Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants, Bars and Chefs.

The New York-based Lyonnais master chef Daniel Boulud has been resoundingly welcomed in Montreal, a city at ease with his modern French cooking. And he has found a most appropriate home in the beautifully renovated Ritz-Carlton, where the original lobby, designed by César Ritz himself, is so successfully juxtaposed with the more modern lines of Boulud’s restaurant, crafted by the celebrated Japanese design firm Super Potato. The old Ritz Garden and its duck pond are back, if reconfigured. The Ritz service is still oldschool in its professionalism; but the mood is relaxed and contemporary. This is Boulud’s first Frenchlanguage kitchen, and the menu communicates that unapologetically. Think of starters like roast veal marrow bones with chanterelles sabayon, or red-wine marbled foie gras terrine, and loup de mer with roast fennel and sauce vierge. But executive chef Riccardo Bertolino also fields dishes showcasing his own Italian heritage—as with veal Milanese, and a rotation of excellent risottos. This is grand hotel dining of the highest order.