Montréal continues its muscular recovery from the economic malaise of the 1990s. Optimism and prosperity have returned, and with them, an era of (mostly) good feeling likely to last well into the future. The Canadian dollar has strengthened significantly against its U.S. counterpoint (although not so much as to diminish Québec's desirability as a tourist destination), unemployment is at its lowest rate in many years, and a billion-dollar construction boom continues.
In 2002, the 28 towns and cities that occupied the Island of Montréal were merged into a metropolis of 1.8 million inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in Canada after Toronto. However, the merger decision was made by the provincial Parti Québecois in power at the time -- by fiat, not referendum. Inevitably, a movement to reverse the action boiled up almost immediately. When a Liberal Party government took office a year later, it promised to let Quebecers vote on whether to let the changes stand. In 2004, as promised, 15 of the 28 municipalities voted to de-merge. There were similar results in other metropolitan areas in the province. A visible victim of these back-and-forth events appears to be Montréal's streets, once pristine and now undeniably messy.
Otherwise, although the Parti Québecois once again holds power in the province, separatist sentiments have been muffled, at least for the moment, and talk of seceding from the rest of Canada occupies less public and private discussion than it once did. The cultural divide between the Francophone majority and Anglophone and Allophone minorities has not melted away, but it has mellowed.
And while Quebecers were even more vigorously against the war in Iraq than other Canadians, their welcome for individual American visitors remains as warm and generous as ever.
Planning Your Trip
Even in the face of a slide against several of the world's major currencies, the U.S. dollar continues to be relatively strong against the Canadian version, making Québec an increasingly rare travel bargain for American travelers. In the face of the well-publicized difficulties of air travel, people making vacation plans should consider that Montréal is within a day's driving distance for millions of Americans.
While Montréal is a fairly easy city to get around by car, it also has an excellent subway system, the Métro, which reaches every attraction and neighborhood of interest to visitors. Note that the name of the stop formerly known as Ile Ste-Hélène is now Parc Jean-Drapeau.
Where to Stay
A seemingly irrational exuberance caused a surge in hotel construction in recent years, notably in the historic riverside district known as Vieux-Montréal (Old Montréal). A number of boutique hotels opened in recent years, and several have since added restaurants. Of particular note is the very new Aix in the Hôtel Place d'Armes and Verses in the Hôtel Nelligan.
The downtown hotel situation has also stabilized for the moment, since the opening of the deluxe Sofitel, 1155 rue Sherbrooke ouest (tel. 877/285-9001), in 2003. One of the city's most popular lodgings, the Château Versailles, 1659 rue Sherbrooke (tel. 888/933-8111), started out as an inn occupying a row of town houses. Some years ago, the inn acquired a modern tower on the opposite side of the street. While both remain under the same ownership, the tower is now Le Meridien Versailles, 1808 rue Sherbrooke ouest (tel. 888/933-8111), a unit of the international chain.
In Québec City, hotel construction has similarly slowed, but the Auberge Saint-Antoine, 10 rue St-Antoine (tel. 888/692-2211), has undergone a transformation so profound that it will be all but unidentifiable to guests who last saw it 5 years ago. While excavating the parking lot behind the original inn, thousands of artifacts from 400 years of European settlement were unearthed, many of them now on display in public and private spaces throughout what is now the most luxurious hotel in the Lower Town. A full-service restaurant has also been opened.
Dining
With over 5,000 restaurants, Montréal has little practical need for more. Obviously, practicality has nothing to do with the boom in exciting new eateries, formal and casual, elegant and ethnic, costly and modest. Quebecers were a little slow to embrace the food revolution that swept North America in the '80s and '90s, but that hesitancy has been cast aside. Widespread experimentation and prodigious use of regional products have brought about many species of fusion cookery. While French menus and techniques continue to dominate, with Italianate kitchens close behind, it is increasingly difficult to label precisely the food offered at these new breeds of dining places.
Glamour is often a major component, with dishy waitresses and hunky waiters bringing excellent food to clients as stylish and good-looking as they. Velvet ropes are almost as common at these restaurants as at fashionable late-hours clubs. Leading example of this ongoing resto-as-club trend is the ultrahot Cavalli, 2040 rue Peel (tel. 514/843-5100), pursued by relative newbie Savannah, 4448 bd. St-Laurent (tel. 514/904-0277). A trendsetter of another sort is BU, 5245 bd. St-Laurent (tel. 514/276-0249). An award-winning designer bar-resto, its long wine card eschews the same old bottlings in favor of discoveries from lesser-known regions, the wines complemented by antipasti-style eats.
