Lasting vacation images: Allure of Montreal is more than food, music

Children are endlessly fascinated with the rising and falling water in a fountain in Complexe Desjardins, which is part of Underground Montreal, a network of enclosed shopping centers, office buildings and hotels linked by the city's Metro.

Another fountain entertained children in the plaza outside Complexe Desjardins, near the main stage for free concerts during the 10-day International Jazz Festival, which ended July 5.

The French influence? A mortar that appears to be circumcised was being offered along with the pestle in an IGA supermarket in Complexe Desjardin.

Parking meters in Montreal also provide a secure place to lock your bicycle. In Manhattan, food deliverers and others chain their bicycles to lamp posts and street signs.

Underground Montreal was developed to keep the city humming during long, brutal winters. This fire hydrant sign suggests accumulated snow can reach unheard of heights in an urban setting. 

The Metro in Montreal has rubber wheels and is quieter than the subway in Manhattan, another island city. A single fare is $3.25 Canadian, but you can buy three days of unlimited rides for $18 Canadian. The U.S. dollar was worth about $1.20 Canadian during our visit in late June and July, and Visa was giving $1.23 to $1.25 for purchases charged in Montreal.

New Canadian bills have a clear panel, left, unlike anything I've ever seen before.

A street in the East Montreal section shows the typical wrought-iron staircases that are part of the city's architectural heritage.

On two sides of Saint Catherine Street, a mural shows an addict shooting up, above, and the gold statue atop a church, below.

At this kiosk in the Complexe Desjardins, you can use your pedal power to charge your smart phone or other device, as long as you have a charging cable with you.

In the IGA supermarket, homeless men can cash in the aluminum cans they collect at this machine. The man waiting his turn complained the supermarket once had several machines, but now only this one, and said the man in front of him should be more considerate. 

In Complexe Desjardins, you'll find Sushi Shop, part of a chain, where you can get a freshly made Calypso Roll, which includes lobster, crab, green apple, avocado, mayo and other ingredients, all wrapped in rice paper, for $12.59 Canadian, including 15% tax. On my credit card statement, I was charged a total of $10.04 U.S. 

At Rachelle-Bery on Saint Catherine Street in Montreal, a store that sells only organic or natural products, three liters of organic juice (such as apple-grape-cherry) were on sale for $5 Canadian. When I asked for a plastic bag, I was charged 6 cents. The total on the credit card bill sent to my home was $4.04 U.S. Jean Coutu, a drugstore chain, doesn't charge extra for plastic bags. 

A salad bar called Cultures in a food court on Saint Catherine Street.

At Cultures in Complexe Desjardins, a trio of salads -- rice with lentils, couscous and a bean combination -- were $10 Canadian, plus tax.

The Saint Catherine Street food court is below street level, tricking the eye with this car and pedestrians in a window.

A counter-service Greek restaurant in Complexe Desjardins serves wine and beer and has its own seating area.

Goat Cheese Lollipops, above, and small Spinach and Cheese Quiches, below, were among the hors d'oeuvres served at the Hyatt Regency Momtreal, the headquarters hotel for the annual International Jazz Festival. 

For $20 Canadian a night, a room on the hotel's Regency Club level included a large buffet breakfast, hors d'oeuvres and salads served starting at 5 p.m., and refreshments and desserts served at other times through the day.

One of our neighbors on the 11th floor of the Hyatt Regency Montreal ordered room service and put out the trays, which we would see on the way to breakfast, above and below. Sometimes, no one would collect them for hours.

When we came back from breakfast, someone had thrown a cloth napkin over this mess, but it remained in the hall.

On the line to order an omelet in Saveur, the restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Montreal, where a window seat is coveted, below.

We found the Venetian blinds aren't dusted very often and food particles aren't removed, below.

After we complained two days in a row, a cleaning crew was called in.

On June 29, the stylish Erykah Badu, billed as the Queen of R&B, made her first appearance at the Montreal jazz festival, and her sensual voice and jazz-and-soul-tinged melodies soon had her adoring fans on their feet, below.

Just about everyone in the hall knew the words to Badu's songs, which were drowned out by her highly amplified band. Tickets to her show were the most expensive we bought at $118.50 each for the second row.

University jazz groups gave free concerts every afternoon at 1 and 3 in Lounge Heineken, a tent with tables, chairs and comfortable couches, where you could order beer and food.

