The 14 Most Anticipated Restaurants in Montreal, Fall 2017

A round-up of forthcoming restaurants

by Tim Forster@timothyjforster Updated Aug 23, 2017, 10:49am EDT

Japanese barbecue at Gyu-Kaku, coming soon to Montreal

Summer brought a whole host of new restaurants to Montreal, and as temperatures drop, the openings won’t slow down much. Here are 14 to keep an eye out for, starting this September.

Café Baba Yaga

A post shared by Café Baba Yaga (@babayagamtl) on Aug 16, 2017 at 12:09pm PDT

Who: Four partners who all spent considerable time at Old Montreal’s L’Orignal.

What: A small Polish café, making everything in-house — pierogies, cabbage rolls, borscht, and sweets like paczki (akin to doughnuts) and charlotka (think apple crumble).

When: September

Where: 3279 St Jacques, in St-Henri

Monarque

Who: Father and son Richard and Jérémie Bastien, of Outremont restaurant Leméac

What: This one has been in the works since 2013 but the Bastien duo say it’s seriously coming soon. It’ll be a “Gramercy Tavern-style” restaurant in the Penny Lane condominium-etc development in Old Montreal, with a mix of both bistro-like fare and some offerings along the classic French lines of Leméac.

When: Fall — no date yet

Where: 417 Notre-Dame West, in Old Montreal

Córdova

Who: Anthony Benda (Café Myriade), Aaron Polsky (ex-MasterChef Canada), Elayne Teixeira-Millar

What: An all-purpose café and bar — beer, natural wine, classic cocktails. It won’t have a full kitchen, so food will stick to snacks and smaller plates, with a focus on Spanish-style conservas (e.g. sardines), olives, jamon, and the likes.

When: September

Where: On Notre-Dame West in St-Henri, near Arthur’s and Rustique

Le Blossom

Who: Dan Pham, of Vietnamese pub Le Red Tiger and Hawaiian snack bar Kamehameha

What: A 50-seat sushi, tempura, and sake bar. The sushi will be more on the fusion side, from twin chefs Viet and Nam Truong, owners of Plateau sushi restaurant Boîte Geisha, with some degree of sake matching to the menu.

When: October

Where: In the Village, on Amherst near de Maisonneuve.

Epicerie Pumpui

A post shared by Épicerie Pumpui (@pumpuimontreal) on Jul 17, 2017 at 12:36pm PDT

Who: Jesse Mulder (Chak Wow) and other partners

What: A “neighbourhood curry shop”. Jesse Mulder has run Thai delivery service Chak Wow on and off for several years, in between long trips to Thailand to hone his culinary craft.

When: Mid-fall

Where: Little Italy — 83 Saint-Zotique E

Gyu-Kaku

Who: Giant Japanese barbecue chain Gyu-Kaku

What: Yakiniku — grill-it-yourself Japanese barbecue. Customers order meat, which comes pre-marinated or seasoned, and tables with built-in burners allow for grilling without moving from one’s seat. They typically have non-barbecue options like chicken karaage and udon bowls, too.

When: Gyu-Kaku won’t give more details than “coming soon”, but the storefront is coming along.

Where: 1255 Crescent Street, downtown

Bistro Rosie

Who: Sophie Duchastel de Montrouge and Jérémy Daniel-Six.

What: A new project from the people behind much-loved Village breakfast and lunch spot Ma’tine, which closed unexpectedly in 2016. Details are scarce — but instead of brunch, they’ll do dinner.

When: Fall (we hope)

Where: At Bélanger and Fabre, in Petite-Patrie.

Willow Inn

Who: Husband-wife duo David Ades and Patricia Wenzel

What: This beautiful and iconic restaurant shuttered in 2016 when its previous owner retired, but was purchased early 2017. While the owners aren’t restaurant industry players, they’re bringing in chef Shaun Hughes (ex-Joe Beef, and Toronto’s Black Hoof) to do a British-style menu, with butchering and baking to be done at the inn itself.

When: August had initially been flagged for reopening, but it looks like September now.

Where: Hudson, right where Willow Inn has always been.

