One Plateau Restaurant Closed Just a Week After Opening — and Other Shutters

PLATEAU — Ouf, this one is a little brutal. Caterer and now cheap-but-quality eats spot Kiffin opened up in the final week of April, and only managed to stay open for six days. It’s not their fault though: early on May 1, a fire broke out in a yoga studio above the restaurant shutting them down. Owner Natasha Alani is working to get it back open again, but the damage was enough to require them to move everything out of the space and do some rebuilding, so it’s the reopening not going to be immediate.

PLATEAU — Big in Japan owner André Nguyen’s attempts to conquer the corner around Pins and St-Laurent in the Plateau appear to be faltering: an Eater tipster reports that his Chinese buffet-turned-dumpling spot Maison June Rose is closed — again. It opened in 2014, then shut down for close to a full year before popping open again. Given that the restaurant’s Facebook page has been deleted and its phone is disconnected, this one could be a little more permanent — but you can go get Big in Japan’s expensive banh mis around the corner, still.

PETITE-PATRIE — Purveyor of the rose latte Café Candide has closed its doors on St-Hubert Street. Tthe cafe received accolades from the New York Times and by most accounts was a popular spot — but the closure appears not to be from slow business. Rather, a lengthy, ALL-CAPS screed posted in the closed café’s window explains the situation — the very brief version is that a manager, set to take partial ownership of the café, Julien Perroy, allegedly vanished without notice after being given a $30,000 credit for that part-ownership of the café (according to the angry letter, a condition of his part ownership was that he remain manager). In short, the original owners are blaming Perroy for sinking the café, and it’s closed indefinitely — you can read the whole, very angry note on community page Les amis de la rue de Saint-Vallier.

VILLERAY — Popular neighbourhood café and gelato spot Chez Vincenzo is no more — Vincenzo Vinci (who co-owned with wife Julie St-Pierre) posted to Facebook indicating that he wants to refocus on gelato only. Read between the lines, and it means he’ll be opening something else again in future, after a hiatus to work on refining his gelato skills.

DOWNTOWN — An Eater tipster spied a closing down sign in Place Ville Marie Szechuan restaurant Mr. Ma — a call to the restaurant indicates that this is indeed true, but you have until June 23 to say goodbye.

Seen any papered-over windows or closing down signs? Tell us about it over here, or by emailing montreal@eater.com.

• Maison June Rose Embarks on Ominous, Extended Holiday [EMTL]
• Big in Japan Expands Into Banh Mi Industry [EMTL]
• Ever-Affordable Caterer Kiffin Gets Its Own Plateau Restaurant [EMTL]
• Five Places to Go in Montreal [NYTimes]
• Les amis de la rue de Saint-Vallier [Facebook]