Idole Will Bring Cult Vibes and Cocktails to Plaza St-Hubert — And Other Summer Openings

PETITE-PATRIE — The St-Hubert Plaza is getting a new cocktail bar this summer. Idole comes from Anthoni Jodoin (hot off of opening Snowbird Tiki Bar nearby on St-Laurent), and will be in the space formerly occupied by cellphone-free bar Le Félix. Jodoin tells Eater he’ll be keeping the strangely cave-like fixtures from Le Félix and its predecessors, and that it’ll play heavily into the theme.

“It looks like it should be in the Old Port in the basement of a church, it looks like an old dungeon, an old castle. The space was constructed sometime in the 70s...[it] was a bar called La Chouannarie, which refers to a civil war moment...during the French revolution. Whoever owned the space before got inspired by that and built a castle like space.”

“[It resembles] places of cult…like that cult scene in Eyes Wide Shut …I want it to be heavy in a sense that it’s a bit scary but you’re comfortable.”

The bar will be on one floor only (some may remember that Félix was spread out over two levels), and will focus on classic cocktails — Jodoin says he’s aiming for a relaxed, sit-down, date-friendly kind of spot.

“Chill music, maybe some trip-hop, some jazz...more like a hotel bar vibe than a club.”

Expect it sometime in July.

OLD MONTREAL — The very long-awaited Old Montreal restaurant from Leméac’s Richard Bastien and son Jérémie, Monarque, looks to be going ahead for later this summer. The first mention of the restaurant was way back in 2013, and a 2015 opening was initially floated. Now, Richard Bastien tells Eater that, factoring in the recent construction strike, a late summer opening is on the cards.

ROSEMONT — Not long after opening Prince in the Plateau, BYOB overlord Georges Blais is opening a new French bistro, this time on Masson. Gaston will be in the former Masson Hot-Dog, and it’ll be open Wednesday to Sunday, likely starting later this month.

OLD MONTREAL — Thomas Vernis’ forthcoming Canadian brasserie on St-Paul Street now has a name, Rockwood, and a vague opening date for the end of this month. La Presse’s Iris Gagnon-Paradis got a sneak peek inside.

GRIFFINTOWN — A new pizza spot is soon to arrive in the former Doca premises (which closed in January). Pizzeria Moretti was initially slated for May, but their social media activity suggests it’ll be slinging pies by the end of this month.

PLATEAU — A hybrid cycling store-third wave café, Le Club, is set to arrive on St-Denis Street in the Plateau in coming weeks. Le Club recently hired bike mechanics, so it looks to be a full scale bike store, with tune-ups, repairs, and retail, in addition to the coffee element. Interestingly, they’re still crowd-funding on the project, despite being close to opening.

LATIN QUARTER — New York street food vendors turned big shawarma chain The Halal Guys will soon add a second location at 1732 St-Denis Street, less than a year after adding their first Canadian location on Mackay Street, with a fair share of Bill 101 language dramas.

PLATEAU — Word is that downtown fryers of chickpea patties Falafel Avenue will be opening up on Mont-Royal in the Plateau at a to-be-announced date.

• The Bastiens on Leméac, Monarque and Food Bloggers [EMTL]
• Un nouveau restaurant remplace le Masson hot-dog [Rue Masson]
• NY Street Kebabs Make Canadian Debut Downtown Today [EMTL]