Old-timers are doing change-ups, too. The grand old steakhouse Moishes, 3961 bd. St-Laurent (tel. 514/845-3509), cleared out some cobwebs by installing four street-side windows that hadn't been there for the preceding decades. The steaks are as good as ever and the waiters are less crusty. Toque!, 900 place Jean-Paul- Riopelle (tel. 514/499-2084), consensus choice as the very best restaurant in Québec, has moved to a much larger space opposite the new convention center next to Vieux-Montréal, a move that hasn't diminished its stature.
Culinary changes are less numerous in smaller Québec City, but what has seemed a somewhat static dining scene is being shaken up by young chefs and restauranteurs. They are setting up shop well away from the heavily touristed districts of the old city. Last year's hottest newcomer was Yuzu, 438 rue de L'Eglise (tel. 418/521-7253), which elevated sushi into the stratosphere. It has been followed in the same downtown St-Roch neighborhood by seriously hip Utopie, 226 rue St-Joseph (tel. 418/523-7878), which is still gathering its feet under itself, but shows considerable promise. A surer hand is shown by Toast!, at 17 rue Sault-au-Matelot, (tel. 418/692-1334), adjacent to Hôtel Le Priori, where the current champ, Laurie Raphaël, now at 117 rue Dalhousie (tel. 418/692-4555), started out. A fusion version of the French canon is what appears on the plate.
Incidentally, provincial regulations passed a few years ago now require that almost all eating places must now provide nonsmoking sections. Increasing numbers of restauranteurs have taken it upon themselves to ban smoking altogether.
Sightseeing
After paying out in excess of US$60 million over 5 years, the Lachine Canal has re-opened, a major recreational resource for boaters, kayakers, cyclists, and in-line skaters in Montréal. A canal around the once-impassable Lachine rapids had been a dream of the earliest settlers, but several attempts failed before eventual completion in 1825. Manufacturing and workers' housing occupied the banks, making the canal one of Montréal's major industrial centers. Completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 rendered the Lachine Canal irrelevant, and it was closed. Active once again as a 14.5 km (9-mile) linear park with bike paths, picnic areas, new condos, and ample dock space, the canal connects a new marina at the foot of rue Peel with the popular Atwater Market.
A permanent home for the circus arts was inaugurated in June 2004 when the Olympic torch passed through Montréal. Originally called La Cité des Arts du Cirque and now renamed Tohu, the Chapiteau des Arts at the corner of rue Jarry and rue d'Iberville in the St-Michel district is being developed by the people behind the Cirque du Soleil. By the time these words are printed, the center will have a full schedule employing permanent and temporary exhibition spaces, workshops, artist studios, a bar-restaurant, and a circular performance hall with a capacity of 840 spectators. For information, log on to www.tohu.ca.
Nightlife
Montréal's racy nightlife reputation dates from the 1920s Great Experiment south of its border. Hearty partiers still pour into the city for the season of summer festivals that celebrate jazz, comedy, fringe theater, fast cars, and ethnic cultures.
Although some of Montréal's newest music bars, dance clubs, and otherwise unclassifiable retreats are too hot not to cool down (and a couple mentioned here last year have already disappeared), an incendiary list of possibilities along St-Laurent includes the relentlessly scruffy good-time rock bars Le Bifteck, 3702 bd. St-Laurent (tel. 514/844-6211), and Barfly, 4062a bd. St-Laurent (tel. 514/993-5154), while the similarly grungy Casa del Popolo, 4873 bd. St-Laurent (tel. 514/284-3804), has live music of every conceivable genre and even runs its own minifestival in June. At the other end of the scale, the self-consciously designed Mile End Bar, 5322 bd. St-Laurent (tel. 514/279-0200), has a compact tasting menu and a DJ Thursday through Saturday nights.
Downtown, the former Biddle's has been redecorated and renamed, but the Maison de Jazz, 2060 rue Alymer (tel. 514/842-8656), stills serves up racks of ribs and live mainstream jazz nightly. At the south end of frenetic rue Crescent, Brutopia, no. 1219 (tel. 514/393-9277), fills several rooms on two floors with fanciers of microbrews and pop/rock. In the manufacturing and loft district immediately west of Vieux-Montréal, Cluny ArtBar, 257 rue Prince (tel. 514/866-1213), attracts an arty/boho crowd that attends exhibitions and performances in the vast adjoining gallery.