The short long story of the DAZiBO!

And Did Ye Know That...

The Dazibo Café was created in 1996 on St. John Street, Quebec by Catherine Cairns and Gilles Mascaro, from Ireland and France respectively. From the very beginning, it attracted an eclectic crowd of people who appreciated creative cuisine, a decent pint of Guinness, and a friendly pub atmosphere as only the Irish know how. 

For six years they carried out their mission: to offer Quebecers a French pastry chef’s delicious desserts and creative cuisine, to convince them that GUINNESS is the nectar of the gods and, let’s not forget, to learn to dance the Balivourney reel. The DAZiBO CAFÉ thrived in the Faubourg St-Jean neighbourhood, but they felt the need for more space (the premises could only seat 25 guests and you need space to dance the reel).

In Ste-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier they discovered a charming location thanks to their friends Michelle and Alan Burridge of Shannon. As soon as Catherine saw the little shamrock on the town coat of arms the decision was final. The shamrock trail beckoned and she followed the Green Brick Road, paved with the something or other of her countrymen and women who immigrated to the area many years ago.

In January 2003 the DAZiBO CAFÉ moved to Ste-Catherine and underwent a metamorphosis, becoming the Restaurant DAZiBO, PUB-BiSTRO - an amalgam of everything we love about French BiSTROS and Irish PUBS. It is not so much a concept or theme establishment as it is an establishment whose concept and theme are its owners. It’s a family-run public house so to speak. We have worked in both countries and we bring all our experience to what we do. We love what we do AND we do what we love!

‘Restaurant’ literally means ‘restoring’ in French and the DAZiBO, PUB-BiSTRO team strives to ‘restore” people when they visit through good food and good cheer. We hope you appreciate our efforts and enjoy our food.

And Now For the Name:

In Ireland we tend to call our pubs after the family name of the owners, Brady’s, O’Donnells, O’Neills, or according to any other inspiration that may seem appropriate, The Lime Tree, The Submarine, Myos, The Bailey, Suffolk House, to name but a few. The DAZiBO is inspired from a Chinese word ‘dazibao’ which signifies a sort of public notice board where people can write and express their thoughts and opinions and thus develop a public discussion on various subjects such as life, love... and the price of potatoes! We liked the communication aspect of the original word but we wished to personalize it so we removed the ‘A’. Our DAZiBO is MOST definitely a cross between an Irish PUB and a French BiSTRO and so a Chinese name was the logical choice (according to Irish logic, that is)!