KazaMaza

Handmade cards and notes hang on the wall near the entrance at Kaza Maza. Some are recent, while others have faded with age, but each is expressing gratitude and well wishes. Since its opening in August of 2009, the restaurant has been a hit. This was something of a pleasant surprise for owner Fadi Sakr, who opened Kaza Maza without any restaurant experience. “I wasn’t sure that this idea might work, but I just wanted to try it,” he says. “It was completely new to me. I was never in the business before. For me it was just to believe in my project and what I’m doing and to try to do the best I can.”

The idea came from a small resto-bar in Beirut that Fadi used to frequent before moving to Montreal from Lebanon. “I really used to like this place, and the vibe, and the people,” he says. “So I wanted to open pretty much the same thing as that, to do the same here.”