Montreal’s First Acadian Seafood Restaurant Is Open

Acadian-style seafood now has firm representation on Montreal’s dining scene, with Le Fricot now open in Little Burgundy.

It’s run by the owners of popular bar Drinkerie Ste-Cunégonde — Simon Dunn, Antoine Legault, Éric Le François and Alex Lejeune — and takes over one of the bar’s two rooms on a permanent basis, complete with vintage crab shack décor.

The Notre-Dame W restaurant will centre its menu around the classic guédille (lobster roll) and other variations, particularly featuring seafood. Trout gravlax and poutine râpée (a filled potato dish) are also on the menu, as well as crab dip and a haddock pogo,

Dunn previously told Eater that his team, along with chef Alain Gauvin, are hoping to highlight a cuisine that rarely gets time in the limelight, albeit perhaps in a setting a little more formal than an often very casual coastal eatery in New Brunswick,

Fannie Laurence/Le Fricot

Indeed, Montreal’s dedicated options for Maritime Canadian fare are fairly slim — crepe store En Couleur also does Halifax donair (that sweet-garlic concoction won’t be as present at Le Fricot); while Little Italy taco spot Fortune regularly offers guédilles.

This would mean Fricot is now the most committed east coast restaurant in Montreal (if the Chiac slogan, “Worry pas ta brain, c’est all good icitte”, didn’t make that clear already).

Fannie Laurence/Le Fricot

Beyond food, Le Fricot has even succeeded at sourcing Maritime wines, courtesy of maître d’ Karine Leblanc, and while it is physically attached to Drinkerie Ste-Cunégunde, cocktail options will be different — the list is short, but Dunn tells Eater there’ll be a secret menu of frozen blended cocktails, “a bit like In-N-Out Burger in the States” — that means you’ll have to say the right words to get access to them.

STATUS — Le Fricot is open at 2661 Notre-Dame W this Thursday to Saturday evenings (March 28 to 30), with regular hours starting with the official opening on April 4 and running from 5 to 11 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday.

• Le Fricot [Facebook]
• Little Burgundy Watering Hole Owners Plot Acadian Seafood Restaurant to Open this Month [EMTL]