The following is my dinner in Montreal upon New Year’s Eve 2008-2009. The restaurant was located in Vieux Montreal on Rue St. Paul West of Place Jacques Cartier. It is an amazing small gourmet grocer, bar, and 5 star restaurant called, Chez L’Epicier. The Chef is Laurent Godbout and it was an 8 course meal…

I enjoyed 2 glasses of wine with dinner: Coteaux du Layon, Fleur d’Erables 2006, Domaines des Sablonnettes

1. Amuse Bouche (Tomato Jelly with mint, a touch of Gruyere, and Basalmic Vinagrette)
2. Boiler Onions milk, slow poached oyster in cider butter, Granny Smith apple jelly, celery remoulade, and gremolata
3. Spanish Mackerel brioche with tomato confit, tomato water jelly, parsley foam
4. Crispy Piglet, caramelized scallop, black olive oil powder, molasses and carvi mayonnaise
5. Belly of Young Rabbit with lardoons (bacon) braised 5 hours, Jerusalem artichoke mousseline, pine nut pilaf, and gingerbread cookie juice
6. Creamed foie gras, confit kumquat, pistachio mousse, minute smoked tartine
7. Sliced joint Venison stuffed with cepe mushrooms and foie gras, boile donions and garlic
8. Non conventional Foret Noire Cake with fruit

After dinner, we stumbled out into the cold and watched the remaining fireworks and listened to traditional Quebecois folk music.

The best European city in North America is only a few hours away from the place I call home.

“There’s a European city in North America?”

Montreal, aside from Quebec City, resembles Europe more than any other area in Canada or The United States. It’s a popular destination for the under 21 crowd in the northeast due to the drinking age, but don’t let that keep you away… Montreal has some great neighborhoods from the Latin Quarter, (mini) Chinese Quarter, and the party streets of Bishop and Crescent off St. Catherine (Montreal’s version of Broadway).

The best part of Montreal? The Old City. Full of restaurants, hotels, shops, art galleries, street vendors, musicians, and historic sites like the Notre Dame Basilica, Place d’Armes, Place Jacques-Cartier, and the Saint Lawrence River waterway.

More to come…

I know it’s ridiculous. When I was 10 years old I got into Van Halen. The year was 1983 and I couldn’t get enough of Eddie’s guitar or David Lee Roth’s high-pitched screams… While my musical taste has drifted so far away from this 80s pop metal band, I wasn’t old enough to ever see them in concert – So, combine this with my favorite city and voila! It’s the cheesy Van Halen Tour 2007 in Montreal. This will be interesting… Kevin, Are you ready?