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.

We love food!

So you may have noticed that we've been posting a lot about restaurants. But we're in Montréal and it is said that Montréal trails only New York in number of restaurants. And we've had a few visitors over the last few weeks. We found the website www.restomontreal.ca has good information about Montréal restaurants.

We're also planning on posting about other stuff besides restaurants. Like ice cream. We've found some good ice cream places here. Yum!

La Piazzetta

La Piazzetta is a little pizzeria amidst the bustle of many other restaurants along Saint Denis. Pizza is the main feature on the menu, however they do have a few other dishes to offer. There are a variety of pizzas to choose from, in varying sizes from personal to larger pizzas to share.

We each ordered a personal pizza. There is a toppings list so you can add to or change your pizza as you desire. The pizza was tasty, although the crust was very thin and cracker-like. Not thin-crust like in Italy, but more like a large matzoh cracker with pizza toppings. Different, yet tasty. (We noticed on a neighbouring table that the larger pizzas have a conventional pizza crust.) We also enjoyed a pitcher of Sangria.

The personal pizzas run under $8 each and, obviously, there is a charge for extra toppings.

We are sure there must be better pizza places and Sangria around. When we find them, we'll let you know.

Recommended.

Google Map

Rueben's

Come here hungry! Reuben's is a meat lover's paradise. Famous for their Montreal smoked meat, Reuben's serves up their sandwiches piled high with up to a whole pound of the succulent smoke-cured meat. The sheer dynamics of trying to eat these sandwiches is almost overwhelming.

There are many other delicious items on their menu, sans smoked meat. Franco had a chicken dish, since he's still not eating beef, and enjoyed it. The servings are more than generous and consistent in quality and great taste. Another place to get Montreal smoked meat sandwiches is Schwartz's Deli, but we haven't been there yet.

We can't remember the exact price of our meal, but dishes run from between $8 and $15.

Definitely recommended.

Google Map

Au Pied du Cochon

Au Pied du Cochon was definitely a fun experience. The ambiance is simple with a friendly and warm atmosphere. The menu was an interesting read in French and we were glad to get the English version. What sounded like haut cuisine in French ended up being pig's blood pie in English. Aside from pig's blood there were many other unique, interesting and delicious sounding dishes on the menu. There is an extensive and impressive wine list available.

We ordered onion soup, duck, pork and fois gras. Each dish was absolutely delicious. The food was well prepared, fresh and very gourmet. Indeed, this restaurant is quite pricey and perhaps should be left for special occasions. Dinner for four with a bottle of wine, plus tax and tip was just over $200.00.

Definitely a neat experience and a good recommendation for those new to the city and who are NOT vegetarian.

Recommended.

Google Map

Caféo

Caféo is a unique little café that offers good coffee, an eclectic selection of tasty sandwiches, and several pieces of artwork to admire. It is an excellent place to have lunch or a light dinner. A sandwich costs around $6, or $8.50 with a fair-size salad and drink.

Recommended.

La Maison Thai II

At La Maison Thai II you choose two or three dishes from a cafeteria setup, with each dish costing at most $5. There are options for combination dishes, which cost around $8. Your choices will then be microwaved. In all, you will spend between $5 - $15 for your meal.

This place gets a mixed review. Decent food; a good value if you pick a combo. Ordering a combo was a bit complicated, so you may end up paying $15 for something you thought was going to cost $8. Be sure to ask for a combo. However, I was not a big fan of the microwaving....

Go to Just Noodles instead. It's across the street.

Just Noodles

As the name suggests, Just Noodles sells Asian noodle and rice dishes. There are many, many options, so you might experience choice paralysis. The servings are large and the price is great (less than $8 per dish, including tax). Our waitor was singing and dancing to pop music, and that was enteraining.

Fast service. Good food. Cheap price. What more can you ask for? Recommended.

Google map.

Registering for the Québec Health Plan

It was surprisingly easy and fast to sign up for the Québec Health Plan. We visited the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) website, which informed us of the documentation needed to register for the health plan (proof of identity; proof of Canadian citizenship; proof of Québec residency), and headed over to the RAMQ office in Montréal.

425, boulevard De Maisonneuve Ouest
3rd floor, bureau 300
Montréal (Québec) H3A 3G5

We were done in a little over an hour, including having our photos taken for the health cards. The cards will arrive in about three months (as residents of a different Canadian province, we are covered by the provincial health plan for our first three months in Québec). RAMQ also offers a Public Perscription Drug Insurance Plan if you are not covered by a private plan through employment. That's pretty neat.

We live in Montréal!

These are very exciting times: We will be living in Montréal for the next two years! We decided to record our impressions and describe Montréal as we experience it, for the benefit of ourselves, our friends and our families.

Enjoy.

PS. The picture is of a café near our apartment: Brûlerie St-Denis.