Once, the dominant image of a Québécois meal was a flannel-shirted voyageur pouring maple syrup over baked beans. Though that historically heavy hand with sugar, salt and lard may remain steadfast in Montréal, in recent decades, it's been refined into a unique cuisine with international appeal. That independent identity carries into the idiosyncratic regional beers, cheeses and game meats that dominate the city's best restaurants. There's no time like the present to enjoy the French-inflected joies of the bilingual city: As of press time, the U.S. dollar was worth almost a quarter more than the Canadian one. That means more cash to spend on some unparalleled meals. — Alice Levitt, Contributor