Montreal: Take a break from Fashion Week with dinner and drinks on the Plateau

My newest foodie delight is La Salle à Manger (1302 Mont-Royal Ave. E., 514-522-0777, lasalleamanger.ca). And as the area dress code goes, come as you are: dress up or go grungy. Surely the owners, who wear trucker hats and jeans, won’t mind either way. Prepare for a carnivore-happy menu prepared by chef Samuel Pinard. (There are also veggie and fish options.) Bring your special someone or a band of besties. A central 12-person table made of re-purposed bowling alley lanes (as seen at two other equally trendy dining addresses, Cluny and Romeo) gives new meaning to a bowling night with friends.

Should your evening still have steam, make way for a liquid dessert at La Porte Rouge (1834 Mont-Royal Ave. E., 514-522-8244, barsalonporterouge.com). The spot was opened up by a group of friends, including Cindy Simard (who gleaned a fashionable VIP black book from her early days working for designer Philippe Dubuc) and Francisco Randez, who you may recognize as former singer in the now defunct band Moudjïk or as the tattooed sailor in Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male advertisement campaign in the ‘90s. (His hair has since grown in.) Cindy hosts the Lipstick Live Sundays that showcase local artists, photographers, etc., with a DJ soundtrack, light show and projections of their work. It’s surely one the liveliest places in the Plateau to end the week.