The Bulletin: Downtown Gets a Jazz Room, Blasting Pink Floyd in a Church, and Girl Dinners [Issue #174]

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— JP Karwacki, Managing Editor

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One Story to Read This Week

Montreal's garment industry has a long, complicated history that's been gutted by globalization, outsourced into oblivion, and largely forgotten by the city that built it.

That's why the story of Brandon Svarc is worth your time. A third-generation jean-maker whose grandfather sold denim on the Main back when the strip was still a manufacturing hub, Svarc has spent the last 16 years building Naked & Famous Denim into a cult label of Japanese selvedge & Quebec-stitched fabric (with zero influencer deals) while everyone else in the industry zigged.

His take on why the artisanal way still wins is hard to argue with: "It's proof that we go back to the artisanal way, before mass manufacturing."

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Activities, parties, points of interest, art exhibitions, you name it: These are the weekend events you don't want to miss.

Thursday

🏅 The McCord Stewart Museum opens a major retrospective on the 1976 Summer Olympics this week: fashion, brutalist architecture, and the legacy of the Games that changed Montréal forever.

🎬 SAT Fest is officially on at the Satosphere. Picture it: 52 fulldome films from 14 countries projected across a 360-degree ceiling until March 28.

🤖 Kid Koala's animated film Space Cadet screens at Cinéma Beaubien: a dialogue-free story about a robot, an astronaut, and the distance between them. Charming stuff.

Friday

🎺 Festival Prélude inaugurates L'Entracte, a new downtown jazz venue, March 27–30 with four nights of concerts, 12 artists, and open jam sessions every night.

🎭 Last weekend to catch Vandales at Le Monastère, a cabaret led entirely by female artists celebrating their strength, diversity, and singular voices.

🕺 DJ Brendan Kelly spins '80s new wave and old-school disco at the Wheel Club: The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Smiths, and more. $10 at the door, 8 p.m.

🎬 Reservoir Dogs returns as a live staged reading at Unia Hall with an all-woman cast, Tarantino's script, proceeds to the Canadian Women's Foundation. Two nights only.

🎵 Le Chalet brings 48+ hours of nonstop music to a hidden chalet about an hour from Montreal this weekend, a limited-capacity gathering from Diskadia, YGM, and Analog Volts built for those who take sound seriously.

🎾 Club Atwater celebrates its 100th anniversary with a PSA-sanctioned squash championship featuring top-100 world players. Free and open to all.

Saturday

🎧 Breakglass turns 20 this year, and the Montreal studio and cultural hub is marking the occasion by launching its own record label. The party starts at 11 p.m.

🌈 The Wizard of Oz on 35mm with a DJ spinning Pink Floyd on vinyl: the Dark Side of Oz comes to St. George's Church, organ warm-up included.

🏕️ The Montréal Outdoor Adventure and Travel Show takes over the Palais des Congrès this weekend with 350+ exhibitors, expert speakers, and pre-season deals on gear and international tours. Saturday 10–6, Sunday 10–5.

🔥 Burning Man, but make it Québécois: taBURNak! hits its 12th edition on St-Laurent with 45+ immersive installations, performances, and experiences running 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

🏠 Canada's only two-day dollhouse miniature show brings vendors together from near and far to sell one-of-a-kind pieces in every scale imaginable.

Sunday

🥽 Last chance to catch Blur at the PHI Centre, the sold-out XR theatre experience blending motion capture and augmented reality to ask what you'd do if science could defeat death.

🤘 Foufounes Électriques hosts the Montreal Punk Rock Flea Market: vintage gear, weird art, skateboards, music finds, and like-minded people. Free entry, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

🕹️ Nostalgie Montreal at Ruby Foo's Hotel puts vintage toys, video games, comics, vinyl, and more up for sale. $3 admission, kids 10 and under free. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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WHAT TO EAT & DRINK IN AND AROUND MONTREAL

Scope the latest restaurant openings, recommendations on where to eat, plus new menus, old classics, and everything in between.

Pub Prince has opened on Boulevard St-Laurent, a pub and grille serving cheddar martinis, sage popcorn, clown soft serve, and all kinds of other curiosities.

Palomar, the fish and drinks counter at Marché Jean-Talon, has quietly closed after what the team called a meaningful chapter built on care, curiosity, and heart.

The pasta bar trend continues: Adelina Pasta Bar is coming to Solar Uniquartier in Brossard in the coming weeks, bringing fresh pasta and traditional recipes to the South Shore.

Le Majestique throws a Girl Dinner on March 26 with a $40 mini tasting menu from sous-chef Mariane, pornstar martinis, espresso martinis, and diet Cokes flowing freely.

Symbiose Vins hosts a free Butinage tasting on March 26 with bottles from Loxarel, Adi Badenhorst, André Stentz, JC Wickens, Schmelzer's, and Famille de Boel, plus Quebec ciders and beers.

Nevski goes retro lounge on three Fridays (March 27 and April 3) with funk DJ sets, happy hour espresso martinis, and the kitchen open until 11 p.m.

