Le Mousso’s Resto-Bar Has Arrived With Upscale Snacks, Cocktails, and More

Thursday marks a hot new addition to Montreal’s dining scene, as chef Antonin Mousseau-Rivard opens a casual counterpart to his Ontario Street restaurant Le Mousso, in the form of Le Petit Mousso.

The newcomer takes the place that used to belong to Le Mousso, with the original tasting-menu-only restaurant having shifted one door up to the corner of Amherst and Ontario in recent months.

Le Petit Mousso is quite the complementary venue to its older sibling, rather than a sequel to it — it features an à la carte menu only, does not take reservations, and while it does serve full plates, there’s a focus on smaller bites, making it potentially more of a neighbourhood spot to drop by for a glass of wine and a snack.

Mousseau-Rivard tells Eater that Le Petit Mousso will be far from standard bar snack territory, though he still dubs the offerings drinking-friendly finger food. The menu will feature his minimalist-but-complex approach to food — there’s a potato item with truffles and cheese, a fresh take on blinis with New Brunswick caviar, and the chef’s somewhat iconic ham cured with koji, the fungus used to cure east Asian staples such as miso.

The menu is short, at around ten items, with snacks starting at $10 and bigger items running $14 through to $60 — but that’s for a two-person cockerel dish with truffles and a yellow wine sauce.

Unlike Le Mousso, which only offers wine pairings, Petit Mousso will have a list heavier on natural, organic options — cocktails will also be a focus, with house bartender Émile Archambault creating a handful of daily or weekly specials, alongside a range of classics. It’s less of a beer spot, but will notably feature beer from Gaspésie craft brewery Auval.

It’s been a big year for Mousseau-Rivard — not only has he opened this new spot and moved his much-loved original into new digs, in April he won an inaugural province-wide prize for restaurant of the year.

STATUS — Le Petit Mousso opens 6 p.m. Thursday (June 7) at 1023 Ontario East.

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