Arcade Fire Are Opening A Restaurant
Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, the husband-and-wife duo behind Arcade Fire, have been doing just fine for themselves in the music world. But now they’re expanding into another universe. Together with another husband-and-wife duo — Jen Agg and Roland Jean, the team behind the Toronto restaurants Rhum Corner, the Black Hoof, and Coctail Bar — they’re about to open a new Haitian restaurant called Agrikol in Montreal.
The restaurant is set to open this summer, and everyone involved has big visions for it. Speaking to The Globe And Mail, Butler says, “It’s more of an art project. The idea is that it’s a cultural space. 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.” Montreal has a huge Haitian community, and according to the Haitian-born Chassagne, there aren’t a lot of spaces in the city for them to get together. “You miss the warmth,” says Chassagne.
The two couples have a fun story about Arcade Fire stopping by the Rhum Corner restaurant, asking them to play Haitian rara music, and then keeping the beat going with glasses and silverware after the speakers blew out. You can read that, and more about the whole venture, at The Globe And Mail.
I’ve been racking my brains to come up with any halfway-decent Arcade Fire food puns, and I’m coming up dry. If you’ve got any, leave them in the comments section.