No one needs to go hungry or thirsty during the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal. Lots of festival food vendors are posted throughout the pedestrianized areas within the Quartiers des Spectacles. The kiosks scattered throughout the plazas between stages have plenty of pulled pork, pizza, poutine, giant hot dogs, beaver tails, ice cream, beer, and wine for sale. But sometimes it pays to look beyond the obvious and duck indoors to find some less predictable food.

The Complex Desjardins is located on rue Ste-Catherine right in front of the Rio Tinto stage and across the street from MAC, the Musée d’Art Contemporain. The stage inside Desjardins is oriented to music for youngsters at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. College musicians perform at 5 p.m. While the adjacent food court in this shopping center cum Métro station contains most of the usual suspects (with an emphasis on red-sauce Italian), it also features La Boulangerie Moderne de Montréal (tel: 514-845-8887). That’s the perfect spot to grab excellent salad meals or inventive sandwiches—like roast duck breast, caramelized onions, red and yellow peppers, Chinese duck sauce, and arugula on a baguette with a mayo laced with mustard and garlic on the side. The bakery even sells wine and beer.