So Long Café Souvenir, Hello La Pêche aux Moules

Café Souvenir, a breakfast and bistro fixture on Outremont's tony Bernard strip for decades, has been made over as La Pêche aux Moules by owners Paul and Catherine Lecoq. "We wanted to renew ourselves a bit, while keeping our breakfasts of course," son Melvin Lecoq told Voir recently. French chef Cédric Nieuviarts floated the idea of a traditional moulerie to the restaurant's management late in 2015. On the heels of La Moulerie's shutter down the street at 1249 Bernard (now home to Brasserie Bernard), the concept resonated with the Belgian Lecoqs, who purchased Café Souvenir in 2013, and also own Le Petit Italien next door.

Café Souvenir regulars can take comfort in La Pêche aux Moules' dinner menu (see below), much of which is unchanged. Still, there has been a decided moules-frites pivot, what with the likes of moules marinière, basquaise, provençale, and, yes, even a mussels riff on poutine. The premises have taken on a more nautical look too, though not so drastically as to jar the Café Souvenir faithful, who can take solace in the fact that the restaurant is still open for breakfast and lunch daily.

Menu credit: La Pêche aux Moules