Montreal’s McKiernan Luncheonette is an excellent example of culinary symbiosis at it’s finest.

Take one vast commercial loft building in a very recently desolate stretch of west-end Montreal by the Lachine Canal, freshly packed with businesses and some 6,000 employees with nowhere to eat.  Introduce it to the city’s premier restaurant group— David McMillan, Fred Morin et al. of Joe Beef, Liverpool House, Le Vin Papillon and Mon Lapin—who happen to be looking for a commissary kitchen and event space. For good measure, add the chef behind the country’s best pub (Derek Dammann of Maison Publique). And next thing, you have McKiernan Luncheonette: a sprawling, second-floor eatery with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the canal, set with moveable German beer hall tables and some signature Joe Beef decor (wooden canoes, etc.).

The Joe Beef Group and Maison Publique get a joint special event space that can seat hundreds, with a rooftop patio to come in 2019. And the Complexe Dompark on rue Saint-Patrick gets energized with a fun and unique luncheonette peddling everything from steak tartare and pommes-alumettes sandwiches to clam chowder “poutine.” Not to mention a list of craft beers and natural wine good enough even to keep that gang of young mothers happy over there on the sofa in the corner while they await toddler pick up time at the daycare downstairs.

Nice problem solving, we say.