Sherbrooke Coffee Roaster Faro To Open Montreal Café — and Other Expansions

DOWNTOWN — Notable Quebec coffee roaster Faro is planning to open a Montreal café any day now, with the Sherbrooke roaster having been spotted setting up a store with a fancy modbar at 1440 Ste-Catherine West. One of the oldest, “artisanal”-leaning roasteries (for lack of a better term — in short, it’s better than the giant chains), Faro has been in the business since 1982 but has stuck more to getting its roasts distributed to grocery stores, rather than opening coffee shops. However, it does have three locations in Sherbrooke, and one in Centropolis Laval. Eater has reached out for more details on the Montreal edition.

Petit Lapin/Facebook

OUTREMONT — Westmount’s all-gluten-free and vegan bakehouse Petit Lapin has staged an expansion, and is now open on Bernard Street in Outremont. Expect more wheat-free cupcakes, macarons, and cookies from owner and baker Viviane Nguyen, in an extremely pastel-coloured space.

Chez Serge/Facebook

PLATEAU — It’s more a move than an expansion, but rowdy Mile End sports bar Chez Serge has packed up its mechanical bull and moved south on the Main, taking up residence in the space that was formerly restaurant Portuscalle. It’s bigger, and appears to have port-a-potties as an element of décor.

LATIN QUARTER — Excellent Plateau Lebanese restaurant Omnivore has opened a location on St-Denis Street across from the Théâtre St-Denis. The go-to for casual, cheap grilled meats, pita, salad, and more is serving more or less the same menu as its location on St-Laurent, and it’s open every day.

Buddha-Station/Facebook

LAVAL, LONGUEUIL — You can expect to see more locations for Quebec City fast-casual chain Buddha-Station in the coming years. The restaurant serves Hawaiian raw-fish bowl poke (meaning its name is rather odd, given that Hawaii is...not particularly Buddhist), and counts three locations right now (one in Montreal), but Le Soleil reports that big expansions are in the works for the next couple of years, starting with Laval and Longueuil. Owner Christian Genest also built up and sold sushi chain Sushi Taxi, just a couple of years back.

PLATEAU — Casual pizza chain Bacaro is opening on Mont-Royal Avenue, near-ish Papineau — one of the better brands under the rapidly-growing Foodtastic group, it has five locations.

• La pâtisserie Petit Lapin ouvre une 2e succursale à Montréal [Nightlife.ca]
• Plateau Kebab Favourite Omnivore Is Expanding [EMTL]
• Buddha-Station vise 50 comptoirs d’ici 5 ans [Le Soleil]