The holiday brisket rescue mission

Le Biftheque Steak House on Cote de Liesse in St. Laurent was always one of my favorites, not to mention its butcher shop. So when its new owners filed for bankruptcy in June, it was sad day for its many devoted clients. I remember the days when you called for a weekend reservation, you’d still have an extended wait for a table.

With the Jewish New Year approaching, I started getting calls from readers asking if I had any suggestions how they could cope with the disappearance with Le Biftheque. More specifically, where could they buy a good brisket now that the butcher shop is gone?

Well businessman Peter Kovac has come to the rescue. Peter owned Le Biftheque Boucherville up until a year ago. With the bankruptcy on Cote de Liesse, all of the other locales which used the Biftheque name has to desist. But I digress. Kovac has ridden to the rescue and made arrangements to have uncooked briskets available locally due to the increasing demand he has also received in the past few weeks.

You can buy them at Quality Fruit at 5818 Westminster Avenue in Côte Saint-Luc and at Schwartz’s Deli on St. Laurent Boulevard have agreed to carry the briskets. “I owned a Biftheque restaurant and butcher shop in Boucherville for the past 22 years,” Kovac explained “Many of my friends and acquaintances have always purchased their holiday briskets at the biftheque butcher shop at Cote de Liesse, and recently with that restaurant and butcher shop closing, I have received many many calls from people desperate to find an alternative site to purchase their briskets.”

Kovac explains that he spoke with Pasquale Massa, the owner of Quality Fruits and Hy Diamond of Schwartz’s to carry the same quality of briskets that customers have become familiar with from the Biftheque. “We expect an overwhelming demand, therefore the need to place orders as soon as possible,” Kovac says. “The briskets are fresh, sealed in a cryovac package and can easily be stored in your refrigerator until the end of the month.

To reach Quality Fruits call 514-481-7341; to reach Schwartz’s call 514-842-4813.

The story behind the Moishes Graffiti

In recent months, Moishes Steakhouse on St. Laurent Boulevard has been given a magnificent facelift. The 73 year old institution, ranked as one of the top 10 steakhouses in the world by Forbes Traveler, is owned by brothers Lenny and Larry Lighter. It is named, of course, after their late father Moishe (pictured) who passed away 25 years ago at the age of 75.

“We have been an integral part of what it means to be a Montrealer for decades,“ explains owner Lenny Lighter. “People have come to us to experience the unique flavour and history of St. Laurent Street since 1938. But being an icon doesn’t mean anything unless you stay committed to being an exciting part of life for up and coming generations as well.”

The complete renovation took place in the spring and was designed by Patty Xenos Design, the company behind the new look of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel - like Moishes, a Montreal landmark embracing the future. The goal was to create a memorable experience of fine dining in an upscale but unpretentious environment.

Some of the changes to the restaurant include an art gallery, featuring a series of commissioned photographs, on the theme of The Main ; memory boxes containing old photos and menus from 1938; A Day in the Life,’ with candid black and white photos of Moishes staff, some of whom have been with the restaurant for 50 years; a Moishes commissioned work of graffiti on one of its brick walls.

I asked Lenny (pictured above) about the replica photos on one of the walls of the outdoor graffiti. How did it get there in the first place. He agreed to share with me the background story. “About 10 years ago a young kid was arrested by police for placing graffiti on our brick wall,” he says. “We were going to ask that he be prosecuted and before he was about to go to trial he came and pleaded with us that he just could not go to jail. I came up with a compromise: I’d let him do a piece on our wall, a kind of historical look at our neighbourhood; of soldiers in the trenches. We paid for his paint and the scaffolding. He completed the job and we never saw or heard from him again. He probably would be proud to know that the graffiti now made its way into the restaurant.”

Lighter explained that the renovation is just the first in a series of initiatives designed to guarantee that Moishes remains at the forefront of Montreal and The Main. He has hired a new chef, Joshua Fiddler, who is introducing new items onto the menu. A new, lower-priced evening menu, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, catering to later-crowd, has been introduced. For $25 a head you can get an entrée, main course, tea and coffee. “We really wanted to open our doors to new and younger clientele,” he says.

In addition, in the restaurant, Moishes will sponsor a series of photographic exhibitions dedicated to life on The Main, and featuring artists such as Gabor Silazi. The new menu includes a choice of interesting salads, grilled crab cakes and lobster rolls.

Moishes is also now a successful retail brand, sold at Loblaws, IGA, Costco and independent outlets across Canada.

Log on to http://www.moishes.ca.

Radio hirings and firings proof positive why I chose a different route

It has been a very busy few days on the Montreal radio scene, highlighted by Aaron Rand's (left) hiring by CJAD (first reported more than a week ago on this very blog) and THE TEAM 990's decision to bring in John Bartlett from Toronto.

