The St-Henri Epicerie That Anarchists Hate is Closed — And Other Shutters

With winter officially over, here’s a run-down of the restaurants (and more) who didn’t make it through what’s typically the worst season in the food service industry.

ST-HENRI — Anti-gentrification sentiment is hardly uncommon in Saint Henri — restaurant owners often have to deal with very low-key protests such as graffiti tags on windows. Occasionally though, a business has a full scale run-in with the neighbourhood’s anarchist crowd, as happened to Épicerie Comptoir 3734 last May, when a masked group of around 30 anti-gentrification protesters looted the then-newcomer. Well, it looks like the anarchists won, because the comptoir-food store is now closed, as confirmed by staff at its partner restaurant next door (although the closure doesn't have a direct connection to any sort of protest). The restaurant, which focuses on Portuguese food, is still going strong, though.

CHINATOWN — Ridiculously large dim sum restaurant with a view Le Cristal Chinois is closed. An owner of the sixth floor Chinatown restaurant confirmed this to Eater Tuesday, saying that the restaurant may reopen around June — but offering no guarantee. Their building was adjacent to another building destroyed by a major fire last November, so it seems possible that there could have been slow-drip issues from fire damage — but also it comes just a few weeks after CBC Montreal outed the restaurant as having received the most fines from city health inspectors in 2016. Whether that caused it is up for debate, but it can’t have helped.

MILE END — Parc Avenue Turkish restaurant Sefa is no more — the restaurant quietly closed up and took down its Facebook page in recent weeks.

MERCIER-HOCHELAGA-MAISONNEUVE — Another day, another firebomb — Hochelaga pizza place Chez Mon Copain was on the receiving end of what is euphemistically being called a "criminal fire" late Monday night, causing around $100,000 in damages — and closing the restaurant down (at least for now).

Seen any papered-over windows or for lease signs in restaurants, bars, or cafés? Tell us about it.

• Masked Mob Menaces, Robs New Montreal Restaurant and Boutique [EMTL]
• More Montreal restaurants, grocery stores cited for unsanitary conditions in 2016 [CBC]
• Incendie criminel au restaurant Chez mon copain [TVA]