenty of hipster places in St-Henri, Mile Ex and elsewhere.
NY style slices: Adamo on Notre-Dame ouest in Saint-Henri. 2 big slices for $8 or $9 (they are very good)
Tacos : Frida’s on Notre-Dame Ouest and Victor’s taco right next block.
By the way, great discussion and good points form all sides!
Ian 12:07 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
I haven’t quite gotten over my dismay that so many of my favourite diners in St Hank got shut down for hipster joints but it sounds like it’s worth heading back to explore Notre Dame… and at least the Green Spot is still there 🙂
Ian 12:14 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
Oh, & walkerp – Mile-End has a lot more second rate sushi places it’s true but since Boulangerie clark shut down the lunch scene has indeed tended toward fast food or pricy. That said, Batory, the remarkably underrated Polish deli on Saint Viateur is still there, and is Barros Lucos on Fairmount & Saint Urbain which does really good inexpensive Peruvian food. If you hop on the 80 you get get to Jean Talon in minutes though and there are way more options all the way from Parc to Acadie. Also worth considering is catching the 55 to Beaumont, there are cheap eats there between St Larry and St Hubert, in particular a few tiny & inexpensive South & Central American places worth exploring.
CE 12:32 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
I’ve never been to Batory, in fact, I’ve never even really noticed it and I live just a few blocks away. I’ll check it out this week. The sandwiches look good. Barros Lucos is Chilean, it’s the only place I’ve been able to get a typical simple hearty lunch like I used to eat often while living in Colombia.
One thing Montreal does very well is cafés. I remember being in Brooklyn (outside of Willimasburg and Park Slope) once and walking around for quite a while and never finding a place to take a seat and have a coffee and pastry. I ended up at Dunken Donuts. In Montreal, even the most neglected working class neighbourhood will have at least a few local cafés.
Meezly 12:33 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
Further to what Ian said, the Chinese noodle place at Swatow is Lan Zhou noodles (there’s also Zhonghua across from McGill campus on Sherbrooke which may even surpass Lan Zhou, imho). And the Cantonese joint below Kam Fung (now apparently Kim Fung) is Dobe & Andy (good noodles, but a wee sketchy in cleanliness). Noodle Factory ain’t bad either. But having grown up in Vancouver, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that there is no awesome Cantonese cuisine to be found in Montreal proper. There seems to be better choices for mainland Chinese, Korean, Thai & Vietnamese. Several inexpensive Korean restos and take-out spots have popped up in Mile End/Plateau in recent years, which is interesting and much appreciated.
Ian 13:30 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
@CE right, Chilean, my mistake. Not for a lack of eating there, it’s my favourite place to grab a quick bite on my way to other places.
@Meezly thanks for all the names, I just know them by smell and general location 😀 FWIW the new Korean place on the corner of Saint V & Fairmount is actually pretty good, I think it’s a better fit than the last 2 restaurants in the same location so I hope they do well enough to stay open. I still miss the German restaurant that used to be there but at least I can get my German food at Charcuterie Atlantique even if it’s not as convenient.
DeWolf 15:55 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
@walkerp – I can think of half a dozen Chinese BBQ places just off the top of my head. That said, I can’t vouch for their quality, except for one place: Dak Hing on Van Horne/Victoria, right next to Plamondon metro. The char siu and siu yok is good even by Hong Kong standards (seriously). It’s worth a trip.
I also suggest heading out to the strip of Decarie in VSL between Côte-Vertu and de l’Église metros. There are some good mainland Chinese spots there, plus a very good Chinese-Vietnamese place that does delicious noodles served with a side of pork bone broth, plus an amazing side dish of Chinese doughnut with a meatball in broth (for only $3!).
Some of the new Chinese places opening up west of Concordia are really good. They cater to the foreign students and mainland Chinese families living in the area so they aren’t watering down their cuisine for the mass market.