The engagement of Rand caused a domino effect in CJAD, with bodies flying everywhere. It is a prime example of how unstable the radio business can be and why my mother warned me over and over again as a teenager "not to make a full-time career in broadcasting." She repeatedly pointed to my dad, who broke into the radio business out of university where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce Degree. He had a very exciting career in the early going, but when his station went from English to French his on air life ended. Because of his background in finance he was transferred to the accounting department and was able to continue to support his wife and three kids.

"Don't be like your father," mom warned. "He's lucky they kept him on. He should have stayed in school and become a chartered accountant."

Mom actually wanted me to go for my CA, but by CEGEP I had caught the journalistic bug. Dad might have been off the air, but he continued to cover professional sports for the United Press International wire service. He brought be aboard to help him and by the time I had to apply to university the accounting option was gone and I was accepted to Concordia's Broadcast Journalism program. Late in his career, dad got a two year gig as host of the Montreal Expos pre and post game shows and I got the chance to sit in with him on a regular basis. I must confess it was one of the most exciting opportunities of my career.

Well, I did ended up agreeing with mom. After a three year stint as assistant sports editor at the now defunct Sunday Express Newspaper, I turned to news reporting at The Suburban and ultimately a career in communications and marketing. All along I kept writing my columns in the local community press, so therefore I got to enjoy the best of both worlds.

This brings me back to the news of the week. Rand's hiring prompted CJAD Brand Director Chris Bury and GM Martin Spaulding to conduct a significant overhaul of the station. When it was all over, Dan Laxer found himself virtually out of a job. Rand will be on from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, preceded by Ric Peterson and Suzanne Desautels. While Kim Fraser loses her noon to 2 p.m. slot, she stays on as an executive producer and weekend afternoon host. Laxer's 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. shift is history and all that is left for him is a co-hosting gig on the Sunday morning trivia show. Pretty tough to support a wife and two kids on that. Dan worked his way up from producer to traffic reporter and then host. He is a talented broadcaster, but where does he go in a city with so few English radio opportunities? If I were from the Cogeco group, I would grab him for their planned all-traffic station set to start in the fall, pending CRTC approval.

Dan Delmar, a Suburban colleague, was doing a great job hosting his own evening show. He stays on as an afternoon producer and will no doubt be part of the station's future. His slot now belongs to Barry Morgan, who is perhaps a good example of how to keep your head up in the face of adversity. Morgan left CJAD almost a decade ago to take a job with Sportsnet TV. When his post was eliminated I spoke to him and he was pretty down. At t he time I suggested he consider switching to PR. His heart was still in broadcasting and eventually wound up doing some freelance work for Global TV and CJAD, until the morning news gig opened at the former 940 News. He survived a 940 purge and stayed on the air, also working for sister station Q92. That ended more than a year ago when Murray Sherriffs was rehired and Barry was cast away. He went back to CJAD and this time he did just about everything from hosting news and sports shows to sports and newscasting. It all paid off for he is now a permanent fixture on the new CJAD, handling sports on the Rand Show and then doing his own program.

Rick Moffat goes back to doing morning sports and Abe Hefter will do so on weekends and reporting from the field during the week. Anne Legacé Dowson loses her Saturday show, but Bury says he still hopes to find her something. Andrew Carter and Tommy Schnurmacher remain unscathed as does the newsroom.

Now over to THE TEAM 990. It was expected that either veteran sportscaster Elliott Price or Derek Wills from the Hamilton Bulldogs would get the coveted play-by-play role. Instead it went to Bartlett. According to what I am told, there were five strong finalists for the job. Price and Wills made that list. A committee from Bell Media, with cross country representation, was able to make an objective choice and Bartlett was their man. Too bad for Price, who I thought had earned the role with his years of Expos experience and with the Montreal Juniors hockey club the last three years. He remains part of an excellent morning show team with Denis Casavant and Shaun Starr. But this must be a difficult pill to swallow.

Now THE TEAM 990 needs to choose a colour man. Former Habs tough guy Chris Nilan has made no secret of the fact he badly wants this job. Ditto for Sergio Momesso, the ex Hab who was quite impressive on CJAD broadcasts. Perpaps THE TEAM 990 will surprise us with another outsider. All we can tell you is that it will definitely be a retired player.

The next broadcast scenario to watch is at CHOM FM, where Terry DiMonte will return as morning man. What will happen to current host "Pirate"Pete Marier?

As for Rand, log on to the Local Suburban as of Friday night for my feature story on him.

A final note to my mom: thanks for the good career advice!

More Aaron Rand speculation

While my most recent blog, based on information from very reliable sources, floated rumours that Aaron Rand will join CJAD in September as the host of a new 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. program weeknights, an industry insider called today to speculate on another theory.

