A Taste of Ville-Marie 
 
Jul. 1, 2009 12:53 pm 
Updated: Jul. 21, 2009 9:18 am
Back when the region around the St. Lawrence River was known as New France, Ville-Marie was a fledgling community that over time grew in significance. It became known as Montreal and is now a world-renowned city.

I had the pleasure of going to Montreal recently and I figured since it's Canada Day and all I'd finally get around to blogging about it.

Technically, though, I already blogged about it, on my blogger blog. I'll link to those posts down below.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Montreal. Mrs. LB and I went there as part of her business trip. She had a weeklong business trip there and I joined her at the end of it, and we stayed three days afterward to spend time there to celebrate our 10-year anniversary.

We stayed on the edge of Old Montreal and Downtown, on the corner of Rue Saint Antoine and Rue Saint Pierre, so all the sights in Old Montreal were within walking distance. As we were there only three days, we ended up doing all the sights down in that area of the city, save for trip to Parc du Mont-Royal.

I wanted to make sure and experience the great cuisine Montreal has to offer and I had some excellent food. AR buddies Gitano and Ambibambi had some great suggestions. Gitano suggested a place in Old Montreal called Da Franco's, which is on Rue Notre-Dame, and it was fantastic. The pizza I had there was unlike anything I've had here in SoCal. Also, the poutine (food) and Caesar (drink) Ambibambi suggested were each quite delicious.

One day, we had lunch at Titanic, a sort-of, out-of-the-way eatery. The sandwiches there were fantastic, and I tried a cream of carrot soup there that was superb.

We also had lunch at Marche de la Villete and that food was good too. I had a crepe with ham and maple syrup and it was good. But the service was terrible. Absolutely terrible. It took us a long time to get served, and I mean the people next to us left, new people came, ordered, ate, left and new people came and ordered before we got our food. I was irate and it almost put a damper on the day. Almost. It was Sunday so the place we had intended to go to was closed, the Olive et Gourmando which I'd recommend going to instead.

Another good place was the Cafe St.-Paul, on Rue St.-Paul. This is where I had my first poutine. It's like chili cheese fries in that it's a plate of French fries (though these tasted way better) with gravy and cheese curds. The cheese melts and gives the dish its flavor. So good.

We did more than eat food, though. I blogged about these other things on my other blog so I'll link to them so you can read more about it if you're interested.

We visited the Basilique Notre-Dame. Absolutely stunning and amazing place, such history there.

Also, we visited Parc du Mont-Royal. I went running through the park there and we had a great view of Montreal from up there. Amazing park.

We also did some things on the Old Port, like visiting the Marche Bonsecours, the Chateau Ramezay and the Archeological Museum.

The best part of our trip, though, was Cirque du Soleil. I've never seen Cirque du Soleil before and in fact didn't even realize that it had started in Montreal until we walked past it. We saw the show OVO which just opened in April. It was a dazzling show, a spectacular performance and one that I'd gladly pay money to see again. Perhaps if it comes to Las Vegas I'll make the trip there.

Overall, I loved Montreal. My five-year-old daughter (who stayed behind along with her 3-year-old sister) is intrigued by the French language. She is in a dual-immerson program at her school and can speak, read and write in both English and Spanish, and I have a crazy idea that someday she'll take French classes and learn French. So perhaps someday I can go back to Montreal, with the entire family this time, and she can test out her French-language skills.

It's such a fantastic city that I might just try and make that happen.
At Titanic. I hate the AR cropping tool. Had to cut off my legs.
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My lunch at Titanic.
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Da Franco's Pizza
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Can't go to Canada and not drink a Molson.
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My first plate of poutine. Awesome!
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LB and Caesar
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In front of the Old Customs House.
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A street shot of Montreal.
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Comments
Jul. 1, 2009 1:26 pm
:0) LB - It sounds like you and the Mrs. had a GREAT time visiting Montreal! (except the cruddy service at the one restaurant!), and that pizza looks JUST like the one I had when I was at Da Franco's! (we ate there twice in 4 days we liked it so much!) glad I could be of help in providing some to-do's of that beautiful city! I can't wait to go back either! May of 2011 will be our next stop there!
 
Jul. 1, 2009 2:26 pm
Congratulations! It seems you both had a great time. Thanks for sharing the pictures, that pizza looks delicious.
 
Jul. 1, 2009 2:46 pm
Love the post! Cool pic of you on the steps of the Customs House!
 