Meezly 17:12 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
@Ian, are you referring to La Belle Coree on Fairmount and St-Urbain? that place is pretty good, so hoping they’ll endure in that location too. Have you tried Hansang on Parc and Hoya on Mont-Royal Ave? (I think the food is a little better with better pricing).
simon harel 21:13 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
How sad. Everybody talks about food. Everybody gives numbers. How many restaurants? How many “ethnic” restaurants? I can eat that or try this. Looks like being Hanoi or Teheran. Have you travelled? Every city boasts multiculturalism as a key to cosmopolitism. It is a bland cliché The foodie’s scene is not different. Variety is the rule of the game. Compounding how many restaurants the riches can afford is the new game in town. So boring, So North-American. I don’t care about Toronto. If you want to compare… choose the cities that count. Folks, let me tell you what is different in Montreal. Food is not a social status. Its a way of life. Have you ever heard about Canadian cuisine? Nope. This is the point to consider. Have you heard about Montreal – métissé – cuisine? Yes. If not, move on. The homegrown products, the chefs, the crowd and the proudness of being what we are. Simple. That is what Bourdain found in Montreal. That’s what Bourdain found in New Orleans. Go to Mousso. You’ll get a glimpse of what I mean. So surprising that so-called experts can’t name a real restaurant emerging from the vast scene of Montreal own cooking Laboratory. Well, we don’t live in the same part of town. Languages issues…Cultural misconceptions… Sheer ignorance?
simon harel 22:11 on 2019-04-30 Permalink
Bourdain:
Most Canadian food in Canada
“It’s the most uniquely Canadian food in Canada. In Vancouver the cuisine is a very strong mix of great Asian food from all over Asia, a lot of great homegrown stuff, but the cuisine in Montreal could exist nowhere else other than Quebec. It looks and tastes different from food anywhere else and the chefs, particularly when you’re talking about Martin (Picard), or Fred (Morin) or Dave (McMillan), are unlike chefs anywhere else.”
— interview with The Canadian Press in 2012
Tim 08:58 on 2019-05-01 Permalink
@simon harel: that quote is seven years old and I’m sure everyone on this blog knows pied de cochon and joe beef. The general direction of the comments have veered towards cheap eats not sophisticated cuisine.
As someone who is done with $30 and up plates in this city, I continue to appreciate the variety of selection that is available in the grocery stores in Montreal. Meats that would only be found in specialty butcher shops in other parts of the country can be found in any grocery store in Montreal. This, to me, is something to celebrate.
Ian 12:06 on 2019-05-01 Permalink
It’s been a while since that trio were considered trendsetters, let’s be honest here. Joe Beef & Pied du Cochon are basically places for rich tourists or to bring business associates on an expense account. Even Vancouver surpassed Montreal for fine dining yers ago. Like I said, shaving truffles and foie gras on everything and calling it fine dining? Yeah. Montreal’s got _that_ market cornered.
“So boring, So North-American. I don’t care about Toronto. If you want to compare… choose the cities that count. Folks, let me tell you what is different in Montreal. Food is not a social status. Its a way of life. Have you ever heard about Canadian cuisine? Nope. This is the point to consider. Have you heard about Montreal – métissé – cuisine? Yes.”
Spoken like someone with a narrow provincial outlook. There actually is a Canadian haute cuisine, maybe if you actually paid attention to anyone besides TV celebrity chefs from nearly a decade ago you might have heard of it.
Montreal’s real charm is that whiel we bicker about our cultures one thing we all get together on is our love of food. Other cities may have fancier food, more diverse food, maybe even better food, but you would be hard pressed to find another place in the world where to start a serious argument all you have to ask is “where are the best bagels and smoked meat”. We care very deeply about food in Montreal, but that’s not something the Tourism board is even remotely capable of tapping into. Maybe for practice they can make another promotional video.
Ian 12:11 on 2019-05-01 Permalink
@Meezly yeas, Belle Corée. TBH if I’m really hankering for Korean I like Chez Bong in Chinatown, best dolsot bibimbap in town IMO – though there are also lots of good little places out in NDG/Upper Lachine and the Saint Kitty noodle district. Even the Mon Ami chain is pretty good, they especially make excellent fried chicken.
I’ll take any of the places Meezly or DeWolf suggested over another pretentious $20 burger any day.