School me on Montreal...

[brice618]

Laika is the bar I was thinking of. Great atmosphere an usually good dj's not a dance club though.

Resovoir is awesome. I love that place.

[lionelhutz]

Montreal is one of the few world cities you can go Whitewater Rafting in. Do it - it's fun. Also make sure you go to the Mount Royal - the park has a great view of the River, University, and downtown.

Lachine rapids jet boating is a blast. Make sure to see if the owner is working and if so just go introduce self. He loves to talk and if you say your are scouting for a summer camp to come try the experience he'll hook you up with an awesome ride. Make sure to sit a few rows (like 5 or so) from the front and along the side of the boat. Drivers side is usually best. You'll know why when you come back.

[radam]

Great suggestions all around. I think you guys mentioned at least two of everything we'd possibly want to do, so this should make for a solid weekend. thanks!

[trainnvain]

Did not read all of the above replies in detail, so I may be repeating:

Food:

1) Schwartz's deli!!!, on St. Laurent. Not to be missed. Order the smoked meat sandwich (medium fat) with a pickle and black cherry cola. I'm salivating thinking about it.

2) Bagels. Montreal bagels are the best in North America (cue the angry New Yorkers). There are 2 major purveyors, Fairmount bagel, on Fairmount St, near Parc Avenue, and St. Viateur bagel, on St. Viateur, near St. Laurent. Both will have hot, just from the oven sesame bagels, which require nothing additional as long as they are fresh. I also like to get the bagel with cream cheese and lox from Fairmount for breakfast.

3) If looking for a good, authentically French-Quebecois meal, with a slightly higher price tag, I would recommend one of the following (possibly reserving ahead, some are quite small):

- Le Petit Plateau - real good prix fixe meals, bring your own wine.
- Au Pied de Cochon - rich, fatty, amazing. Pretty well known.
- L'Express (marrow and greens!) - I forget exactly where it is, Rue St. Denis I think. French bistro style.

4) Portuguese - Chez Doval. On De Bullion, north or Rue Rachel. Delicious charred meats and fishes. Used to be a Portuguese gentleman's club in one half, and they still had the velvet accented nude silhouette pictures on the wall last time I was there.

Other things to do...

If wanting to do a bit of wandering, see some local produce, buy various ingredients, the Atwater market is a great spot in the Fall. Buy cheeses, bread, wine, whatever else and eat on the grass by the Lachine canal (which is just behind the market) = a pretty good afternoon.

Old Montreal is the touristic, quintessentially "quaint" part of the city, and probably worth seeing if you never have. The restaurants are usually priced higher for the tourists, and not as good as elsewhere in the city.
The archaeology museum is in that area, and while I've never been I've heard it's good.

Music is everywhere in the city, and there are a couple of jazz clubs, some blues nights, although I'm sure things have changed a bit since I was there in terms of nights and locations. You should pick up one of the local entertainment papers and pick a show or two.

Beer. There are lots of brew pubs, but my favourite before I left the city was Dieu de Ciel(best beer in Canada), somewhere near the bagel places I mentioned above. They brew beer in smallish batches, and write whatever is ready on a given night up on a chalkboard. Another to try would be Reservoir (on Duluth). Good snacks there too. I like both of those places better than Brutopia.

Right - poutine. Get the smoked meat poutine at a place called Mamma's Pizza, on Ave des Pins, near the intersection of Blvd. St. Urbain. Or for "gourmet" poutine - try a place called Resto La Banquise. It is open very late. Combine a visit there with a night on the town. Enjoy watching the drunk people trying to order.

Mostly the city is great for wandering, finding cool shit, and eating poutine.

Edit- This can't be repeated enough. The women there are so insanely gorgeous. Even the not so gorgeous women kind of pretend they are, and pull it off.

I don't even have to type that much. I would've posted this to a tee.
Was I being followed around?

[ex-powderbroker]

St. Elizabeth is a big bar, huge backyard, ivy growing up all over the place, hard to describe but very cool.

I also like for dives: Bar Miami (if it's still open and the police haven't shut it down, people were always doing drugs everywhere when i was there).

