Blandino, a Stylish New Italian Brasserie, Lands in the Hilton Garden Inn on Décarie

CÔTE-DES-NEIGES — The all-new Hilton Garden Inn on Décarie is now home to a pasta-twirling and aperitivo-serving restaurant called Blandino, named after the Montreal artist (Carmelo Blandino) whose work decorates the side of its building. Open since July 27, Blandino’s menu is chock-full of Italian classics, including semolina-encrusted calamari, Milanese cutlets, and ricotta gnocchi — served for lunch or dinner. An early 7 a.m. start for the restaurant — whose luxe, marbled design comes courtesy of Atelier Zébulon Perron (also responsible for Gentile Pizza Parlour and Caffé Un Po’ di Piu) — means hotel guests may also trickle in for breakfasts of lox, overnight oats, or, for an Italian injection, panettone French toast. In the fall, the hotel plans to open the doors to a new Mexican restaurant called Pancho Taqueria.

Blandino is open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at 6939 Décarie Boulevard.

OLD MONTREAL — Another new restaurant opens in the city’s cobble-stoned core today: Pincette is serving lobster shack staples year-round, but rather than a wooden waterfront structure, it’s in a prime St-Paul Street space. The restaurant comes from the Antonopoulos Group, which owns a bevy of other spots in the area, including Taverne Gaspar, Terrasse Nelligan, Brasserie 701, BEVO, and Jacopo. This latest addition to its roster specializes in lobster carried over from the East Coast — from fisheries in Quebec, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, depending on the season, a representative for the restaurant tells Eater.

Lobster fishing in Atlantic Canada occurs at different times of the year depending on the section of the coastline, divided into “lobster fishing areas (LFAs),” which determine not only the window of harvest but also the number of licenses and traps permitted, as well as the minimum size of lobster that may be caught. (LFA 41 — where Clearwater Seafoods, now owned in part by a coalition of Miꞌkmaq First Nations, operates — is the only area where lobster fishing can take place year-round.)

Pincette/Supplied

As for how the lobster catches will be deployed at Pincette? Executive Chef Khelil Ben Ammar (formerly Hôtel Nelligan and Su) will be dishing out the crustaceans in rolls, poutines, club sandwiches, bisques, mac and cheese, and so on — the first of which will set you back $28. “Pricing has been set to minimize fluctuation throughout the year, but there will inevitably be some adjustment during certain peak seasons,” the representative says. They’ll also serve other seafood, including shrimp cocktail, cod fritters, tuna tartare, and linguini with clams.

Pincette is open Wednesday and Thursday, from 4 to 11 p.m., and Friday to Sunday, from 3 to 11 p.m., at 94 Saint-Paul Street East.

MONTREAL NORTH — South of Henri-Bourassa, on Charleroi, is a new Turkish restaurant that opened late last month. Kajal Doner Kebab’s five-page menu features plenty of mezze, salads, and doner, as well as some traditional meals like Iskender kebab (where kebab meat is topped with tomato sauce and yogurt and served with pita) or mihlama (a bed of cornmeal) served with chicken or beef. Traditional Turkish breakfasts are also on offer.

Kajal Doner Kebab is open Monday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to midnight, and Sunday, from 10 to 11 p.m., at 4979 de Charleroi.

CHÂTEAUGUAY — A new fast-casual piri piri chicken restaurant called Flamos has landed in Châteauguay, an off-island suburb of Montreal. The chain-in-the-making will soon expand with two more Quebec franchise locations, in Lachenaie and Terrebonne, later this summer, and two more in Ontario come fall. According to its website, Flamos brings “a unique and interesting twist” to the piri piri-doused bird, a beloved Montreal staple with roots in Angola, Mozambique, and Portugal. The remainder of its menu, however, is more of a hodge-podge, featuring a Philly-style hoagie filled with pulled chicken and Monterey Jack cheese; a Mexican-style salad with black beans, avocado, and feta; chicken wings coated in Gochujang; and macaroni and cheese dotted with karaage chicken. The approach differs widely from many of Montreal’s piri piri chicken joints, which tend not to venture too far off from their star dish, a poutine variation, and, occasionally, some additional Portuguese plates.

Flamos is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 72 Boulevard Saint Jean Baptiste in Châteauguay.