Nora Gray’s New St-Henri Restaurant Adds Wine Bar-Take Out Counter

After four months in business, St-Henri pizza-and-more restaurant Elena is getting a little bigger, with a cool and casual counter added behind the restaurant.

Named Club Social P.S. (C.S.P.S., or just P.S.), it’s serving coffee, pastry, and light bites by day, and wine and Elena’s pizza by night. Just like Elena, it comes from two owners of Griffintown Italian hub Nora Gray — Emma Cardarelli and Ryan Gray, alongside a third co-owner, Marley Sniatowsky.

When Elena opened, P.S. was slated to be an adjoining café, but Gray tells Eater that the plans evolved, and the new space’s first airing over the weekend was a success.

“We’re running sort of a wine bar slash takeout counter...it’s so much fun, we had such a good time having things going on both floors [of the building] and people had such a better experience than I could have envisioned. We brought people down there to wait for their table and they decided to stay down there.”

While it’s in the same Notre-Dame West building as Elena, P.S. is accessed from around the back. It features a 13-seat indoor space centred around a U-shaped bar, following Elena’s bright design scheme, along with an English-courtyard style terrasse with about 15 seats.

Ryan Gray/Supplied

During the day, P.S. will do coffee — it will serve single-origin Ethiopian beans from Toronto’s De Mello roasters, with a focus on flavourful lighter roasts. Elena’s baker and dough guru Jake Bagshaw will do Italian pastries like cornettos, and for those looking to lunch, Roman-style pizza al taglio will be offered — square slices, usually with simple toppings. A salad and breakfast option are on offer, and Gray says some other menu options are still in the works.

By night, it’ll be a no-reservations nook serving an abbreviated version of Elena’s menu — pizza, salad, and a dessert, and with slightly more experimental by-the-glass wine list compared to the bigger sibling.

Gray says P.S. will be a fun, flexible space, and will likely play host to pop-ups, events, and parties.

“It’s very not-static, it can be whatever it needs to be down there.”

That starts right away — this Wednesday (June 13), an opening party will be held, featuring pizza, wine from the restaurant’s namesake, notable Italian winemaker Elena Pantaleoni, and tunes from Juju le Moko (Julio Mendy) — it runs from 6 to 9 p.m.

STATUS — C.S.P.S. is open at the back of 5090 Notre-Dame W from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily — the Elena pizza menu begins at 5 p.m. daily.

• Nora Gray’s Pizza-And-More Sister is Officially Open in St-Henri [EMTL]
• Look Inside St-Henri’s Elena, Complete With Chic Modern Italian Design [EMTL]