Barley

Who: Soufian Mamlouk

What: Montreal’s first cereal bar — but rather than just selling an item one can purchase at the grocery store, they’ll have imported cereal from the States and Europe, and house-made granola, smoothie bowls and the like. Coffee, too.

When: Soon.

Where: Little Burgundy: 2613 Notre-Dame West

Lavanderia

Who: Antonio Park, of neighbouring restaurants Park and Café Bazin.

What: The long-awaited re-opening of Park’s homage to meat — as before, Lavanderia will do asado-style charcoal-grilled beef, chorizo, fish, and more (a nod to Park’s upbringing in South America); it’s a chance for Park to use that Kobe beef import license he worked so hard for again.

When: September

Where: Right where Lavanderia used to be: 374 Victoria, in Westmount.

Île Flottante

Who: The same people behind popular Mile End restaurant Les Deux Singes de Montarvie.

What: Les Deux Singes de Montarvie closed its doors in August, and will expand and reopen as an all-new restaurant. Executive chef Sean Murray Smith will still be involved, menu details are still to come.

When: Mid-fall

Where: 176 St-Viateur West, in Mile End

1909 Taverne Moderne

Who: The Montreal Canadiens, in conjunction with food service corporation Cara Operations.

What: The Habs are opening two restaurants, one of which will be the largest in Canada, seating over 1,000 right next to the Bell Centre (the second, smaller one will be in Laval). Given that the massive corporation that owns places like fast food restaurants Swiss Chalet and St-Hubert, and beer bar Bier Markt, some Eater readers question what the quality will be like, but it’s notable just based on sheer size.

When: Before the first Habs home game of the season (early October) for the downtown location, and later in the fall for the smaller Laval one.

Where: One in the Tour des Canadiens condo development next to the Bell Centre, the other adjacent to Place Bell in Laval.

Aux Vivres 2.0

Who: Brothers Liam and Michael Makhan, the owners of Aux Vivres.

What: The first major restaurant expansion for the long-running Mile End vegan spot — while they’ve had major success going into the food retail world, they avoided opening a second full-service location until now (although they do have a lunch counter at their industrial kitchen on Casgrain, also in Mile End).

When: October?

Where: 4896 Sherbrooke West, in Westmount

Clandestino

Who: Charles Manceau, of Venice

What: A tequila and mezcal bar, focused on tasting liquors imported from Mexico. It’ll be small, with a plush lounge vibe — not a party bar.

When: Fall, sometime

Where: Beneath Venice’s next door bar Boho — 436 Saint-François-Xavier, in Old Montreal.

Other Fall Openings

Swish all-vegetarian and vegan restaurant LOV is expanding quickly — after opening their second location downtown in July (their first is in Old Montreal), its next location will be at Laval’s Centropolis.
Montreal-area Jamaican patty-maker Lloydie’s is branching out into the restaurant business with a Mile End location.
A new Spanish restaurant named Ibérica will set up shop downtown, at 1450 Peel Street, around late September.
Griffintown is set to get a new sushi spot — Sushi Newtown will open this fall at 311 de la Montagne.
Pizzeria No 900 keeps on expanding — this fall it adds locations in Blainville and St-Bruno.
Speaking of St-Bruno, pizzeria Enoteca Monza will also set up shop there this fall.

And Some Last-Minute Summer Openings

A post shared by UNIBURGER (@uniburgermtl) on Jun 17, 2017 at 8:07am PDT

Burger masters Uniburger are set to open a St-Henri location at 4412 Notre-Dame West, possibly before August is out.
Pizzeria Heirloom will open very soon on Ontario Street in the East End — it comes from Dominic Laflamme, Vincent Chatelais, and Nicolas Ficuciello. All are known for BYOB restaurants like Le Quartier Général, but this one won’t be bring-your-own.
NDG gets a new vegetarian and vegan restaurant, Ashley’s Health Bar in the coming days.

The 14 Most Anticipated Restaurants in Montreal, Fall 2017

Café Baba Yaga

Monarque

Córdova

Le Blossom

Epicerie Pumpui

Gyu-Kaku

Bistro Rosie

Willow Inn

Barley

Lavanderia

Île Flottante

1909 Taverne Moderne