Little Burgundy’s Dilallo Burger Ditches the Dilallo Name

LITTLE BURGUNDY — After decades in place, the Notre-Dame West location of Dilallo Burger is no longer — well, sort of. The same people are still there grilling patties, but sometime last week, the longstanding burger joint at the corner took down its Dilallo Burger signage and generally scrubbed the Dilallo name from its premises and its menu. In its place, a new name: Meloche 27, reflecting the restaurant’s owner, former NHL player and Montrealer Gilles Meloche.

Despite Le Journal de Montréal framing the change as a grand mystery, the mechanics here are pretty simple: the ownership of the restaurant is the same; so is the staff, and locals report that the menu has mostly stayed the same (although it presumably isn’t allowed to keep the names of Dilallo-specific items such as the Buck Burger. Presumably, Meloche and company opted to no longer be affiliated with Dilallo (they were likely paying some kind of franchise fee), and decided to go it alone. Eater has reached out to Dilallo Burger for confirmation.

ST-HENRI — In another change for Notre-Dame, gluten-free destination Kleine Shoppe is getting new digs. After two and a half years in a small spot near Atwater, it’s moving west to 3734 Notre-Dame W, at Turgeon. It appears it’s taking the space that was Restaurant 3734’s next-door épicerie-comptoir (as 3734 is definitely still open at its corner location), a tidy upsize in terms of space for the popular purveyor of baked goods and light meals. It closes the old location on June 2 and reopens next Friday, June 7.

GRIFFINTOWN — Also on Notre-Dame, also moving is French bistro Licence IV. It’s ditching its Griffintown location for the most touristy part of Old Montreal: it’ll open on St-Paul W near Royale, in the former Taj Mahal restaurant location. That means owner Ludovic Marionette will have two restaurants on the same stretch, with Licence IV joining Marché de la Villette. The new location opens June 1 with an “official” opening happening mid-June.

Ryu/Supplied

DOWNTOWN — One more move to note: the Peel Street location of sushi restaurant Ryu is also upsizing — it’s moving a few doors along to 1474 Peel, where it’ll have a 50-seat space (plus a terrasse for 16 more). Its former space will be a pop-up cocktail bar for Grand Prix, named Lucky Dragon; it’ll be open from June 5 to 9.

POINTE-CLAIRE — The West Island now has its very own festival of fries, gravy, and curds: the inaugural West Island Grand PoutineFest will run May 31 to June 2 with a host of food trucks serving, um, “exotic” takes on poutine — entry is free, the poutine is obviously not; microbrewery beers will also be served, and proceeds go to the Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation.

ONLINE — Lastly, a moment of restaurant-related levity from satirical publication Le Revoir.

• Mystère entourant la nouvelle devanture du Dilallo de Saint-Henri [Journal de Montréal]