Montreal Grand Prix

I don't want to brag, but Montreal is one of those places where it's difficult to find a bad restaurant. Most of the festivities happen on Peel and Crescent street, and most of the shops (too many to mention) in this area are good. Festivities also happen on St. Laurent street (between St. Zotique and Jean-Talon) in (what's left of) Little Italy. In this area, I often frequent either Casa Napoli or Dai Baffoni. But then again, this too is an area where bads restaurants don't exist. As far as bars and clubs go, once more Crescent street is the place to be.

 

Mon Dieu! Montreal is loaded with dynamite restaurants/bars/nightclubs/etc. Whatever you want , it's there! I can't give you specific names of places, but there are about 50 places in Old Montreal surrounding a square called Place Jacques Cartier. It's a great area with a lot going on--as well as the rest of the city!

When are you going up? I'm in Upstate NY about 3 hrs from the border. Will you be driving your Ferrari there? Last year there was special parking relatively near the track arranged by the local Ferrari club. If the weather is good, I'll be driving my car up on Fri or Sat.

 

on a bit of a tangent, does anyone know if tickets are still available and where i can buy them?, thanks.

 

The sponsor of the race is Air Canada. If you enter "Air Canada Grand Prix" into a search engine, you will get to the official site, where you can buy tickets, if there are any left.

Old Montreal is a very nice place to spend some time. At night though, Crescent Street is the place to be.

As for restaurants;
-There is a place called Schwartz's where they serve the greatest smoked meat sandwiches (smoked meat is a cross between pastrami and corned beef)
-For steak, in Old Montreal, I like Gibby's. There is also Moishe's, which is very close to Schwartz's.
-For Italian, I like Casa Napoli.
-For the best ribs you will ever try, go to Baton Rouge.
-For greek, I like Marathon, or Marven's.

You just gotta hope for nice weather!

 

Guys, I am a Montreal native, bar fly, club kid, gourmand... I am going to write a COMPREHENSIVE guide to the Grand-Prix, available tomorrow night.

 

Bernardo's right, plenty of great places. Now, if you want great, but not fancy, there used to be a place on or off Peal named Ben's where you could get a great smoked meat sandwhich. Also, I can't remember the name, but there is a bagel shop on Fairmont, near Park Avenue that makes the best I've ever had.

Bernardo can comment if both places are still around. I moved out in 1979 and rarely get back.

 

Oh Yeah!!!! Ben's is still around, as is Fairmount Bagels. Although much has changed since 1979, most of the Montreal landmarks are still around.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

 

I know for a fact that the Thursday prior to the GP, a café in St. Léonard called Cafe Vanessa, hosts an annual Ferrari party (with many F-cars on display). I've attended the last three and it's quite a bash. Friday and/or Saturday, there's also another Ferrari party held in Little Italy, with quite a few cars on exhibit. There's a whole lot of other happenings, but I can't list them here.

BTW, the Lowes IS really nice!! I believe some of the drivers stay there as well.

 

Ben's? Doesn't compare to Schwartz's!

Those bagels are the greatest. There's a place on St. Viateur Street, right across the street from Arahova's. Buy some fresh out-of-the-oven bagels, bring them into Arahova's, order some tsatsiki (probably spelled that wrong!), and dip the bagels in it.............fantastic!

 

there is usually a group on the board that drives their f-cars up from Ny for the race

 

Oh come on now, Ben's isn't that bad. The only thing I don't like about Schwartz is that it's always so FULL!! I guess that's the price of success. The bagels at St. Viateur are VERY good. I heard somewhere that they glaze them with a little honey, which gives their bagels that distinctive taste. Arahova's tsatziki is (sinfully) good, but just a little too extreme for my taste buds. After my wife has some...let's just say it's an effective birth-control. I discovered this dive on St. Denis called Salonica, which makes a fine tsatziki, and dare I say it, a mean poutine (remember that?).

BTW, I'm noticing a number of ex-Montrealers on this board. Salut!!...to you all.

 

Merci. But, you never really become an "ex". I was born there and even though I haven't lived there for 25 years (but still own a nice farm on the south side of the river), that where I still claim I'm from.

Salut!

PS. Go Habs!

 

For those who have bee to the montreal GP what is the hot ticket with tickets? Is the more costly grandstand seats really better? The pit row is the most but the hairpin sounds like a good place to be. Are you better off doing general admission so you can wander the track? Do people in General admission also have access to giant screens to see the race?

 

Do try to see the vintage race on Saturday. I am taking a Shadow DN8 to run for a customer. At least they are leting us "race" at this event, they would not at Indy, so we don't go there anymore.

 

I usually stay on the south shore and take the Metro from Longueuil to the track. On Saturday after the racing ends I take the Metro to the Guy-Concordia station and walk a few blocks east to Crescent Street, which is a very happening place on GP weekend.

As for seats at the track, any of the Silver grandstands at the hairpin are hard to beat; I prefer #15 or 24, but 15 is sold out. The Bronze stands are much less expensive but not worth it in my opinion, and General Admission is a joke, especially if you want to take photos.

The website is: www.grandprix.ca

 

Don't get GA tickets unless you only want to buy souveniers. You won't see anything. If you want to hear the race only, you can just walk around the river during the race without paying. Get a real seat or don't go.

 

Thanks guys,

They still have seats at 24 so 24 it is.

 

The first corner, Grandstands 11 & 12, is a great place to sit too. You can see the start/finish line from there. The only downside is that it is a long walk to get there from the front gate.