In Montreal, the journalist Louis-Philippe Messier is mainly on the run, with his office in his backpack, looking for fascinating topics and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all areas of life in this city chronicle.
The restaurant on Rue Ontario Antidote Bouffe Végane has saddened its customers by announcing its impending closure, but it’s a salvation for the businesswoman behind the address.
Future ex-restaurateur Élise Bellerose greets the Journal’s visit to her home with a smile.
“My oven just broke again and I have to cook the burger patties at home…that’s catering!” exclaims the one who founded Antidote in 2014. It will officially close on Sunday February 19th.
What was originally a vegan deli gradually turned into a restaurant that some will remember was for a time the target of anti-gentrification thugs.
“I must have done something bad against a furnace in a past life because I’ve had bad furnace karma for eight years!” “Adds the one who also hosts her YouTube channel Mrs. Bellerose.
Am! She receives a text message. “My diver shocked me at the last minute. Who has to replace him? I, yes! »
damn pandemic
A belated victim of the pandemic, his restaurant had its first good year of profitability in 2019, ahead of lockdown and a change in habits that saw home delivery services eat up profits.
The business had been shut down for some time, and she had to take on more debt to survive the pandemic.
After a morbid 2022 in which she lost a niece and her best friend, comedian Marie-Lise Chouinard, she says she was burned.
“It was my restaurant or my sanity, and I chose my health. »
The patties she shapes in front of me top her pear and balsamic burgers called Rock your Pear (“a third of sales,” according to one waitress) and are served with an Excalibur knife stuck in the middle of the sandwich.
“I’ll post my recipes on my YouTube channel,” vowed the one who tried unsuccessfully to sell her brand.
“I’m going to sell my gear to another restorer, but Antidote is over. »
Will it be another vegetarian restaurant or a 79th pizzeria for Promenade Ontario?
“I’m in talks with a buyer, but too early to say who. »
serenity
Mrs. Bellerose and her husband long for a long journey south in a van.
“Last Friday I roared…eight years of my life to ashes!” But here I am at peace. I’m not worried about the future because my experience with Antidote has taught me that I can be good at anything. »
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