clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

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

The building housing a recently-closed Korean-Japanese restaurant was also owned by notorious real estate firm Shiller Lavy.

Sushi Jinjin/Facebook

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).

Nouvelle importante Une page d’histoire importante se tourne pour notre très aimé Cantine Brooklyn ! C’est avec...

Posted by Brooklyn on Friday, August 23, 2019

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.

Sushi Jinjin

29 Rue Saint-Viateur O, Montréal, QC H2T 2K7 (438) 386-7447

Bistro Rosie

1498 Rue Bélanger, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC H2G 1A7 (514) 303-2010 Visit Website