What to expect at the new gourmet food courts in downtown Montreal

Take your pick: braised pork jowl risotto, popcorn turbot tacos,pulled duck coleslaw the list of unusual and enticing options goes on and on.

Starting today, Montrealers have a new downtown option in lieu of more typical food-court fare: Time Out Market is open for business inthe Eaton Centre.

The food markethas recruited some of the city's most popular chefs to its40,000-square-foot space, seen as key to the shopping mall's overhaulby the developer, Ivanho Cambridge.

The culinary lineup includes Le Club Chasse et Pche, Olive et Gourmando, Foxy, Le Red Tiger andGrumman '78.

"It's not like a food court at all. You have a good ambiance," Paul Toussaint, chef atAgrikol, a popular Haitian restaurant in the Gay Village, said on CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

"Everything is fresh," Toussaint said.

He said the new food court is a positive for local chefs, as it offers a low-risk access to a new marketand brings high-end food to more people.Plates run from about $9 to $22.

Time Out, which started as a cultural magazine, has opened similar markets in Lisbon, Miami, New York and Boston.

The company's CEO, Didier Souillat, said the goal isto make "fine dining casual, and casual extraordinary."

It is one of threehigh-end food markets set to open in the centre of the city.

Another, Le Cathcart Restaurants et Biergarten, is planned for Place Ville Marie, while a third, Le Central, recently opened at the corner of Saint-Laurentand Ste-Catherine streets.

DanPham, owner of Red Tiger and Kahme, which has a stall in Le Central, likened the new projects to a "food court on steroids" in a good way.

He said the new spots are especially good for families with young kids, who have room to move in such a big space.

A boost for the area

Some merchants along Ste-Catherine Street are hopeful that an upscale food hall in the district will draw more foot traffic to the area, after construction along the strip kept awayshoppers and diners all summer.

"For Montrealers and the tourists, it's another reason to come downtown, even if there is a construction site," saidEmile Roux, executive director of Destination Centre-Ville, the downtown merchants' association.

"I think this is a super-nice place," saidSophie Ray, a student who stopped by the market's opening eventThursday.

"The prices are relatively high.It's as if you are going to a restaurant, but there's such a unique atmosphere," she said.

Construction along the nearby section ofSte-Catherine Street is supposed to be doneby 2021.

Time Out in the Eaton Centre won't close until9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and at midnight, from Thursday through Saturday. It will be open for breakfast, starting at 8 a.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. on weekends.