The Plateau area is one of the trendiest areas of Montreal, so I decided to explore it a bit more after my Old Montreal discoveries. From my hotel I took the metro at Place d’Armes and took the blue train north to Sherbrooke. I enjoyed a wonderful walk through the St-Denis neighborhood, considered by many to be the most typical of Montreal’s neighborhoods. Hundreds of street cafes, restaurants and funky boutiques line the street.

The streets in the area are characterized by duplexes or triplexes that have the typical Montreal exterior stairs in front, many of which are used as comfortable places of rest and relaxation by local residents. Many of the houses also feature small balconies on the upper floors, most of which are accompanied by small bistro tables and chairs for the outdoor enjoyment of apartment residents.

The roof lines in this neighborhood are also very unusual: dormers and false dormers add interest to the architectural mix. The atmosphere is very relaxed, artistic and bohemian. I continued my walk west on a small street called rue Roy and found a Mexican restaurant called “La Iguana” that also has a small outdoor seating area. Since my previous trip to Mexico this year, I have developed a taste for authentic Mexican food and La Iguana with its Mexican flair appealed to me.

I sat at a comfortable table in the corner with a perfect view of the restaurant and the street. Unfortunately, the sky was clouding over and soon after another tropical storm raged over the city, the third today.

To learn more about this restaurant, I asked the owner, Fred Saunders, who jointly owns the restaurant with his wife Julie Chiasson, to join me for a while. Over a mojito, he started telling me about La Iguana and how it all happened. Fred and Julie have traveled to Mexico together numerous times and have fallen in love with the country and its flavors. Fred mentioned that they have visited many places on the coast, including Acapulco, Ixtapa, Playa del Carmen and Cozumel. Fred and Julie enjoy scuba diving and have been enjoying underwater adventures in Mexico for the past four years.

They started dreaming of creating their own Mexican restaurant and finally opened “La Iguana” three years ago. Fred mentioned that it is open seven days a week for dinner and also open on Fridays for lunch. Every Thursday through Saturday they present live Cuban music that entertains the crowd with hot Latin rhythms. Fred mentioned that La Iguana also provides a catering service and a musician rental service for two to 21 musicians, a new service they started a couple of months ago.

Fred further explained that the restaurant receives many guests from various hotels and tourist establishments. Just a week earlier, La Iguana hosted the British racing team that was in town for the Montreal Grand Prix. Fred mentioned that his experience at La Iguana was referred to as “the best Mexican food they’ve ever had.”

La Iguana is actually quite a small restaurant. It seats 64 people in total, including sidewalk tables and the enclosed terrace that is also heated in winter. Fred indicated that there are many nights where he has to turn away 50 or 60 people as he simply doesn’t have the capacity to accommodate all the guests. For this reason, he and Julie came up with the idea of ​​opening another “La Iguana”. The second location will be downtown, and even beyond, Fred and Julie’s dreams extend to opening more locations, later including in Ontario and different parts of Canada. His dreams are to open a chain of restaurants “La Iguana” that will bring his concept of Mexican food to Canadians from coast to coast.

Big plans are in store for the new edition of La Iguana, which is scheduled to open next spring in downtown Montreal. The new restaurant will be more spacious and will feature a grill, allowing guests to order a whole fish fresh off the grill. In addition, it will also house a museum with authentic artifacts that will be provided by the Mexican Embassy. Additionally, the new location will display live iguanas and live parrots to create an authentic Mexican atmosphere.

Talking about the history of La Iguana, Fred shared with me that from the beginning the restaurant received good reviews. Its interesting dishes and abundant portions may have something to do with it. Fred indicated that their fajitas and burritos are extremely popular. Ceviche, an authentic Mexican dish with shellfish marinated in lemon juice and cilantro, has also become a favorite. La Iguana’s Acapulco Shrimp consists of half a pound of jumbo shrimp in garlic butter with orange zest and flambéed with Grand Marnier. This signature dish is a crowd pleaser and looks like a sun with yellow rays.

Fred describes the cuisine at La Iguana as first-rate Mexican, adding that the wine list is extensive with bottles ranging in price from $28 to $800. Additionally, he and Julie have made research trips to Mexico and come back with 35 different types of tequila that are all privately imported, another unique feature of La Iguana.

Well, with all this talk of tasty treats I was getting hungry and wanted the chance to try some of La Iguana’s food first hand. I decided to order the La Iguana Special: a large plate with stuffed jalapenos, guacamole, potato skins, cheese quesadilla, chicken wings, nopales (cactus), and flautas (egg rolls), served with sour cream and hot sauce. This dish gave me a great overview of La Iguana’s cuisine and I got a taste of the flavors of Mexico. Fred then surprised me with Camarones Acapulco, one of La Iguana’s signature dishes that includes huge shrimp in Grand Marnier sauce. My appetite was more than sated, but I just had to try La Iguana’s fried ice cream for dessert, which was a sinfully delicious way to cap off a very satisfying meal.

After relaxing and listening to live Cuban music, I thanked Fred and headed out into the warm summer night. I walked along Boulevard St. Laurent, or “The Main,” Montreal’s main north-south connection that divides the city into an eastern (mostly French-speaking) and western (mostly Anglophone) parts. The many restaurants were filled with people and the street life was animated. I walked through the pedestrianized area of ​​Prince Arthur Street, another popular area for restaurants, to head south to Sherbrooke Street, one of Montreal’s main east-west thoroughfares. From there I arrived at St. Catharines Street, the site of the famous Montreal Jazz Festival.

The Montreal Jazz Festival celebrates its 27th anniversary and for two weeks, from June 28 to July 9, 2006, more than 400 concerts will have been held, the vast majority of them free. BB King’s 80th birthday event was held on June 28. It is the largest jazz festival in the world and a true landmark event for the city, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. The festival is centered around the Place des Arts and Complexe Desjardins and with my busy schedule for the next few days, tonight was my only chance to catch a glimpse of the Montreal Jazz Festival. Crowds in front of the main stage and in St. Catharines filled the streets as far as the eye could see and the audience swayed to the beat of Afrodizz, Montreal’s best Afrobeat group, in front of a huge audience on the General Stage. Engines.

What started 27 years ago as jazz aficionado Alain Simard’s dream has grown into the world’s largest jazz festival featuring stars like Ray Charles, Chick Corea, John Lee Hooker, Dave Brubeck, Muddy Waters, Dizzy Gillespie , BB King, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Chuck Mangione, Tony Bennett, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, George Benson, Holly Cole, Al Jareau and hundreds more. This year’s lineup included a tribute to Paul Simon, appearances by Dave Brubeck, Brad Mehldau, Etta James and The Neville Brothers. More than 2,000 musicians will come to town to get the crowd excited.

With African rhythms swirling in my head, I slowly walked back to my hotel, reflecting on Montreal’s excellent ratings as one of the world’s top festival cities. I needed enough rest for my morning bike tour of Montreal