On July 1, we grabbed an umbrella and walked downtown to see the Canada Day Parade, which featured many of the ethnic groups that live in Montreal, including mainland Chinese, above, and Scandinavians, below.

English jazz singer Jamie Cullum, second from left, performed with a big band of Montreal musicians on July 1, in one of the best concerts we saw. Tickets were $88.50 Canadian each, about 20% less in U.S. dollars. Most of the ticketed concerts we saw ran two hours or a bit longer.

After the concert, Cullum gave a free performance at a nightclub, and introduced Malaika, a singer-songwriter from Ireland, below.

Malaika has a beautiful voice, but her generic pop songs disappointed many in the club who had hoped to hear jazz standards.

Acoustic jazz guitar virtuoso Jesse Cook blended gypsy, Spanish, jazz and rumba influences in a July 2 concert with a small band that rocked Maison Symphonique, home of the Montreal Symphony. Tickets were $73.50 Canadian each.

 

Singer Dee Dee Bridgewater and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra performed songs associated with Big Easy on July 3, in what was the highlight of the festival for me and my wife. Tickets were $70.50 Canadian each for Row C.

On the other hand, we felt jazz singer Patricia Barber of the United States played the piano with her small group too much and didn't sing enough in what was one of the shortest concerts we saw. Tickets to her show were only $52 Canadian each for Row AA, so I guess we got what we paid for.

The sun-splashed plaza outside Complexe Desjardins was always filled with people and a diversity of entertainment, above and below.

On June 28, at our first concert, we had a front-row seat for the spirited performance of a flamenco troupe ($57 Canadian each), and on July 5, our last concert was the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir, above ($73.50 Canadian each).

I left the gospel concert before it ended and returned to our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Montreal, where I grabbed a couple of chairs on the terrace for the festival finale, a free 2-hour tribute to blues legend B.B. King on the main outdoor stage, below. But the music stopped after just an hour to allow another group to play on another stage, and many people on the hotel terrace left.

We could hear the B.B. King tribute much better than my iPhone camera could see it.

More Montreal: Brasserie T!, Vanhorne, Le Petit Alep, Hyatt

Walleye, a freshwater fish, served over crunchy daikon radish, fiddlehead ferns and other vegetables with a spicy chimichurri sauce at Brasserie T! in Montreal, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

One of busiest and best restaurants operating during the 35th annual International Jazz Festival is Brasserie T! on the edge of the Place des Arts, a cultural complex that is Montreal's version of Lincoln Center.

Brasserie T! and the companion Taverne F are housed in long, sleek glass-and-metal boxes, with outdoor seating that allows customers to eat lunch or dinner and listen to one of the many free performances.

We made a reservation for lunch on July 1 at Taverne F, which serves Portuguese food, but found it closed in observance of Canada Day. 

We found a table at the nearby Brasserie T!, got a terrific waitress named Sophie and enjoyed a wonderful meal with wine.

At Brasserie T!, my wife ordered pork ribs with a simple salad, below, instead of french fries.

Walleye and ribs

I ordered a freshwater fish, walleye, that I never see on menus in the northeastern United States, and the skin was crisped beautifully.

The meaty fillet was served, skin-side up, over blanched but crunchy daikon radish, fiddlehead ferns, asparagus and other vegetables, all swimming in a spicy chimichurri sauce ($24). A great dish.

I started with a bowl of chilled gazpacho ($7), and sipped a glass of Spanish red wine (also $7).

My wife asked for salad instead of fries with her pork ribs, which were cooked together and served in a barbecue sauce ($21). The meat fell off the bones.

With my wife's soft drink ($4), the bill totaled $82.78 Canadian, including taxes, but not the tip.

Brasserie T!, 1425 Jeanne Mance St., Montreal, Quebec; 1-514-282-0808. Open year-round.

The vegetable of the day at Brasserie T! was baby zucchini, far tastier than their much bigger cousins. 

I started with a creamy, refreshing gazpacho.

A $7 glass of Spanish wine at Brasserie T!

An amuse-bouche was compliments of the chef at Vanhorne Restarant in Montreal -- seaweed chip, mussel and tomato puree.

Vanhorne

A year after we enjoyed a five-course tasting menu of seafood and vegetables at Vanhorne Restaurant in Montreal, we returned on July 2 to find a new chef and a new, inflexible attitude.

Yes. A five-course tasting menu was available for $60, just $2 more than in 2013. But ...

Unlike our first visit, the chef, Jens Ruoff, would not waver from the tasting menu, which included horse meat with hay cooked in butter and beef carpaccio with caramelized onions and cherries.

