If you follow chef Amine Labi on social media, you may have seen images of his new restaurant, Leilaquietly opened a few days ago for friends and family.
The neighborhood restaurant with southern Mediterranean accents is located on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, near Saint-Viateur Street, where the Maïs and Beau Temps restaurants were once located. Since the latter closed, it was the caterer Frank Maison Gourmande who occupied the premises, before leaving it last June.
The star of the show The Chiefs! and social networks (he has more than 850,000 subscribers on Instagram and nearly half a million on Tik Tok) is not alone in this adventure. He is leading the project with three long-time friends: chef Gregory Watson, Philippe Carile and Guiseppe Carta. The four co-owners met at Café Gentile, where they worked together for “at least four years”.
“We always said we were going to open a restaurant together, but it was always a bit of a joke,” says Amine Laabi. “Circumstances meant that we ended up together. »And where does that come from, Leila? “There are four guys, we wanted a slightly feminine name,” says Amine. Someone proposed “lilac”, the flower, then one day, the song Layla by Eric Clapton was playing through the speakers. It clicked. “Now we’re just trying to figure out who Leila is,” Gregory jokes.
The four friends have worked hard over the past few months to get the place back in shape and open before the holidays, carrying out the work themselves with the help of Casa Design. The decor is simple, but rather inviting, in shades of dark brown, green and blue. Regulars at Maïs and Beau Temps will not be too disorientated: the bar is still in the same place at the front in the dining room with around fifty seats, as is the open kitchen a little further away, although They have both been completely retyped. The small room hidden at the back, which hosted the Parasol pop-up, has been transformed into a bar-lounge decorated with rugs and vintage armchairs, where customers can have a drink while waiting for their table or at the end of their meal.
A four-handed menu
After The Chiefs!Amine had moved away from the kitchen somewhat to concentrate on other projects, including a recipe booka content studio and the opening of the counter Loumiin Mile-End. But he missed the activity of the stove. You can also find him several evenings a week in the restaurant’s kitchens, alternating with his co-chef, Gregory Watson.
The two friends have put together a four-handed menu that is intended to be comforting and unpretentious. “It’s really a pretty relaxed concept. It’s simple cooking with three or four ingredients, no more,” explains Amine. The two chefs draw inspiration from the southern Mediterranean. The south of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, where Amine is from, and even Greece. A cuisine full of sunshine and flavors, which reflects the culinary identity of this region.
The menu is relatively short: half a dozen starters, two salads, four pasta dishes (first) and three main dishes, plus a few snacks for the aperitif. The formula encourages sharing – and that’s good, because we want to taste everything!
At the first service, the sardine on toast, Moroccan sardine fillets marinated on a toast of crunchy brioche bread, was very popular. The homemade lamb merguez – “We buy whole Quebec lambs which we transform into cooking,” Amine tells us proudly – is also very good; These two dishes are among the few that will remain on the menu, which will change regularly, depending on availability.
We continue with the homemade rifles with lamb flank and chanterelles, another great success. Then, the highlight of the show: a nice big piece of beef cheek braised with fennel and chickpeas, in a nice sauce that you finish with a spoon. “It was a childhood dish that I ate often, but with calf’s trotter,” says the chef. In his interpretation, he substitutes the calf’s foot for the more accessible jowl, and sprinkles everything with a little cumin to add depth. We really hope that this dish remains on the menu too, because we really want to come back to it!
To quench our thirst, we rely on the good care of Alizée Jutras, who takes care of the wine and cocktails. Some beautiful bottles that come to us from Italy, France, Spain; the great classics of mixology (Martini, Negroni, Old Fashioned, etc.) and some original creations. Once again, we don’t have to worry too much – and that’s a good thing!
“My goal is for customers to eat well and have a good time,” summarizes Amine. “No fuss, no bullshitjust good vibes. »
We can confirm that the good vibesthat’s not what’s missing about Leila!
Good discovery!
Written by Mikael Lebleu
Photographed by Alison Slattery
Last updated: December 16, 2024
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