Heard On The Street – October 2020
Chef Eman Sherif is the brainchild behind Montaza Mediterranean Food, a new restaurant in a space previously occupied by Malic’s Delicatessen, which was a long time staple on the Windsor restaurant scene. Sherif, who has years of culinary experience, decided to open Montaza in August, because she wanted to share her love of food from different cultures with a wider audience. “It’s a very multicultural area of Windsor and we serve a variety of foods from different cultures,” she explains. “It was slow to start with, but now with word of mouth getting around, we are getting quite busy.” Montaza features falafel, pastrami, liver and chicken sandwiches, along with salads and both Egyptian and Mediterranean dishes. Sherif also serves Malic’s-style corned beef sandwiches, after the restaurant’s former owners offered to share their recipe and training as well as equipment. Montaza is located at 543 Wyandotte Street East
A new restaurant has joined the ranks of those serving Indian cuisine with the opening of Tandoori Flame & Sweets at 1959 Tecumseh Road West in Windsor, in a space previously occupied by Hong Chow, which offered Chinese cuisine for many years. Tandoori owner Sazzad Bhuiyan brings years of experience at restaurants and hotels in Calgary and Montreal to his new hometown venture. “I was born and raised in India and took training in culinary arts and hospitality management before I came to Canada 20 years ago,” explains Bhuiyan. As befitting the restaurant’s name, the menu’s focus is on traditional dishes cooked in a tandoori clay oven, which Bhuiyan bought from a supplier in India. “Opening a restaurant in a pandemic is not an easy thing to do, but we have to do something,” he says with a shrug of his shoulders. Menu items include paneer tikka, tandoori chicken, chicken tikka, lamb, mutton and chicken kebabs along with salads, soups and both vegetarian and non-vegetarian appetizers and main courses.
Three years after buying The Trophy Boys, owner Al Crankshaw is moving to smaller quarters at Brian’s Source for Sports at 1495 Tecumseh Road East in Windsor. Cancellation of many sports seasons and banquets has cut into the revenue for Trophy Boys, bringing about the decision to move into a smaller space to cut down on overhead and reduce costs. “It’s a painful, but necessary decision,” says Crankshaw of the downsizing. “We simply don’t need as much space anymore.” Crankshaw hopes to have the move completed by the end of October once renovations are completed at the new location. The Trophy Boys store was established more than 30 years ago by Mike Morencie and Mike Urban who purchased Nantais Sports along with partner Joe Cleroux when they sold their trophy business to Crankshaw. Sonny Stomp established Brian’s Custom Pro Shop in the 1970s in Kingsville and Brian Heaton joined the business in 1979 and began manufacturing custom goalie equipment. Joe Frei Sr. took over the retail end of the business in 1989 and it later moved to a larger Kingsville store before expanding to Windsor in 1993, where it became Brian’s Source for Sports. Joe Frei Jr.’s skills as a skate fitter have seen him work with athletes in a series of Olympic Games and World Hockey Championships.
A suspension of construction activity, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, has caused the value of construction permits issued by the City of Windsor’s building department, to fall by almost $11 million through the first three quarters of this year. The value of permits issued by the end of August was $259,941,032, compared to $270,724,052 one year ago. The major falloff has been in commercial where permit values fell from $43.2 million to $20.7 million and government and institutional, which fell from $56.9 million to $41.3 million. There was also a minor decrease in industrial permits, which fell from $24.3 million to $19 million. Residential permits, however, more than held their own with an increase from $146.3 million to $178.7 million. The single major permit issued in August was valued at $1.15 million for a new Princess Auto store at 4315 Walker Road. For the year so far, major permits include $30 million for a 10-storey resident building at 3100 Meadowbrook Lane, $18 million for a new five-floor student residence at St. Clair College and $12.5 million for a new manufacturing plant at 4141 Plymouth Drive.
Yet another restaurant has joined the ranks of options for fans of Indian food with the anticipated opening of Spice India Street Food and Meat Shop at 6124 Tecumseh Road East in Windsor. The space was previously home to Diamonds years ago, and more recently Eggsmart and Kabab Village. The new owners couldn’t be reached for comment by press time.
Spiritleaf, a Canada-wide cannabis retailer, is waiting on final provincial licensing approval before being able to open its latest store in Ambassador Plaza at Huron Church Road and Tecumseh Road West in Windsor. “We hope it’s sooner rather than later,” admits a company spokesperson. “But, we have no timetable at the moment and it’s a matter of waiting patiently.” The company is based in Alberta where most of its 60 plus stores are located. In Ontario, there are stores in London, Ottawa, Stittsville, Kingston, Guelph, and North York. Regulations vary in each province, but in Ontario, Spiritleaf acts as a retailer, selling other company’s cannabis (CBD) products.
