Arcade Fire, the husband-and-wife duo Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, announced plans this week to open a Haitian restaurant called Agrikol in Montreal with restaurateurs Roland Jean and Jen Agg.
The idea sprung from an evening at Toronto’s Rhum Corner last summer, during which the two
couples hit it off, the Globe and Mail reported.
“Win and I have always been dreaming of a Haitian place in Montreal. And we met Roland and Jen and we started talking,” Chassagne told the publication.
Butler called the venture an art project.
“The idea is that it’s a cultural space,” he said. “The thing that we were really impressed with at Rhum Corner is that it’s this space for Haitian and Caribbean culture and it’s really cool and contemporary. Régine’s family moved to Montreal from Haiti, like a lot of Haitians, and moving to this tundra, you know . . . you miss this cultural warmth.”
The new restaurant, which is expected to open this summer, will include
Haitian cuisine, visual arts, and music, Rolling Stone reported.
Jesse Grasso, head chef at Rhum Corner, will lead the kitchen after traveling to Haiti to research the food.
Arcade Fire has raised money for Haiti since 2005, Rolling Stone said.
Last year, the Arcade Fire duo partnered with La Colombe Coffee to introduce a coffee
produced in Haiti, Pitchfork reported.
Twitter users had mixed reactions.
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