Montreal’s "Middle-Aged" Restaurants Are Better Than Ever

What’s middle age, anyway? Definitions vary for humans and for restaurants, but talking about the latter has been preoccupying the food world.

New York-based writer and podcaster Matt Rodbard describes a middle-aged restaurant as one that “opened to serious buzz, landed great press, and then evaporated from the conversation—not because (it) got worse, but because the conversation moved on.”

He and New York magazine food critic Matthew Schneier have spent a lot of time discussing beloved spots that got better over the years, though fewer people were paying attention to them. 

To put it another way: too old to be news, and too young to be history.

Montreal’s restaurant scene attests to this phenomenon. Lists like Canada’s 100 Best (now twelve years old itself), the Michelin guide and World’s 50 Best for North America all favour younger places.

Twenty-one of the 28 Montreal restaurants on the most recent Canada’s 100 Best list were under ten years old. Of the remaining seven lauded restaurants, three were institutions like L’Express, founded in 1980, and Toqué, founded in 1983. Along with Joe Beef and Au Pied de Cochon, both well over 20 years old, none of these stalwarts ranked in the Canadian list’s top 50.

North America’s 50 Best listed no restaurant in Montreal older than eight years old – Mon Lapin was the oldest, followed by Beba, Sabayon, and Le Violon. Michelin stars and Bib Gourmand spots primarily went to newcomers; Le Petit Alep, a real senior at almost thirty years old, was a rare exception. And enRoute’s annual list is exclusively about new restaurants.

Diners in this town would be missing out on some remarkable meals if they just focused on the new and shiny, though; the tried and true have a lot to offer away from the spotlight.

Experience and maturity count for something

“You need to have a strong vision, a strong ethos, values, quality and consistency. And know that it’s not all about you,” says Ryan Gray, co-owner with varying partners of Sud Ouest restaurants Nora Gray, opened in 2011, Elena (2018), and Gia (2021), all three riffing on the close ties the owners have with Italian parentage, wine, and food culture.

In the beginning, there was more of a grassroots momentum driving diners without the need for big PR, states Gray. The Bell Centre brought the crowds to Nora Gray, there was a buzz from the Little Burgundy Joe Beef strip, and their busiest years were between 2017 and 2019. Now he chuckles when a young influencer tells him she loves Nora Gray because “nobody has ever heard of it.”

For a place that inspired a wave of fresh pasta making in the city that’s still going strong, as evidenced by the wild popularity of newcomer Pasta Pooks, that’s ironic.

“Every neighbourhood has a place like Nora Gray now,” Gray adds. For him, there’s a certain wisdom, an easing-in, to having been a restaurateur for years.

“The pursuit of being on lists, the pursuit of Michelin, is not why I’m doing this,” Gray says. “I’ve never been happier with the food at Nora Gray.” He’s convinced that chef Dmetro Sinclair’s cooking has made now the best time to visit, even if they’re away from the mainstream spotlight.

There’s a soul in there

Across town at Little Italy’s Impasto (opened in 2013), its launch was more than an ode to fresh, seasonal Italian food inspired by the nearby Jean Talon market. Owned by chef duo Stefano Faita and Michele Forgione, and designed by Zebulon Perron, Impasto had the added excitement of Stefano’s extensive media presence and Forgione’s well-known local reputation when it first opened, and it’s still going strong.

But a key to a restaurant’s longevity is the consistency of staff and their ability to make a living in hospitality.

Operations and wine manager/sommelier Benjamin Lemay-Lemieux grew from a sommelier position to what he now calls being ‘l’homme à tout faire’ for Impasto and its sister restaurant across the street, Gema, opened in 2014. He’s been at Impasto since the beginning, alongside baker and pastry chef Deborah Simard-Gagné. Impasto’s current head chef, Charles Lacroix, was a stagiaire when they first opened and returned during the pandemic, now putting his own stamp on the menu. Other front-of-house staff have been present for almost the entire time, too.

“They want to stay here because there’s something happening,” says Lemay-Lemieux.

“I see the difference in all the years that we’ve been open, differentiating Impasto then and now. A restaurant isn’t just a business where there’s an exchange of money in the context of food,” he says. “Thirteen years later, we’re running after becoming a better version of ourselves, being there for our clients, answering their needs and getting better as restaurateurs.”