Once industrial, Griffintown is now condo towers threaded with ambitious Italian rooms, grills and coffee bars on and around Rue Notre-Dame.
Nora Gray is Emma Cardarelli's dim, clubby southern-Italian room on Saint-Jacques in Montreal, pouring amaro over hand-cut pasta and a cult wine list.
Order: The pasta of the night and a negroni to start.
Tip: The bar seats are first-come and the easiest way in on a busy weekend.
Foxy is the Olive et Gourmando team's wood-fired Griffintown restaurant in Montreal, cooking vegetables, fish and flatbreads over open flame on Notre-Dame.
Order: The wood-grilled vegetables and a charred flatbread.
Tip: The open kitchen and its fire are the show; ask for a counter seat facing the grill.
Grinder is a lively Griffintown steakhouse and wine bar in Montreal, plating aged cuts, tartare and seafood towers with an ambitious cellar on Rue Notre-Dame.
Order: A shared cote de boeuf or the beef tartare to start.
Tip: It leans loud and celebratory; the shareable big cuts and the wine list are the reason to come.
Brasseur de Montreal brews in a Griffintown warehouse in Montreal near the Lachine Canal, running a taproom and kitchen alongside its production brewery.
Tip: It is an easy stop off the Canal bike path; the terrace is the place to be on a summer afternoon.