Another Restaurant Bites the Dust on St-Viateur Street (And Other Closures)

MILE END — The revolving door of Mile End restaurants continues, with Korean-Japanese lunch spot Sushi Jinjin the latest to close its doors, throwing one more empty storefront on the veritable pile of empty businesses around St-Viateur and Bernard streets. While solid, Jinjin wasn’t a hugely prominent business, but its departure is notable because it took over the space of long-time, beloved bakery Boulangerie Clarke. Clarke closed its doors not long after real estate company Shiller Lavy purchased its building. The space remained empty for a while, prompting rumours that a Starbucks would open in the building before Jinjin moved in, and now reverts to being empty.

While it wasn’t clear if rent hikes pushed Clarke or Jinjin out, it’s well-known that rent increases from Shiller Lavy have pushed out other businesses in the area, such as Patisserie Chez de Gaulle earlier this year; realtor Stephen Shiller’s son Brandon Shiller was also behind a rent increase that forced coffee shop Le Cagibi to move out of the neighbourhood. (That building, in a prime location on the corner of St-Laurent and St-Viateur, is now owned by Shiller Lavy, and remains empty.) Also Shiller Lavy-owned and also empty are the former spaces of La Crepière and Chez de Gaulle, while a Shiller Lavy-owned building at 75 St Viateur W will see its fourth restaurant in four years, as Portuguese grill Emilia prepares to open there. And, in case you were wondering, the Lululemon building on St-Viateur near Parc is also a Shiller Lavy property.

PETITE-PATRIE — No-tipping tasting menu and brunch spot Bistro Rosie appears to be permanently gone — despite its owners saying it was just taking a break back in the spring (and reopening briefly in late May), the space on Bélanger has been vacated and appears to be morphing into a fromagerie under different owners.

WESTMOUNT — File under “Not actually closed”: Antonio Park’s Argentine grill restaurant Lavanderia may have been closed for a good chunk of the summer, but staff at neighbouring Park say that it will return, and a representative for Park’s restaurant group confirmed that something is happening in that Victoria Avenue space, but no details have yet been given.

Les Héritiers/Facebook

PLATEAU — After a long time in the biz, Plateau BYOW Les Héritiers has closed — a new bistro is set to take its place on Mont-Royal Avenue, but it won’t be from BYOW magnate Marc-André Paradis, who owned the Les Héritiers (as well as other notable institutions like Verdun restaurant Wellington).

MILE END — Coffee and lunch spot Brooklyn has closed its doors, with signage for a new location of popular coffee shop Caffe In Gamba quickly going up in the same space — a post on Facebook indicates that the owner willingly handed the space over to its new tenants.

VILLERAY — Jean-Talon Street haunt Bar Le Ritz PDB (no relation to the Ritz-Carlton downtown) will no longer open as a bar, unless specific events are planned — concerts, dance parties, movie screenings, comedy nights, and the like. In short, it’s now more of an events space, although co-owner Meyer Billurcu tells Eater that the venue remains open to a wide range of events, not just shows.

DOWNTOWN — In the Concordia area, Ste-Catherine West Chinese resto Ucan has closed, and a few blocks over on Bishop Street, an outpost of Portuguese grill Monteiro was forced shut last week following a four-alarm fire that started in the restaurant’s ventilation system. Nobody was injured.

GRIFFINTOWN — Greek resto Cucina Kouzina is closed, while an Eater tipster suggests that its neighbour, Petros, may be looking to relocate to a new location.

• Beloved Mile End Landmark Boulangerie Clarke Shutters After 35 Years on St-Viateur [EMTL]
• Rent Hikes Kill Off Yet Another Mile End Business [EMTL]
• Beloved Rosemont Bistro Goes on “Vacation” - and Other Notable Closures [EMTL]
• Fire rips through Bishop St. restaurant [CTV]