At this corner bistro near Jean-Talon Market, the kitchen does full service until midnight. The food leans French but never feels constrained by the tag. Precise execution makes showstoppers of simple mainstays like saucisse-purée or steak tartare with smoked mackerel. Other dishes arrive with the seasons, like olive-oil confit halibut from Gaspésie, served with littleneck clams, chanterelles, Quebec corn and sea asparagus. Or squid ink paccheri with poached lobster, à l’américaine sauce and grilled snow-pea leaves. Plates are generous and deeply satisfying — it’s the kind of cooking that makes you want to settle in and stay awhile. The deco-inspired space, designed by Ménard Dworkind, is luminous and layered with texture — from mosaic tile floors to a custom white-oak wine cellar and a ceiling alcove painted in rich tones — and is as welcoming in daylight as in the (late) evening glow. The team behind the restaurant — Matisse Deslauriers (sommelier), Charles-Tristan Prévost (chef), Amélie Demchuk and Geoffroy Gravel — also runs the natural wine agency À Boire Debout. The list at Casavant is Eurocentric, with plenty of conventional choices to go along with the locally de rigueur low-intervention offerings.

What Montreal does best: SMALL, SHARED plates of seasonal ingredients. Pay Chen