Little Italy to Get Its Very Own Tiki Bar, And Other Intel

NDG — The upscale Monkland Village seafood restaurant Lucille’s Oyster Dive from Paul Harris Benjamin, Dominique Muller, and chef Mark Gaffney (see also: Parm) is set for a move and an upgrade in December. They’re heading across the street to the other side of Oxford Avenue, where they will take over the old Le Slang foodlab space.

LITTLE ITALY — Snowbird Tiki Bar has had an online presence for a few months as its owners work on building hype for the Polynesian extravaganza set to open in March 2017. Now its physical location has been revealed: it’ll be on St-Laurent in Little Italy, taking over Cafe International, which is set to close in December. Snowbird’s team have been posting highlights of their search for tiki-appropriate decor around their social media, and while it’s too early to make a solid judgment, it seems like they’re not cutting corners on the kitsch front, and committing fully to the theme.

VILLAGE — It was arguably some of the city’s best Pad Thai until it was forced out of its Faubourg Sainte-Catherine food court location last month to make way for a grocery store. Now Cuisine Bangkok is rising from the dead on Sainte-Catherine Street in the Village. It’s moving into the space formerly occupied by Lebanese restaurant and kebab shops Lallouz — a step up from their counter, with a space to call their own. It’s almost right next to Aigle Noir, in case you want to get some Pad Thai and leather daddies without having to walk more than one minute from Beaudry metro. They’re hoping to open at the end of November.

DOWNTOWN — The porky Italian sandwich store Porchetta (from the folks behind Buonanotte) in Little Italy is expanding to a second location. The new one is set to be on Guy and Sherbrooke, in the Concordia adjacent zone that is rapidly becoming a major hotspot for casual eats at the moment.

PLATEAU — In further move-news, French restaurant Le Bungalow (which an Eater tipster deems very underrated) has opened up their new snazzier, scaled-up location further east in the Plateau. It’s on Mont-Royal, right near Brébeuf.

WHO KNOWS — This city has some downright confusing hybrid businesses, and one more is about to join the ranks of the other barber-bike store-cafe-menswear-cinema-poutinerie combos in the city. Le Club Espresso Bar is set to be a cafe-cum-bike store and workshop and via the crowdfunding process are trying to figure out where exactly they’ll set up, presumably for the next bike season. Their lycra-clad promotional video has most of the details.

MILE EX — Creative small plates restaurant Le Diplomate from Eater Chef of the Year nominee Aaron Langille has expanded. There’s now a private dining room at the back of the Beaubien Street restaurant, in addition to the existing street-side bar/restaurant combination.

OLD MONTREAL — The Japanese comptoir Marusan from chef Hachiro Fujise (Thazard, ex-Café Sardine) is expanding its evening operations. Fujise tells Eater that on Thursdays and Fridays he’ll be focusing on izakaya-style snacks and ramen. Sample dishes include an albacore tuna tataki with cilantro pesto and ponzu, and abura ramen with garlic soy, oregano, enoki mushrooms and roasted tomato.

PLATEAU — Fletchers, the cafe inside the Museum of Jewish Montreal continues its thoughtful exploration of Jewish food traditions with local food history duo The Wandering Chew. Tonight (Tuesday, November 22), they’re joined by Jeffrey Yoskowitz, who runs The Gelfilteria in Brooklyn. He’s launching his cookbook The Gelfilte Manifesto, which explores Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine recipes for modern kitchens. Details are here.

• Snowbird Tiki Bar [Facebook]
• All-You-Can-Eat Poutine Descends on City, and Other Intel [EMTL]
• Le Diplomate [EMTL]
• Gefilte Manifesto Inspired Cocktail Party [Eventbrite]