Opened on September 19, 2005 in the former premises of Café Miguel, in homage to a 19th century tavern owner who generously fed the day laborers of Griffintown — and who died of a heart attack in his own canteen.
David McMillan, Frédéric Morin and Allison Cunningham founded Joe Beef, with financial support from Jeff Baikowitz and David Lisbona. The name pays homage to Charles McKiernan, nicknamed “Joe Beef”, a veteran of the Crimean War who arrived in Montréal, who opened a tavern in Griffintown in 1864 – the “Joe Beef Canteen” – renowned for generously feeding dockers and day laborers, and where he died of a heart attack at the age of 54.
Morin arrived at the Globe in 1999, where he met McMillan and his future wife Allison. After six years, the trio opened Joe Beef in a neighbourhood where they already lived, with no business plan: no decanter, no crystal, no uniform — breaks with French classicism that, in 2005, were radical and have today become the industry standard.
What remains: the menu changes for each service depending on the arrivals from the Atwater market; oysters can be enjoyed at the bar, aioli in the garden. Fred Morin, now 51 years old, goes back to the pass two or three evenings a week.
David McMillan retired in November 2021 after 32 years in the business, selling his shares to Morin and Cunningham, who have since owned the majority of the group (Joe Beef, Liverpool House, Vin Papillon, McKiernan Luncheonette). With Meredith Erickson, Morin and McMillan have authored two cookbooks, including “Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse,” which won a gold medal at the 2019 Taste Canada Awards.