Meet the new custodians of Aux 2 Clochers, an Eastern Townships institution of 35 years

Maxance Martinez-Ferland and Julien Archambault-Leclerc spent two years in the backroom of a hat shop in Frelighsburg building Passe-Montagne into something special. Their cave à manger became a magnet for locals and day-trippers alike—a place combining grandma's recipes with natural wine, where you could play bingo while eating tacos, where the produce never traveled more than 50 kilometers to reach a plate.

Then their lease expired. "We were stuck with nowhere to go," Julien explains. Passe-Montagne may have been over, but the duo wasn't finished with Frelighsburg.

Just down the road sat Aux 2 Clochers, a 35-year fixture of Eastern Townships dining with a grandfathered riverside terrasse. For two years, rumours swirled about its impending sale, with locals nervously wondering who might take over the helm from Martine Leduc and André Marchand, ITHQ graduates who had run the place since 1989.