"In radio, the real money is made during the daytime," the insider told me. "This is why I believe if CJAD signs Aaron Rand they will put him in the afternoon."

The insider also pointed out that young Dan Delmar has been attracting a strong following since taking on the evening shift.

Before Rand joined The Q 92.5 FM some 26 years ago, he hosted a fabulous afternoon show with Paul "Tasso" Zakaib on the old CFCF Radio. There was no music and the entire show consisted of skits and talk. It was absolutely hilarious.

Is Aaron Rand headed to CJAD?

Aaron Rand was on Mitch Melnick's TEAM 990 tribute show to Ted Tevan this week, during which time he said that he will have an announcement in two weeks about his return to Montreal radio.

Rand, of course, left The Q 92.5 FM as morning show host a few months ago after the station indicated they would not renew his contract which officially expires on September 1.

While the early betting had Rand going to Mike FM 105.1, sources tell me that Rand could in fact be headed to CJAD.

No, he will not be the morning man. Andrew Carter is doing a fine job there. Word has it that Rand will in fact be CJAD's secret weapon to make up for the loss of Montreal Canadiens broadcasts to THE TEAM 990. This means stepping into a completely new situation as the 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. host, apparently replacing Dan Delmar (who has been excellent by the way and would undoubtedly find himself on the air in another capacity).

Here is why this makes sense. The man in charge of programming at CJAD is Chris Bury. He spent years in the same building as Rand, first as the news director at the old 940 News and then as the producer of Rand's morning show on The Q. You need only look at the present CJAD on air lineup to see the likes of former 940/Q personalities Suzanne Desautels, Barry Morgan, Margo Edwards and Luciano Pipia.

Would Rand bring Paul "Tasso" Zakaib on the air with him at this time? Would Desautels, whom he has so much chemistry with, play a role? What type of format would he follow?

It should be very interesting to see how this all unfolds.

My personal memories of Ted Tevan

Funeral services were held today for sports talk show host legend Ted Tevan, who died last week at the age of 78. From Earl "The Pearl" Zukerman's wonderful obituary in The Gazette to Mitch Melnick's superb tribute show Tuesday on THE TEAM 990, I appreciated every anecdote these folks came up with it. I am only sorry that before he left us, someone did not have some kind of event to honour Ted - an event in which he could have made an acceptance speech.

When Ted was in his glory days in the 1970s, I attended Wagar High School in Côte Saint-Luc. As lawyer and one-time talk show host himself, Mitch Garber, quite correctly shared with Melnick this week, if you were a sports fan you did not go to school each day without having listened to Tevan the evening before. On the old CFCF Radio he was on the air from 10 p.m. until midnight and it was "must listen to" radio. My brother Chuckie and I shared a room in those days and we would have the radio on low, listening to Ted and his cast of characters. There was his producer Dan McGarrity. We all loved it when Tevan would shout, "McGarrity, get me a Dr. Pepper." His commercials for restaurants like Chenoy's ("Mort the Sport and Nicholas the Great"), the South Seas, Dorion Suit and Unitaxi were classics. He loved Blue Bonnets Raceway, the local boxing scene and of course the Expos. Chuckie and I always looked forward to Ted broadcasting a pretend World Series parade down St. Catherine Street or the days when he would travel to Hawaii and report back on the baseball winter meetings.

My dad, Lawrence Frederick Cohen (better known as Larry Fredericks), goes back with Ted to the beginning of their respective careers. Larry spent decades in the pressbox, so we felt very fortunate as pre-teens to meet Ted in person. Chuckie and I would often call Ted on the air, writing down our questions and praying he would not give us the "machine gun" and tell us "you're gone!"

In the early 1980s my dad started to bring me in the pressbox as his assistant. I got to see Ted at every baseball, hockey and football game, plus boxing and at Blue Bonnets. When I joined the now defunct Sunday Express Newspaper in 1982, at the time a very well read publication in the city, I often wrote about Ted and he appreciated it. I was going through my clippings this week and found an '82 story in which Ted was hired by CJAD to do colour commentary for the Montreal Alouettes. This was 30 years ago and sadly, his glory days were already behind him. For the last three decades he moved from station to station - CJAD, CFMB, CIQC and finally THE TEAM 990. He found a home at the latter for a while, but eventually retired for good.

My dad and I tried very hard to get Ted to appear at the annual Sports Celebrity Breakfast we organize in the Jewish community. A few years ago he agreed, calling back a few days later to say he had second thoughts and did not feel comfortable making a public appearance.

Off the air, Ted Tevan was a puppy dog - a wonderful and thoughtful human being who always had a kind word to say. There will never be anyone like him.

