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Much-loved Montreal chainlet Uniburger is preparing to open an Old Montreal bar in partnership with the owner of also-popular Tommy Café.
Uniburger’s Instagram reveals that it’ll be working with the Tomahawk Group, headed up by restaurateur Thomas Vernis, who has stuck to Old Montreal venues such as tapas bar Santos and three locations for Tommy. The groups will open a new venue, Unibar, on St-Sulpice Street, taking over the space that was cocktail spot Alfie’s (another Tomahawk bar, although it was operated in conjunction with the owners of nearby bar the Coldroom).
The details provided about Unibar have been fairly slim: Uniburger revealed on Instagram that it’ll apparently stick to what it does best, serving burgers and fries, with the bar component bringing in natural wine, cocktails, and beer.
Uniburger owner Younes Bengeloune that the burgers will be tweaked slightly for Unibar (“but it’s the same essence”, he notes) and with the same ingredients.
Natural wines from importer Le Vin Dans Les Voiles will be served, too, Bengeloune says.
“[Burgers] are actually a good pairing with some of these lighter wines we’re putting on the menu, It think it’ll be a good spot for an after work bite, or drinks and a bite.”
The space will get new decor, but the speakeasy-ish elements of previous tenant Alfie’s will also remain, with no large-scale renovations happening.
Unibar does have its own Instagram account, although it has only published images of celebrities eating burgers thus far.
Uniburger has built up a name for itself with simple, no-nonsense burgers that have drawn comparisons to cult California favourite In-N-Out Burger — but it has stuck to restaurants so far, and hasn’t expanded since opening in St-Henri in 2017. Its other locations are the Latin Quarter original (although that moved in 2018, upsizing its space), and one in Côte-des-Neiges. Meanwhile, the Tomahawk Group has been busy expanding Tommy Café, adding a new location in 2018, then a bagel-focused version of it just this winter.