Moish’s famous steakhouse has been reborn, after three years of closure

New address, new decor, same DNA: Moish, a popular restaurant establishment in Montreal and beyond, is reopening after three years of inactivity.

The Grandio Group acquired the brand in 2018 and was set to move the restaurant to Montreal’s International District in the fall of 2020. However, the pandemic forced the closure before the end of the lease and put the moving venture on ice.

“I often thought we would never reopen. There was a pandemic and we wondered if we would get up,” said Jean Bédard, president of Grandio, which brings together La Cage restaurants and Restos Plaisirs.

Goodbye Boulevard Saint Laurent

When, last fall, Mr. Bédard felt that his foundations were beginning to roll over again and that Moishe still hoped to build a Caisse de Depot et placement du Québec, his team restarted the project. Leaving Saint-Laurent Boulevard, where the brand was founded in 1938, seemed necessary to ensure the sustainability of the restaurant, the only restaurant in its category to pass for so many years.

Saint Laurent is getting tougher. As in any city, the population is on the move. Before, Saint-Laurent had been the main, and in the last twenty years, he’d come to the corner of McGill College. Hotels and residential towers are there. Sometimes you have to take action to ensure long-term success,” explains Jean Bédard.

Grandio invested $5 million in the new restaurant and hired the same designer who remodeled Moishes in 2011, to make sure it kept its elegant spirit and personality. Lenny Lighter, the founder’s son, who ran the restaurant after his father, was also involved in the project. It was he who approached Jean Bédard to ensure the continuity of the business, and that there would be no family succession.

Montreal is in the spotlight

The new title includes two distinct dining rooms, an enclosed room and Roman bar, related to Moishe Lighter’s origins. She brings back chandeliers, tin ceiling tiles, paint, and an old map of Montreal.

“We wanted to give more space to the spirit of Montreal. We had a mural painted at the entrance, which relives the great moments and personalities of the last 85 years. I say all the time that Moishe needs Montreal and Montreal also needs Moishe,” says Mr. Bedard.

Steakhouse signature dishes — steak, coleslaw and Monte Carlo fries — will obviously be on the menu, in an expanded menu that also offers room for more fish and vegetarian options.

For now, the restaurant will only serve dinner meals. In the fall, when the teams are good, the hours will be extended.

Grandio does not intend to reproduce the concept elsewhere in Quebec.

Jean Bédard has just returned from Bordeaux, where he opened the first La Cage restaurant on European soil with French partners. Proud to see his brand shine across the Atlantic, and to see it spread to other cities in France.