Montreal’s Most Anticipated French Restaurant Is Finally Hiring

OLD MONTREAL — It’s been almost five years since the world first learned about the upcoming new restaurant from the owner of Leméac, Richard Bastien, and son Jérémie, Monarque. Now it seems that the grandiose French dining establishment is preparing to open on St-Jacques, as it’s advertising for staff online. As reported in September, it’s a big operation: across the all-day brasserie and a more formal dining room doing lunch and dinner, it will fit 150 people in a historic space designed by Alain Carle Architecte. Jérémie Bastien is executive chef and overseeing much of the operation. Anyone with French culinary skills, take note: every kitchen position is open right now.

ALL OVER — A study from a British law firm (of all places) Bott & Co suggests that Montreal’s food scene is the equal 11th most diverse in the world (alongside Tokyo), in terms of the number of national cuisines represented amongst the city’s restaurants. Specifically, the law firm found 58 different countries represented amongst the city’s restaurants. The data was gathered via Google Maps. While it doesn’t take into account regional cuisines within a country, or volume (i.e. the number of restaurants under one category: that is, a city with 15 Portuguese restaurants would be counted the same way as a city with just one), it’s still a fun tool. Oh, and for the record, Toronto was ranked third in the world.

PLATEAU — Vegan-Italian restaurant Vegano has upsized into larger premises, but has stayed on the Plateau. It left its original location on Rachel near St-Denis, moving east to 1999 Mont-Royal Avenue, right near de Lorimier. That’s the former Chez Lien location, boasting 120 seats.

PLATEAU — Hey parents: why not make your kids learn how to make your dinner? Montreal’s premier culinary school, the ITHQ, is running a culinary day camp this summer for kids aged 10 to 15, and participants will bring home a dinner for four people each day. Each camp runs for one week — details are online.

• All The Details on Monarque, Montreal’s Most Important Upcoming Opening [EMTL]
• Which Cities HaveThe Most Diverse Food Scenes? [Bott + Co]
• Camp Culinaire [ITHQ]