‘A devastating loss’: Montreal restaurant ravaged by suspected arson attack

Blackened walls. Scorched and charred countertops and kitchen appliances. Chairs stripped down to their metallic skeleton.

That was the scene Monday inside Nöam, a kosher restaurant on Decarie Boulevard, two days after a fire caused extensive damage to the building.

“It’s a devastating loss. We’re still in shock,” said Tzvi Harrison, the restaurant’s manager.

The blaze is being investigated the Montreal police arson squad, though investigators are not treating it as a hate crime at this stage. The restaurant is in an area with a large Jewish community, leaving them on edge.

“I know people want to have answers and want to rush to things right away, but we’re really, really trying to make sure we have every fact available to us before we come to any conclusions,” Harrison said. “We are absolutely not saying that this was antisemitism, that this was anything. We know that it was a targeted attack, but as to the reason why, we can’t say.”

Jack Bayramian, who co-owns Garage Decarie next door to Nöam, woke up abruptly at 3 a.m. when the alarm at his business went off.

“As I arrived, I just saw flames and building going into flames,” Bayramian, who’s also the garage’s manager, recounted.

“I was speechless. It was devastating. All I was thinking about was that I need to call the owners and I have to call my neighbours that I deal with every day and there was a lot going in my mind at the same time.”

Bayramian had recently celebrated his 46th birthday at Nöam.

“I’m still in shock mode because I’ve been wondering what’s gonna happen next,” he said. “The smoke from the fire is making it (difficult) to operate today.”

Nöam, which opened in 2024 and serves Italian-Mediterranean food, welcomes “a real mix of people” every night, according to Harrison.

“We have people, everything from the Orthodox community to people who are travelling from out of town,” he said. “We have Jewish, non-Jewish.

“The restaurant is always busy, very lively, people love it here. There’s really like loud music. We’d celebrate birthdays constantly; people call us asking all the time for birthdays. We have a big sign for birthdays. People love it. There’s always just a real ambiance that we spend time creating constantly.”

Montreal’s fire department said nearly 80 firefighters responded to the two-alarm blaze near the intersection of Plamondon Avenue and Decarie Boulevard. Now the investigation is in the hands of police.

“According to the initial report, an individual was last seen leaving the scene after the fire broke out and the investigation has been transferred to the arson squad of the SPVM so they can understand the exact circumstances of the event,” said SPVM spokesperson Florence Stafford.

The arson was widely condemned by politicians as well as B’nai Brith Canada, a Jewish advocacy organization.

“We don’t know if it was a targeted antisemitic attack, but it’s a kosher restaurant and it’s a very popular beloved kosher restaurant, so it’s part of the Jewish community,” said Paola Samuel, B’nai Brith’s regional director for Quebec and Atlantic Canada. “And to see something like this happen and to see just optically this restaurant, this institution, being completely gutted is heartbreaking.

“As you can imagine the Jewish community is feeling very vulnerable.”

“I’m feeling saddened for fellow restauranteurs who lost their business,” added Benjamin Greenberg, the owner of nearby Yans Deli. “People work way too hard for restaurants to just literally go up in flames.”

An online fundraiser was launched to help rebuild the restaurant, raising nearly $18,500 by Monday afternoon.

“We have everybody rallying behind us, which is just a really wonderful thing to see,” said Harrison. “This is an absolutely devastating loss like completely shocked us. But it’s been really beautiful to see how so many people just really wanna be part of helping us rebuild and get back on our feet.”

–With files from The Canadian Press