Jul. 1, 2009 4:37 pm
What an amazing trip! I've never been to Montreal, but would love to someday. Happy anniversary to you and the Mrs! ♥
 
Jul. 1, 2009 10:14 pm
I am sooo thrilled you took my suggestions! Canadians have become very "American" in our culture, which is fine, but it really highlights the few ways(culinary wise) we are unique. I am glad you got to enjoy our specialties! Awesome pics!
 
Jul. 2, 2009 7:17 am
That looks so fun and yummy! Now I want to travel to Montreal (only been to Toronto, Niagara Falls, and Vancouver). I'm dying to try poutine!
 
Jul. 8, 2009 9:38 am
How nice that you got to spend you anniversary in Montreal! Congratulations on 10 yrs., LB and Mrs. LB... DH and I celebrate 10 yrs. next month :D Blessings to you both.
 
Jul. 8, 2009 9:50 am
btw, thanks for referencing the Cream of Carrot Soup - my curiosity got the best of me, and I had to search it out here on AR. Found a wonderful Carrot and Curry Soup! :)
 
Jul. 21, 2009 6:44 am
thanks for directing me to your blog. I really want to visit there now. Glad you and your wife were able to do something special for your 10th anniv. Congrats! The food sounds great and I will definitly put that on my list for places to see.
 
Jul. 21, 2009 7:50 am
Hey LB! The next time you go back you need to go to Quebec City. It's an easy drive from Montreal. It's one of the oldest cities in North America. You really feel like you are in Europe! It's very romantic!
 
Jul. 21, 2009 9:18 am
cbjc, Quebec city is truly beautiful! We went several years ago (Road Trip - Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Maine...) and QC was my favorite stop! We're hoping to go back soon. LB, great pics and great blog!
 
 
 
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My Profile
LB
 Supporting Member (Click to learn more about Supporting Membership)
Living In: Riverside, California, USA
Member Since: Nov. 2007
Cooking Level: Intermediate
Cooking Interests: Baking, Asian, Mexican, Italian
Hobbies: Photography, Music
 
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About Me 
My mom was a master chef... okay, she was a stay-at-home mom but her food was magnificent and nothing will ever top that for me. But I got so used to her cooking that when I branched out on my own I knew how to make nothing. It's taken me quite some time to realize that I love to cook and to create edible dishes. I've been married for nine-plus years and have just recently dived head-first into cooking. So far, so good! And if you need any tips (not that I'd have much to offer) you can e-mail me at lbueno99 at hotmail dot com.
My favorite things to cook
Around September or October of 2007, I had little interest in cooking and baking. This has since changed. Literally overnight I became interested in making my own food and my wife's been loving life ever since. I'd like to say that I've grown a liking to trying new things but almost everything I cook is new to me. I like to try chicken recipes and add ingredients I either have never tasted (sun-dried tomatoes) or have rarely used before (balsamic vinegar). And I owe it all to allrecipes.com!
My favorite family cooking traditions
After I got settled into cooking/baking, I wanted to start a new family tradition. It seemed strange to just up and start one but all traditions have a starting point, right? So in August of 2008, I decided that I wanted to build Saturday mornings around muffins. I wanted to start a tradition of making muffins every Saturday mornings so my girls (then 4 and 2) would grow up with thoughts of warm homemade muffins every Saturday instead of cartoons and/or cinnamon rolls. With the help and support of the wonderful cooks on All Recipes, I forged the new tradition and have made muffins every Saturday without fail since the final weekend of August '08. My favorite muffins... well, there have been many successes and will be many more triumphs in the months and years to follow so you'll just have to keep up with all the good and the bad on my All Recipes blog.
My cooking triumphs
Christmas 2007! We had my parents, three brothers (two of whom brought girlfriends) over for a Christmas breakfast. My wife and I prepared dilligently. We made a sausage skillet and Farmer's Casserole for our dual main dishes, had bacon, rolls and Sarah's Applesauce on the side, had standard hot chocolate and Hot Spiced Cider for drinks and Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread, Raspberry Crumb Cake, Molasses Sugar Cookies and regular sugar cookies with Decorator Frosting for desserts and everything went fast! All the items in CAPS we got from right here at allrecipes.com.
My cooking tragedies
Let's hope this is the worst of it, but I tried to make pepperoni bread from here on this site and I botched it. The dough kicked my butt. shame too because it looked so good. And then more recently, I forgot to put milk in some French toast I was trying to make. That was a disaster.
 
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