Vegetarian Restaurants

Here is a quick post about some vegetarian restaurants.

Chu Chai, which specializes in fake meat, is very good. Go there. (See the previous post for a longer description of Chu Chai.)

La Faim du Monde / Pushap. Very inexpensive, good food. Order the Thali. Used to be connected with Pushap, but they decided to part ways. Rumor has it the family objected to the name being used. Recommended, but don't expect fantastic.

Spirite Lounge. Vegan. And outrageous. You have one choice: large portion or small portion. Smaller portion is recommended by the chef so that you have room for dessert. The chef considers it a crime against humanity to waste food, so you must finish everything on your plate. The food is good, the vegan chocolate cake was amazingly good. The decor is outrageous. $15 for the meal; includes appetizer, main dish and dessert. Recommend.

Chu Chai Restaurant: Franco ate beef!

This has to be one of the best vegetarian restaurants we have been to. They specialize in making dishes with "veggie" versions of beef, chicken, fish and duck. We have had both veggie chicken and veggie beef dishes and the similarity to the real thing is remarkable.

We have been there twice and the food has been delicious both times. The service is quite good and the ambiance is simple but elegant. The price is not bad either. Appetizers run between $4.50- $7.50 and main dishes are between $11.00- $16.00. They have a decent wine list with reasonable prices.

We highly recommend this restaurant for meat eaters and vegetarians alike. It will not leave you asking "Where's the beef?"

Upstairs Jazz Club

Last night we went for dinner and a concert at the Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill. The performer was Dawn Tyler Watson accompanied by a three piece band.

The food was delicious and the service was amazing. We really liked how the waiter knew when to tend to us. Franco especially liked how he dealt with a very annoying woman sitting at the next table. The food was reasonable priced, with burgers around $10 and other entrees between $12 and $18. The restaurant has a cozy, jazzy feel, and the menu covers were album covers from jazz records. Despite its name, it was located on the main floor.

The performance was outstanding! Ms Watson's voice is flawless and the performance was very lively. The choice of material was very good. Not surprisingly, there was a cover charge for the performance ($17.50/person). The show started just after 8:30p and lasted until 1:00a, and consisted of three one hour sets.

Highly recommended. It's located at 1254 Rue MacKay.

Meeting of Styles

Meeting of Styles met in Montreal on 6 September. It was a gathering of graffiti artists to help decorate an abandon building. I didn't get a chance to attend the day of the meeting, but I went by a few days later to check out the work. Some of this stuff is pretty amazing. Here are a few samples.
The building in question is located at 1435 Rue Bleury.

Graffiti Problem?

So Montreal seems to have a graffiti problem. There is even talk about introducing municipal legislation that would prevent anyone under 18 from purchasing spray paint. But some of the graffiti is very nice. I'll post some pictures later. But for now, let me tell you about the photo. I was walking down Avenue Des Pins and I saw the work crew putting up the wooden fence in the picture. I took this picture three days later.

Lock Art

Carla and I were walking along and we noticed a painted padlock locked up to a window grate. Then we noticed another. And another. They were all over the place. Here are some photos.





The following is near the entrance of a BlockBuster Video.
If you're interested, you can see these and more on Rue Saint-Dominique, south of Avenue Des Pins Est.

Montréal Links

Montréal has Wikipedia entry and a Wikitravel entry. Lots of great information.

You can get a weather forecast for Montréal from Environment Canada.

Information about quite a few Montréal restaurants can be found at www.restomontreal.ca.