Cool places in Montreal?

[nicolicious]

For vacation this year [july 18-25] my family is taking my boyfriend and I to Montreal. I wanted to find some really neat, cool places to take my boyfriend. I'm thinking good [cheap] restaurants, museums, music shops, craft stores, SEX shops! and BARS.

I'm turning 19 a few weeks before I go and I'll be legal! So, to celebrate, he's going to take me out, but we wanted to find some cool places to go and hang out while we're there.

anything you crafty ladies suggest, I'll be sure to try to check out!

[gink]

Hmmmm. I'm vegan so I can mostly only recommend vegan-friendly restaurants. However, here's the list:
Patati-patata: best burger/fries joint in town. on corner of Rachel and St Laurent. very little sitting room, but you can get a burger, fries, and salad for 5$ (approx)
Aux Vives- all vegan restaurant that serves amazing sandwiches. They've become a little pricier but the serving sizes are enormous, so it's worth it. On St Laurent
Chu Chai- ummm. the most expensive restuarant I go to, but is so, so good. Vegan Thai food. On St. Denis. (Generally, it's around 30$ for 2)
Chez Clo - my fave breakfast joint. Also takes you East, so don't expect the servers to speak english. The buckwheat pancakes (galletes de sarazin) are great, and the meal is always less than 5$. On Ontario near Prefontaine metro.

Montreal is also the center of dollar slice pizza and very, very cheep Lebanese food (think falafel). Unfortunately there's losts of bad falafel. For cheep and good lebanese food, I'd try Bustan (On Cresent off of De Maisonneuve) or Al Tahib- ask for the zatar, and expect to get yelled at if you don't know what you're ordering. (on Guy above De Maisonneuve)

Best music store in town: cheep thrills. Near McGill University (can't remember the street name)

Museums: do some research! if you check the city of Mtl webcite they'll all be there. There's lots of worthy art galleries

Craft Supplies: St Hubert between Jean Talon and Jerry is the 'textiles' area. Three blocks of cheep fabric stores. It's crazy.

My one suggestion of something vital to do is to go to the NFB (Berri UQAM metro) and watch some films. 3$ for an hour, and you can pick any of the thousands of films made by the NFB, and watch the robot arm pick them out for you. It's called the Robotheque. I kid you not.

Hope that helps 

[CraftyLea14]

Nicolicious !
Visit www.madeinmtl.com
This site is awsome and you'll find everything you need in there !
When you come back, tell us how it went !!

Jess

[allie-loki]

oh my god.. chu chai is the best ever! this is the place i miss the most now that i live in toronto. this city has nothing that comes close to chu chai (except maybe veg. haven).

the drinking age in mtl is 18 so you've been legal for close to a year. there are a number of sex shops downtown. there's one on st-catherine just west of st-laurent, i forget what it is called but it is really big.

restaurants.. i like 3 amigos (st-catherine near guy-concordia) for mexican. for indian there is an awesome place on st-denis (west side of the street) just north of sherbrooke, might be called nouveau bombay or something similar. for thai i like bangkok on st-catherine west between atwater and guy. which part of the city will you be staying at? its sort of pointless to recommend restaurants if they'll be completely out of your way. smoked meet at schwartz's (dont where, i am vegan as well!). bagels at st-viateur (street by the same name!) are a must for the tourist!

music shops.. depends what you are looking for. electronic music go to esoterik (1814C St. Catherine Ouest). for punk/hardcore go to soundcentral (2071 st-denis). check out recordstorereview.c om for more stores.
bars... again, depends what you like. Roy bar is neat (roy street near st-denis). brutopia, beefteque (spelling),  st-sulpice is allright sometimes. man there are bars all over the city, just ask random people. i dont go to bars so i dont have many good suggestions.

i dont know about museums. i never really went to any of them while i lived there and its a shame. you might want to check out the biodome and the botannical gardens in the east end (by the olympic stadium).

craft stores? no idea. i recently got into sewing so i never tried to find any while i lived there!

[Amandachan]

Thank you so much, CraftyLea14 and all you guys! You rule. I was having a lot of issues finding useful sites for my trip to Montreal. I am going on a research trip with a coworker and we are to bring back products that we think our company could make. I work for a gift and novelty company and there are definitly places on http://www.madeinmtl.com/ that could be great for our search. Thanks again.
If anyone else knows more about Montreal and shopping for kitch, let me know. I am leaving Friday, so I don't have much time.
 

[nicolicious]

Just beware- some of the places that look totally cool on madeinmtl.com really aren't great.

I was lucky when I went- the just for laughs festival was going on, the african nuits festival was there, the fireworks were going on in old montreal, and the world diving thing was going on too. and I got to see the WORLD PREMIERE OF THE ARISTOCRATS.

oh man. that was cool. but the button shop rix rax was closed!!!! I was looking forward to buying some buttons for my crafty endevors....

other than that, I'll post some pictures that I took when I get them developed, but I really only took pictures of the good graffiti. columus doesn't have bad graf, but I'm always really excited when I see good ones.

have fun on your trip!!!

[youlittlerabbit]

OH MY GOD!

i am going to montreal soon for the 1st time and i am so happy to have found this thread! thanks everyone- especially gink- i needed to know where to find vegan food!