Bar Minou welcomes Pork Futures for a Wurst und Wein pop-up on March 28 — grilled sausages, Berlin-inspired snacks, and German wine and beer from 4 p.m. until sold out.

Restaurant Nozy teams up with chef Frédéric Dumont on March 28 for a seasonal omakase menu welcoming spring. Seats are filling fast.

Foil Gallery hosts IN:FUSION on March 29 with Japanese teas from NYC-based Kettl, an ambient set by Security Wing, and a 45-minute immersive listening session included with every ticket.

Wolf & Workman turns its terrasse into a cabane à sucre on March 28 and 29 with brunch, maple cocktails with Sortilège and Fireball, and live music.

Tables Volantes and Le Super Qualité team up for a Malaysian popup on March 29 with a set menu tracing hawker stalls and night markets through Malay, Chinese, and Indian traditions.

Les Sucres Atwater Market on March 28 serves up maple taffy, maple cocktails, a sugar shack menu, traditional dance, and live music from Hot Biscuit Stringband.

Filipinos of Montreal kicks off a series at Fluffys on March 28, a community hang over coffee and pastries, with space to speak or learn Tagalog without pressure.

Le Majestique hosts a Cloakroom x Rouge Gorge takeover on March 29 from 6 p.m. with Manu and Maximilien behind the bar.

Loaded takes over the Santos kitchen on March 29 for a brunch with Dboy, Jay Ramis, and Potato—2 to 7 p.m., reserve via their bio.

Maude Épicerie hosts Collectif Les Fleurs on March 30 for a single-seating dinner where nine Nordic wines inspire nine dishes.

The 2025 World's Best Bar comes to Montreal for one night only: Sora 45 welcomes Julia Momosé and Maddy Morrison from Chicago's Kumiko on March 31. Walk-ins only, 6 p.m.

If you couldn’t get a table after that infamous NYT rotisserie article: Rôtisserie La Lune starts serving lunch on April 1, Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 2:30 p.m.

On May 28, 40 Westt hosts a four-course fundraiser dinner with chefs Stefano Hinoporos, David McMillan, and Derek Dammann in the kitchen, and Hidden Bench Estate Winery's Harald Thiel pouring. Seats are limited.

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One Movie to Watch This Week

"Hope is rare in modern blockbusters, but Project Hail Mary builds an entire mission around it, and against all odds, it works. Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up alone on a spacecraft, light years from Earth, with no memory of how he got there. As fragments of his memory return, he realizes he’s on a desperate mission to save the sun.

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie) and shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser (Dune), the film is visually stunning, yet the spectacle never overshadows the story at its heart: a friendship so profound it transforms a high-concept sci-fi adventure into something deeply human." — Read the full review here.

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Here, you'll find a weekly round-up of our stories from the past week, plus the latest local news.

Mile End had a Greektown before it was cool, and traces of it are still very much alive. Here's who's keeping it that way. Read more.

Last week Keaton Ritchie was tasting pet nat on the banks of the Loire. Today he's hauling bottles through Montreal slush. A day in the life of a natural wine importer. Read more.

Terrasse season, believe it or not, is approaching. We wanted to know where those folding biergarten tables at every great terrasse got there. The answer? A Mile End designer who ships them in from Stuttgart. Read more.

Frank And Oak was insolvent a year ago. Now it's back — no stores, new owners, and a bet that the audience never left. Read more.

Montreal is getting a second commercial airport this summer and it's been sitting on the South Shore since 1927. Porter launches coast-to-coast routes out of Saint-Hubert on June 15. Read more.

Declaring war on potholes: $6 million, two new "centres of excellence," and a promise to stop patching and start preventing. Spring came early this year, and so did the craters. Read more.

Quebec's empty churches are becoming pickleball courts and the group behind it, Amen Pickleball, wants to keep the stained glass, the oak pews, and the community spirit intact. Saint-Clément is next. Read more.

"Bonsoir, elle est partie" is the phrase that became part of Montreal's cultural vocabulary, and it belonged to Rodger Brulotte, the voice of the Expos, who passed away at 79. He also helped create Youppi! Read more.

A UdeM professor just won the Nobel Prize of computer science, sharing the Turing Award with another for work on quantum cryptography they developed in the 1980s that quietly became the backbone of secure communications. Read more.

The city wants French to be more than an official language—it to be a gathering point. Mayor Martinez Ferrada's new action plan lays out how Montreal plans to lead by example. Read more.

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And that wraps yet another weekly bulletin. We’ll be back with more curiosities, local stories, and events to discover next week.

If ever you catch something we should know, don't hesitate to reach out to us on Instagram.

👋 Masthead: Philip Tabah, Founder & Head of Creative / Daniel Bromberg, Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief / Jean-Philippe Lauzon, Co-Founder & Head of Tech / JP Karwacki, Managing Editor / Whitney Domingo, Community Manager / Samuel Vadnais, Head of Partnerships / Anahi Pellathy, Editorial & Production Coordinator