The upside of gentrification is good restaurants. Case in point: Le Bon Vivant, which I believe started as a lunch spot with a small wine list and some local beers and has now grown into one of the nicest street-side dining destinations in the area. It’s a notch down in price from Joe Beef and Vin Papillon, making it an attractive any-day-of-the-week option for neighbourhood residents looking for upscale dining. And while it’s not cheap, if you order the right thing, you more than get your money’s worth.
Take the Yakuza fries, for example. Paul’s Patates have nothing on these. Sitting at the wraparound bar with shimmering bulbs lighting up the small restaurant with floor-to-ceiling windows, you feel pretty cool ordering a cone of perfectly golden frites drenched in kimchi, cheese curds and sweet garlic-wasabi mayo. The gluten-free Asian version of poutine hits all the right notes — sweet, sour, salty and spicy (without scaring off the heat-fearing Quebecer clientele). And even with the cheese curds on the side (for the lactose intolerants — I’m not sure if the kimchi is vegan), it’s total comfort food. This is the dish the place is known for, and rightfully so thanks to its low price tag and huge portion.
But we managed to stop ourselves from finishing the whole bucket of oozing, messy fries to leave room for vegetarian tacos. 
There wasn’t really anything special about these (there’s a different taco special every day), but they were a nice mix of sautéed vegetables on a thick guacamole base. Creamy, crunchy, chewy and a little sweet from the veg. And you’ve got to give points for the metal taco-serving dishes.
Then we watched the chefs in the open kitchen slaving (calmly) away while we waited for our seared tuna with sticky rice and cucumber salad. This was a snack size dish compared with the fries. It was fine — expensive, but fine. Sear some tuna, dress some cucumber strands in sesame. Add some nice little toasted almonds. Starve the Montreal population one pricey dish at a time. Tuna’s not cheap, I know, but rice and cucumbers sure are. No need to be stingy on those.
Fortunately, someone else seemingly did the food cost breakdown on the tandoori chicken. It came in a huge bowl on top of heaps of rice and pea-style quinoa with silken ratatouille. Protein met protein in this soupy, rich dish. The eggplant and peppers were more charred and roasted than your grandmère‘s and good luck getting grandma to glaze that tender roasted chicken as perfectly in an almost-spicy (I mentioned the French fear of chile pepper, right?) sauce with coriander and cumin. If the quinoa hadn’t been oily enough already, the juices from the chicken would turned the whole thing into an Asian-spiced risotto all by themselves.
We skipped the booze that night, but were excited to see that Glutenberg gluten-free beer was available. And there was one biodynamic option on the changing, small (cute) wine list. Service was friendly and helpful, especially with intolerances.
And I’d come back to try the Farmer’s Bowl of crunchy seasonal vegetables with red wine vinaigrette, nuts and Bulgarian feta. If I ate more beef, I’d want to compare the pho’ noodle soup with lamb dumplings to my home version. And if I had money to burn, I’d come back for the $55 dry-aged rib steak.
As it stands, I’ll be back occasionally to sit at the bar or the open window and look out onto changing Notre-Dame west and watch the next dive turn into a dining destination.
Le Bon Vivant
2705 Notre-Dame St. W., Montreal
Hours: Mon-Wed 11am-10pm, Thurs-Fri 11am-11pm, Sat 4-11pm, brunch Sat-Sun 10am-3pm
How much? $50-$65 with a appetizer, main and glass of wine including tax and tip.
514-316-4584
Little neighbourhood gem!