[rugbydave]

Everyone who said Brutopia is on point, that place is rad. As fasr as poutine, yeah, Patati Patata is great but Belle Province is also the shit for late night hotdogs... Schwartz's is also delicious and anyone who doesn't try some montreal bagels while you're there is crazy. My favourite spot was always Faubourg Bagels at the Faubourg St Catherine but St Viateur and Fairmount are good too.

As far as strip clubs go, well, Super Sexe is crap. Whoever said the girls don't get naked at the 'touching' clubs is dead wrong. The best strip club I've ever been to is called 'Kamasutra' and I'm not even sure where it is, I was pretty toasted the one time I went. It's in some back alley somewhere, but take my word, that place is outta this world. I'm sure you can ask around.

[hafilax]

I went to a 24hr poutine place that has something like 40 varieties. Can't remember what it was called...

I loved just walking around looking at the buildings.

[D(C)]

The best strip club I've ever been to is called 'Kamasutra'

My first strip club experience was there at the ripe age of 17. It's at Prince Arthur and St. Dominique, just behind St. Laurent. It has been rated the best.

Other than what has been mentioned here, and maybe to echo a few of the essential suggestions:

Drinking - My nights seem to always start at Biftek on St. Laurent, a well-occupied dive bar that's great for starting things off. Then bar hop and see where the night takes you - if you're able to leave Biftek, often a struggle. Another good dive bar is Barfly. I'm not much of a clubber but there are a few cool places on St. Laurent to dance without being too glitzy, Korova and Jupiter Room to name a couple. Crescent Street has Brutopia and Mad Hatters (nice rooftop patio), and Bishop has some good pubs.

Eating - While Schwartz's is a popular spot and well-deserved as the benchmark in smoked meat, The Main across the street will do the trick as well. Get smoked meat. The Portuguese food is really good as well. I like a place called Romados, sort of a corner store with a sandwich counter. Delicious. Also check out Depanneur Le Pickup in Little Italy for the veggie pulled pork and a cool hipster vibe. Bagels, get St. Viateur of Fairmont and eat them while hot. Sesame and poppy seed are authentic, flavors are for tourists. La Belle Province or Lafleur are safe bets for poutine. For expensive food, I'm the wrong person to ask but Montreal has some incredible places.

Places to walk around/to see - Do a loop up St. Laurent from Ste. Catherine, along Mont Royal Street then down St. Denis. Mont Royal Street has some artsier shopping that is not to be missed. Walk around Mount Royal (the park) for some nice wooded areas and great views. Ste. Catherine between Guy and McGill College is the mainstream shopping district and you'll find all the big stores. The Old Port is nice and quite historic. There's an archeological museum down there (Pointe A Callieres) that's kind of cool.

Other stuff - Montreal has a great music scene. Go see a show.

Getting around - Take transit, use the Bixi, walk around and get lost. You can't not have fun.

For background, I have lived in Montreal my whole life, only recently moving to Vancouver. I still visit home a couple times a year.

[rugbydave]

^Dude, isn't that place ridiculous? I wonder if the layout is still the same? I remember there being like a square stage and the only seating being gyno row. It only took about 2 minutes for a chick to sit next to me and offer me a hummer. Unfortunately for all involved I was drunk and yelling about how I wanted a 'Hemi' (they had just re-released it that year) and not a hummer... Oh well, a different stripper dragged me up on stage with her like 5 minutes later, I tell ya, that place was rad...

[ex-powderbroker]

i like biftek, it has free popcorn, right?

[skiwithcharlie]

Première Moisson has the best bread in town bar none. They have maybe 10 bakeries all around Montreal and about 30 kinds of breads. They mak'em the old fashion way, just like in France. Their croissant cost 1.25$ each so they better be damn good and they are. Here is the location link: http://www.premieremoisson.com/Point...e/Centre-ville

And dont forget to go chill out on the terasses and more importantly on the massive one at the St-Sulpice (http://www.lesaintsulpice.ca/) if you wanna get the real Montreal summer experience. Dont forget to go on Mont-Royal at the lookout to get a birds eye view of downtown.

Did you know Montreal means Mont-Royal, the prononciation got deformed trough time and french slang and that no building can be higher than Mont-Royal, its a city law.

