Vary nice, Vary nice

Spending a few days in the elegantly strange surroundings of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, now in its 46th year, is always a trip. But a trip where?

Spending a few days in the elegantly strange surroundings of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, now in its 46th year, is always a trip. But a trip where?

There’s a new contender for best dumplings in town in the form of Mai Xiang Yuan, a new restaurant that’s set up shop in the last year on the St-Laurent Chinatown strip. It’s a pretty cozy little place, with carpeting, an exposed brick wall and a welcoming atmosphere.

Le Plaza serves— what else—old-fashioned comfort food with a slightly contemporary twist, like everyone else these days. On a recent chilly Tuesday night, my friends and I found ourselves to be among the only patrons in the restaurant’s large, dark-wood dining room.

VIDIOT’S BOX: Louis C.K.’s Hilarious and The Social Network

Post-holiday season winter is traditionally known as a cinematic wasteland, a dumping ground for misbegotten ventures and poorly tested studio flops-in-waiting, spiced up by the occasional prestige picture making an Oscars lap. But that also makes it one of the more interesting times of the year, movie-wise.

VIDIOT’S BOX: Animal Kingdom and Robinson Crusoe on Mars