here are so many things to recommend about this era-shifting, Quartier Latin café, beginning with the silky-smooth café au laits, green-pepper-flecked salads, and homemade quiches and sandwiches.

But, really, the coffee is supreme. You can get it in Americano style, hot as hell, or whipped up in a latté frenzy. Maybe the secret lies in the beans. Or maybe it’s something beyond the coffee itself. Maybe it’s the atmosphere: Lovingly assembled in a semi-basement with stone walls and lace curtains. Right across the street from the Théatre St-Denis, La Brioche Lyonnaise entices us with Marie Claire pastries and some even heavier pastries.

We’re really taken with La Brioche Lyonnaise’s sense of place, a glowing interior space, but it’s the terrasse – when the summer months roll around – which offers a slice of urban Eden out back, a “glad-to-be-in-Montreal” niche that makes us loco en la cabeza. - R.B.