When traveling, my preference is to stay in a hotel with a little edge to it, lest my hard earned money be wasted on a lifeless cement and glass tower that makes me feel like I’m staying inside a conference room. With this in mind, I’m always looking for a cool hotel that reinforces the culture of where it’s located, works with talented and ambitious artists or, at least, provides some unparalleled experience that I can make memories out of. Read More

Photo: Daniel Roy

By: Michael Engle

In Montreal, QC (home of my undergraduate alma mater, McGill University), “street food” is, sadly, nonexistent.  Unlike New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or even Toronto, street food has been banned since Jean Drapeau’s generation-long mayorship from the mid-1950′s to the mid-1980′s.  Despite this slight handicap (assuming you would even consider “being legally forced to go indoors to order food” as an inconvenience, especially during a Montreal winter day), Montreal still manages to churn out signature street-ready food items, including, perhaps most notably, poutine.

Poutine originated from the Montreal area at some point in the mid- to late-50′s.  According to the most commonly accepted legend, Fernand Lachance of nearby Warwick invented the dish, claiming that “Ça va faire une maudite poutine,” or “This will make a hellish mess.”  Poutine is, indeed, not for bare hands, whether as a side dish or as a main course.  Read More

Photo: Martin aka Maha

BY MATT ESSERT

Montreal, or Mont-Royal, is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second largest in Canada, and one of the best culinary destinations in all of North America. Read More