Rest in peace Ted!

An extraordinary Lion King experience in Montreal

Evenko sure knows how to present a premiere. Two days after its eagerly anticipated debut in Montreal at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts, Disney's The Lion King was showcased for the media and VIP guests.

I have been attending Broadway classics at Place des Arts for nearly two decades. For a certain period of time we would get three to four a year, never for more than a week. The Lion King is here for an exclusive one month engagement, concluding September 4. If Evenko wanted to generated a buzz, they press all of the right buttons on Thursday night.

Media and VIPs walked across a red carpet to get in, had their photos taken in front of a Lion King backdrop and mingled for cocktails after which a little gift bag was presented complete with a CD/DVD and a classic program book. There was a good representation from the English and French media. My pals Mark Bergman and Cousin Vinny from Virgin Radio and Patrick Charles and Sharman Yarnelle were there from CJAD and the still drop dead gorgeous Mitsou Gelinas, a one-time teen pop star and now French radio personality, were among those spotted. Cousin Vinny could not stop clapping.

As it begins its 14th year The Lion King remains ascendant, continuing to reign as a cultural phenomenon and one of the most popular stage musicals in the world. Since its 1997 Broadway premiere, 18 global productions have been seen by more than 55 million people, grossed over $4.3 billion to date and have cumulatively run 83 years. Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions (under the direction of Thomas Schumacher), The Lion King is the seventh longest-running musical in Broadway history and one of only five productions in theatre history to play for 10 years or more, both on Broadway and in the West End. Translated into seven different languages (Japanese, German, Korean, French, Dutch, Mandarin, Spanish), the show has been performed in 14 different countries on five continents. The Lion King can currently be seen on Broadway (its flagship production), on stages across North America, and in Las Vegas, London’s West End, Hamburg, Tokyo and Singapore. In October, the first Spanish production will bow in Madrid.

The Lion King won six 1998 Tony® Awards: Best Musical, Best Scenic Design (Richard Hudson), Best Costume Design (Julie Taymor), Best Lighting Design (Donald Holder), Best Choreography (Garth Fagan) and Best Direction of a Musical, making Taymor the first woman in theatrical history bestowed with the honor. THE LION KING has also earned more than 70 major arts awards including the 1998 NY Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, the 1999 Grammy® for Best Musical Show Album, the 1999 Evening Standard Award for Theatrical Event of the Year and the 1999 Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Choreography and Best Costume Design.

On stage, Taymor’s creative vision blends elements of African art and Broadway artisanship to depict anthropomorphic animal characters. Taymor, along with designer Michael Curry, has created hundreds of masks and puppets . The book has been adapted by Roger Allers, who co-directed The Lion King animated feature, and Irene Mecchi, who co-wrote the film’s screenplay. The resulting sound of the show is a fusion of Western popular music and the distinctive sounds and rhythms of Africa, ranging from the Academy® Award-winning song “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” to the haunting ballad “Shadowland.”

I do not think I have ever seen a more spectacular opening than what occurred at the Lion King.
The masks and puppets are beyond extraordinary. For instance, the actor who plays the giraffe is walking on stilts and undertaking a talented bit of puppetry to have the trunk move.

Mark David Kaplan's portrayal of the prim and proper hornbilled bird “Zazu” is hilarious. Ben Lipitz, as the carefree warthog “Pumbaa,” and Nick Cordileone as the wisecracking meerkat “Timon ” make you forget at times that their real faces are not hidden behind their puppetry manoevered costumes.

This is, if course, the story of Simba, the lion prince born to be king. Even though most of us know the storyline, we still get a warm and fuzzy feeling at the end.

In order to reach out to the francophone audience, all of the dialogue is neatly translated on two screens on each side of the stage. Zazu evens singles the song "Alouetta." I was anxiously awaiting to see if Mitsou would jump on stage and belt out "Bye Bye Le Cowboy."

Woonkuo Soon (pictured), the Lion King orchestra's concertmaster, is really enjoying this run. I profiled him in the July 29 Local Suburban . You can read the full story here on pages 34 and 35. While Soon travels year-round with the production, he decided to immigrate to Canada a few years ago and actually considers Montreal his base. He even bought a home here, which he gets to live i n very infrequently - except this month that is.

"The Montreal audience is wild and very enthusiastic," he said when I asked for his feedback on the debut. "They cheer like no other. I am also enjoying the bike ride to work and I am busy being in town, with lots of housework and chores to do. I finally finished all the final touches of my kitchen as I was in the process of building it.

Tickets are still available at the Place des Arts Box Office; by phone: 514- 842-2112 or 1 866 842-2112; or online at www.pda.qc.ca or www.evenko.ca Ticket prices range from $39.14$ to $159.14$ (service charges and taxes included).