Brunch: Go early or there will be a long wait. Le Cartet (106 Rue McGill) is a really neat restaurant with inventive breakfasts, and the food is all very good. Service can be lacking, but the rest makes up for it. They do french toast, croissants with goat cheese and ham (really, really good!), granola and eggs. You can order a la carte, but they have “breakfasts” that have a few of the items all combined for $15, including coffee and juice. A really good choice if you’d like to do an early brunch–I’d say go around 9.

l’Anecdote (801 Rue Rachel East) or Maamm Bolduc (4351 Lorimer). If you haven’t tried poutine –the Quebecois specialty of french fries with cheese curds and gravy– you should! And, you should try it at one of these places. Both are little neighborhood cafes/burger joints–some of the best burgers in town, actually, in our opinion. Both are kid-friendly as well. Check out this Montreal Poutine website if you’re curious about poutine.

Holder (407 Rue McGill, 514-849-0333, near Victoria Square metro)—a great bistro in Old Montreal. Almost a Seattle feel, mixed with Paris, so definitely Montreal as I see it. Great atmosphere and great food–classic bistro fare like steak frites, also good seafood (I recently had the seared tuna, which was pretty good, though not as good as you’d find in Seattle). Lunch is also a good option here, they have great salads and an excellent French onion soup. The restaurant can get a little crowded and noisy in the evening, so don’t expect to be able to have deep conversation! One of our favorites in the neighborhood for local fare. Took my parents there, they loved it.

Le Jolifou (1840 Beaubien East)—“French bistro fusion” is what I would call it. Everything we had was excellent. A very charming restaurant. This one is a little less fancy than l’epicier and Remparts, and dinner for two was around $150 including wine. Unique, interesting cuisine and well-worth the visit. Atmosphere is simple, elegant, and nice, though some people were dressed in jeans while others were more dressy. Dinner is “table d’hote” so it includes your entree, plats principal, dessert, etc. You can “upgrade” a couple of the choices, and I’d recommend a splurge on the fois gras–it’s excellent! Dessert was the only slight disappointment, it just wasn’t quite as good as the rest. Jolifou is also in a charming neighborhood, and parking wasn’t too hard.

Chez l’epicier (311 Rue St. Paul) is more inventive, creative Quebecois cuisine–you may be surprised by what you get on your plate. Their presentations and preparations are unusual, but interesting and tasty, especially if you like to sample different things–their “thing” is to do three versions of a food per dish, so you’d get fois gras three ways, or lamb three ways. Kinda cool

Les Remparts (93 Rue de la Commune Est) is the best. It is very expensive, but here, you get what you pay for. This is one of my top five of all time fancy places to eat. It is classic French, and they excel at foie gras, duck, and, well, everything. The service is exceptional, the atmosphere comfortable and elegant, and the seating arrangement gives you enough privacy so you feel cared for, not crammed in. We got excellent wine recommendations from the sommelier as well. Another treat is that they offer an amuse bouche as well as a little sweet bite at the end of the meal. We went there twice and had equally perfect meals on both occasions.