[Amandachan]

Yeah Montreal was awesome. There was a live music festival going on last weekend and any event were drinking in the streets is involved, I'm there. Hey there was this one kickass bar off of Sainte-Catherine we dug. It's not a touristy place so you will meet lots of locals. It is called St-Elizabeth @ 1412 Rue Sainte-Elizabeth! How good does this sound!
514-286-4302

Fire in the winter. Terrasse in the summer.
Pub-style
D?©tente in daylight. Wild on the 5-7 stretch. Franco-blues and hot jazz down your gullet late into the night, when the long wood bars are leaning-posts for students mingling with the loosened-tie crowd.

The joint is jumpin'
In the summer, leafy trees in the back courtyard canopy the best terrasse in Montreal. It might seem friendly here, but this duplex of debauchery is tucked away on a sidestreet on purpose: to hide the secrets that everybody knows. During American prohibition the Jazz Age was alive and well in Montreal, which was Sin City for American tourists hiding out from teetotallers back home. The famous backyard used to be a stable where patrons could water their horses while they slaked their own thirsts upstairs...  The Ste-Elisabeth building was once Montreal's most venerable bordello. From the 1950s-80s, the space was Montreal's oldest gay bar, the California, hiding in the shadows of the red lights of Ste-Catherine St.

In the business
In the nineties, the building laid bare until two professional barmen decided to open an Olde English Pub on the grounds.
The industry know-how behind the bar shows: the barmen know when to serve up a smile - backed up with a glass of ale on tap and a shooter to chase it with.

Loved it. There is lots of vintage clothing and great kitchy stores. Have fun and check out the site from above.

[craftyfingers]

I found this e-guide to be helpful. www.toutmontreal.co m/english/ eguide

I am also planning my first trip to montreal, so anyone know what fun stuff is happening there in last september, early october?

[gink]

Pop montreal is Sept 28-Oct 2, and there are a gazillion shows.... so many that you often can't make them all.

[craftyfingers]

holy shyt! PopMontreal is exactly what I was hoping for.Thanks you so much! 

[gink]

glad to help 

[Beadbakery]

Does anyone know if there is any good places that sell beads?  I'm going to Montreal at the end of the month because my boyfriend wants to go to some big car show (and I would love not to have to go to that!!) So as you can imagine any suggestions would be much appreiated!!

[Zanti MissKnit]

There is a vegetarian buffet restaurant there, the name of which I cannot remember,  but it was some of the best food I've ever eaten!  It was really expen$ive though.  Really, really expensive.

Boreale beer is really really tasty.  I wish we could find it here.

There's a bar on St. Denis as you go uphill that shows horror movies on Sunday nights.  I can't recall the name but it is a little hole-in-the-wall punk bar.  Oh, and the admission is free.

When I was there last July I saw Evil Dead: The Musical.  It was brilliant.

Brush up on your French as well:  although most people do speak English fluently, everyone will greet you in French, and it just seems polite to speak the language.

[gink]

There is a vegetarian buffet restaurant there, the name of which I cannot remember,  but it was some of the best food I've ever eaten!  It was really expen$ive though.  Really, really expensive.

That's The Commonsal. I actually don't like their food at all, and it is really expensive. It's by the weight, and they use glass plates, so you're actually also paying for the plate! Not to mention the fact that they're a chain and arn't reknown for treating their employees well. I would just go to Aux Vives on St Laurent instead. Much, much better food, and it's vegan!

[multi anni fa]

i just went to montreal .... it was amazing ... j'aime cette ville ... any way on ... i think ... rue mont royal ... there are really cool vintage shops .... we got  there and they were all closed but they seemed cool ... also on rue saint denis there are many great resturants and also the way cool hotel we stayed at ... the all suite vip loft ... it was soo cool ... check it out...

bon voyage
au revoir

love, jes

[allie-loki]

Yeh, I'm not a big fan of commensal either. The food is fine but sometimes it feels dry from having sat there too long. There are 2-3 dishes there that i LOVE though. I only go when I have to (if I'm with friends and they decide to go) and usually I get a small plate and just pack it all up because then I don't spend at much on the actual plate. Better yet is to get the stuff to go.

Les Vivres, however, is absolutely fantastic. The coconut bacon sandwich is so fantastic. Actually they all are. I have a friend who works there and he always makes me sandwiches extra special... man I miss being able to drop by to see him whenever.

[Zanti MissKnit]

I would just go to Aux Vives on St Laurent instead. Much, much better food, and it's vegan!

Thank you for the tip!  The next time I plan to go to Montreal I will look up this thread.

Andrea

[craftyfingers]

Jes, I'm so glad you recommended the suite vip loft ... that's where I was planning to stay. It looked fantastic in pictures, but you never know. I feel more comfotable about booking a room there now, thanks!

[multi anni fa]

wow i can't believe you were going to stay there, too.  that's soo funny...  anyway ... our room was awsome and the people that work there are so nice ... especially the guy at the frunt desk with the really hot french candian accent ... look in the guest book  ... if you see jessica and kathryn from nyc that me and my friend ... have fun!