Modavie is a timeless address in Vieux-Montréal, the sort of place that reminds you of your roots: ladies and gentlemen gathered to eat in a room made lively by good conversation, live music, and the woody scent of a vintage interior. It opened in 1997, was quickly adopted by locals and visitors alike, and after more than twenty-five years is now counted among the city's institutions — the house, as it puts it, of its faithful neighbours and travellers. Spread over two dimly lit, antique-furnished floors, it serves refined French bistro cooking with local produce and everything made in house, from the classic beef tartare to the ris de veau that regulars come back for.
The carte opens with cold and hot entrées in equal measure: house salad ($13) and a Caesar ($15), boards of four cheeses or four charcuteries ($25 each, or $39 together), and knife-worked tartares of beef or salmon, the first with shallot, chive, cornichon, capers and Worcestershire, the second with avocado, dill and white balsamic ($19, or $35 as a main with fries). Among the hot plates are onion soup gratinéed with 1608 cheese ($17), the house poutine Modavie ($15), garlic escargots ($14), fried squid in a paprika crumb with saffron aïoli ($24), scallops grenobloise ($25), roasted bone marrow ($25), pan-seared foie gras with brioche, caramelised pear and Calvados ($35), and the celebrated ris de veau à la Normande with Calvados, apples and morels ($33). Mains divide between the house specialities — rack of lamb with rosemary demi-glace and a parsley-and-mint crust ($55), lamb cutlets ($49), a lamb burger ($33) — and the classics: filet mignon with sauce bordelaise ($56), duck confit with an Amaretto-and-coffee demi-glace and pommes sarladaises ($42), steak frites ($37), mushroom risotto with truffle and pine nuts ($35), poulet Basque ($33), moules marinière ($31), salmon fillet ($31), and a niçoise built around herb-crusted tuna tataki ($28), with the day's catch and the butcher's cut at market price. Pasta runs to cavatelli with lamb, goat's cheese and morels and seafood linguini (both $39), pesto gnocchi ($28), and a seasonal creation from the chef. Desserts revisit the French repertoire — chocolate fondant with balsamic ($17), Madagascar vanilla crème brûlée ($11), cheesecake with berry coulis ($15), apple tart with caramel and fleur de sel ($17), and a chocolate mousse pyramid with hazelnut-and-coffee buttercream ($19) — with tawny ports and an Inniskillin Vidal icewine to accompany them.
Lunch from Monday to Friday, between half past eleven and four, brings a table d'hôte at $37 for two services or $42 for three, choosing between soup of the moment, house salad or garlic escargots, then salade piémontaise, mussels with Ricard, the fish of the moment in saffron beurre blanc, chicken with brie and tarragon, or duck confit, and finishing with crème brûlée or cheesecake. At weekends, brunch is served from ten until half past three: eggs benedict in four guises (from $21 florentine to $25 with house braised lamb, bacon or maple ham), croque madame and croque Modavie ($31), carbonara ricca with Grana Padano and a perfect egg ($33), duck waffle with maple cream and orange jelly ($37), and pain perdu on brioche ($29).
The drinks deserve their own visit. The wine list, built by the house sommelier, is broad and well balanced across whites, reds, rosés, oranges, sparkling wines and champagnes, generous with private imports and refreshed weekly — reaching from a Languedoc Côtes des Roses by the glass to Burgundy premiers crus at Volnay, Aloxe-Corton and Chambolle-Musigny, magnums of Saint-Émilion and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a Bollinger R.D. 2007, and a genuinely unusual Mediterranean-basin section taking in Morocco, Lebanon and Greece, with organic bottles flagged throughout. The cocktails, made by the house mixologists, are named for the room they're drunk in — Backstage, Spotlight, Intermission, Jazz District, Easy Swing, After Hours ($17 to $24) — alongside an MDV Negroni and a Mid-night in Paris of Don Julio, limoncello and lavender syrup, plus alcohol-free Bee-Nice, Baby Swing and Passion Cloud ($12 to $13) and a no-alcohol sparkling by the glass or bottle. Behind them sits a deep bar: Québec gins and whiskies from Cirka, Romeo's and Sortilège, Scotch from Auchentoshan to Johnnie Walker Blue, cognacs up to Rémy Martin Louis XIII, a full digestif shelf, and a barista list that ends in Irish, Spanish, Brazilian and Montecristo coffees.
What binds it all together is the music. Live musicians play seven days a week, on two stages — one per floor, so each level has its own atmosphere without either spilling into the other — every evening from seven until ten, and again at weekend brunch from eleven until two. The programming is local and reliably good: Marie-Jeanne Paquet & Co, Sam Orsini, Mark & the Shufflers, the Pithy Cats duo with Adam Goulet, Élodie Miron, Elizabeth Cormier & Co and Solane by Starlight Trio Swing on the jazz and swing side; Jeffrey Simons & Band, G.L. Chambers' 'Influence', and Jean Millaire & Andrée Dupré for blues and rock; Isabella Hallia and Tevet Sela at Saturday and Sunday brunch. The playing is close enough to your table to feel like an event and judged carefully enough never to drown the conversation — booking is recommended, and you can ask for a room with music or a quieter one. Conversation, jazz, glasses clinking in time, and the energy of Vieux-Montréal drifting in from the street: Modavie is where a meal quietly becomes an evening.