[jgb@etree]

I've got great memories of doing lines off of strippers asses in our hotel room in Montreal, but I'm a grown up now & don't do that sort of thing anymore........



Great city.

Wish you were going there with the boys instead of w/ ze woman. To add on to the 'well groomed, good looking' comment, the ladies seem to be very 'friendly' as well.

[3snowboards]

There is a statue up on a hill that i cant remember the name of,
where rastas hang out
where you can buy halfway decent sacks.

[Deadmonton]

St. Elizabeth is a big bar, huge backyard, ivy growing up all over the place.

>

the St-Sulpice (http://www.lesaintsulpice.ca/)

Much prefer the vibe at St. E's to St. Sulpice. Sulpice tends to draw a much younger, drunker, angrier crowd on weekends in my experience, particularly as the night wears on.

EDIT: by young, I mean ~18. And it could have been the nights I was there. The terrace is pretty awesome.

I'm not much of a clubber but there are a few cool places on St. Laurent to dance without being too glitzy, Korova and Jupiter Room to name a couple. ...

...The Portuguese food is really good as well. I like a place called Romados sort of a corner store with a sandwich counter. Delicious.

Agree, and AGREE. I totally forgot about Korova. They used to have a great blues jam on Sunday nights. And Romados has seen me through too many hangovers to count.

[Deadmonton]

I don't even have to type that much. I would've posted this to a tee.
Was I being followed around?

Heh.

I was following the smell of food, taste of beer, and babes. They always lead to the same places...

[khyber.pass]

I think everyone covered it. I lived there for 7 years. Here's the top list.

Dieux de Ciel. microbrew pub. don't miss this. Mile End.

St Elisabeth. St Catherines. amazing courtyard pub.

Reservoir. St Laurent & Duluth. upstairs.

Laika. DJ bar. 4040 St Laurent @ Duluth. used to DJ there...

Patati Patata. St. Laurent & Rachel. $5 breakfast joint with 4 tables.

Frites Dores. the best poutine, period, for over 50 years. across from SAT (1195 St Laurent) at St Catherines.

La Banquise. poutine 24/7. Rachel east.

Sunday. TamTams. big drum & freak hangout in the park, Rachel west of Parc Ave. this is not to be missed. vivre le vrai culture quebecois ..

DO use the bike fleet.
DO use the metro.
DO get outta Old Port and wander up+down St Laurent, St Denis, Ste Catherines.
DO visit some art spots / museums.

have some fucking fun.

[khyber.pass]

Mmm, how could I forget.


Casa del Popolo. bar + live music.
Sala Rossa. live music venue.

both owned by Godspeed! You Black Emperor. on any given night you will see/hear something that will blow your mind, often for under 10 clams. St. Laurent just north of Mont Royal.

[wren]

This is a great thread. I'm of to Montreal in a week for F1. It's a fucking party pretty much anywhere at that time, but I'm definitely going to try and knock off a couple things on the list.

[brice618]

If we're talking hot dogs. The Green Spot is the shit.

Their fries are awesome as well.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...,14.97,,0,6.81

[chatton18]

Bumping this up. Unlike the OP I'll be going up for a bachelor party. Most of us aren't really into strippers (not to rule a strip club out), but we do enjoy consuming copious amounts of alchohol/good beer etc. Its probably going to be a weekend in November or early Dec. Want to know what part of town to get a hotel in so we can walk to bars etc.

[iceman]

I mentioned this earlier in the thread but I still think Hotel Place D'Armes is in a pretty ideal location. It's at the top of the Old Port and close to both St. Laurent and Ste. Catherines. Spendy but cool. I'm sure there's plenty of other somewhat cheaper places in that general area.

[BigDaddy]

I have fuzzy (and warm) memories, so I don't remember the name, but anywhere near St. Catherine's St is bar friendly.

And Montreal has some world class clubs, so don't waste the weekend in a sports bar.

[Pow4Brains]

I have fuzzy (and warm) memories, so I don't remember the name, but anywhere near St. Catherine's St is bar friendly.

And Montreal has some world class clubs, so don't waste the weekend in a sports bar.

2nd and recommend "Club Super Sex".

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[freshie247]

Hot, crazy women.

[iceman]

Hot, crazy women.

And smoked meat.