Yes. Hay. We were incredulous.

Sylvie, our accommodating hostess in 2013, had the day off, and the waiter kept on using the word "perfect," even when we ordered a la carte and he turned down our request for a salad to share.

The salad denial was puzzling, given Vanhorne's focus on "cuisine du marche" or "cooking from the market."

Beautifully composed

OK. We loved the food.

The plates were beautifully composed and flavors, such as the green curry with my raw mackerel appetizer, were intense.

At Vanhorne, an entree of house-made cavatelli, sumac, sage and pistachio in a rich lobster bisque ($22).

Walleye, French green beans, xeres and chanterelles with potato mousse ($28).

My starter of raw mackerel atop couscous with mustard ice cream and green curry ($13). (The mustard ice cream, left, slid off of the fish before I could take a photo.) My wife had an appetizer of lobster, watermelon, frozen yogurt, roasted bread and squid ink, below ($16).

Vanhorne has 30 seats, but only three other customers were being served during our dinner on July 2. During our visit in 2013, the restaurant was nearly full and we chatted amiably with our neighbors. A new, inflexible chef might be the reason for the change in fortune.

You'll find Vanhorne's simple storefront in Montreal's Outremont neighborhood, about 3 miles from downtown hotels.

Incidentals

I drank a glass of French red wine ($9.50), the least expensive on the list, and an espresso ($4).

Our total, including taxes of nearly 15%, was $106.36 Canadian.

Vanhorne Cuisine du Marche, 1268 Van Horne Ave., Montreal, Quebec; 1-514-508-0828. Closed Sundays and Mondays.

The Vegetarian at Le Petit Alep, a Syrian-Armenian restaurant in Montreal, and small Armenian Salad, rear.

Le Petit Alep

Alep, the French word for the city of Aleppo, Syria, is a white-tablecloth restaurant that is open only for dinner.

But next to it is the casual Le Petit Alep, where we ate a big lunch on July 3, the day before we left Montreal for home.

My wife and I shared The Vegetarian ($22), a filling platter with such classics as hummus, muhammara, rice with lentils, stuffed grape leaves and a doughy spinach pie.

We also ordered a small Armenian Salad dressed with oil, lemon juice and dried mint ($5). The food is just wonderful.

Tart, house-made lemonade was $4.25 and a small, sweetened Arab coffee was $2.25.

Our total was $38.52 Canadian, more than you'd expect for a Syrian-Armenian lunch.

A big disappointment was the bread -- mini, unheated pocket breads that were served in plastic bags. I could feel how stiff they were through the plastic.

Soft, pillowy Syrian bread is one of the great pleasures of the table. You can stuff almost any food into them or scoop up dips. 

I see wonderful pocket breads from Montreal on the shelves at Fattal's, the Syrian bakery-grocery-butcher in Paterson, N.J., about 350 miles away from the French-speaking city. 

Why aren't they being served at Le Petit Alep? 

Le Petit Alep, 191 Jean Talon St., Montreal, Quebec; 1-514-270-9361. A Metro or subway stop is about two blocks away.

Le Petit Alep makes its own lemonade.

Sweetened Arabic coffee could have been thicker.

Alep and Le Petit Alep are near Montreal's Jean Talon Market.

Smoked salmon with capers was one of the dishes laid out for dinner in the Regency Club of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Montreal. The rate for a Regency Club room includes a light dinner buffet and a groaning-board breakfast with made-to-order omelets.

Hyatt's Regency Club

We didn't have to eat out all the time.

We booked a king-bedded Regency Club room at the Hyatt Regency Montreal, the headquarters hotel for the International Jazz Festival, and the rate included a light dinner buffet and an all-you-can-eat breakfast.

So, we could have a big breakfast, then lunch and in the evening, rely on having salad, cheese and fruit from the free dinner buffet before we went to a concert.

The Regency Club, a lounge and business center, also serves afternoon tea and desserts in the evening.

A Regency Club salad.

Cheese, fruit, bread, nuts and dessert also are included.

A bowl of shrimp. Only beer and wine are extra. A glass of wine is $4. Soft drinks, Perrier, coffee, espresso and tea are included.

Hyatt Regency Montreal, 1255 Jeanne Mance St., Montreal, Quebec; 1-514-982-1234.


Also see: 

Dining out in Montreal 2013

Two can dine out in Montreal for $18.50 to $106 and higher