Chez Greenberg : smoked salmon and knishes on Parc

Greenberg’s has just opened its doors on Avenue du Parc in the former location of the now-closed Lustucru. Run by Jake Greenberg (the man behind Zaidie’s smoked salmon) and Daniel Fienglos (from Agriculture du Coin), this very early-stage project is the beginning of a grand adventure!

“It all started because I wanted to introduce my father’s smoked salmon to the public.”

Jake Greenberg used to work at Waxman, the family business that’s been around since 1927 on Avenue du Parc. Then the pandemic hit. “My brother and I have always been very active on social media, sharing our daily lives. When my father made his smoked salmon and we talked about it, everyone asked where they could buy it,” Jake tells us. So he decided to launch an online shop and started producing smoked salmon. Zaidie’s was born in May 2020 during COVID and quickly became hugely popular for its excellent smoked fish. “The first week, we sold 75 pounds of fish, even though I had never made smoked salmon before or even cooked a real meal.” For the story, Zaidie’s was the name of the restaurant at Rabiner’s Hotel in Sainte-Agathe, which belonged to his grandparents.

Early challenges

“My father is an amateur cook. When I asked how much pepper to add, he’d grab a handful and throw it in. Nothing was standardized, and the product wasn’t always consistent. I was working in my parents’ kitchen, trying to figure out how to get more consistent quality with the smoked salmon. At one point, I considered going back to work at Waxman, but everyone loved my salmon, and I realized I had to keep going,” Jake goes on.

However, Jake couldn’t afford to expand. The price of salmon was high, and with a baby on the way, his expenses were going up. That’s when he met Daniel Fienglos from Agriculture du Coin, which gave a new breath to the project. He went back to Waxman for a while, signed his contract, created a business model, and adjusted his life to his new reality: a baby and a growing business.

A new opportunity

Chez Greenberg is just the tip of the iceberg. Daniel’s project, Agriculture du Coin, is an aquaponics farm with a retail space on Laurier, specializing in urban hydroponic farming, fermentation, and mushroom cultivation. They plan to build an urban farm on Avenue du Parc, producing herbs, grains, and raising rainbow trout. Chez Greenberg will serve as a retail space for the farm’s products, hence Jake’s involvement.

The space will undergo major renovations over the coming months, but in the meantime, Chez Greenberg operates as a quick-service counter. The space—which is still very much under construction—has about half a dozen seats and features a short menu to eaet on-site or to-go. You can enjoy great coffee and bagel sandwiches with Jake’s famous smoked salmon, as well as latkes, knishes, and homemade lemon or salmon-flavoured cream cheese. Each week, the team will introduce a new item. They plan to offer soups and salads soon.

“There’s no chef. My taste buds decide everything,” Jake says. “I trust my palate: I know what’s good and what’s not. We’re constantly adapting and still working to perfect everything. This is just the beginning of the adventure!”

Even though the place has just opened and there’s still a lot to do, customers are flocking in, and the few items on offer are truly delicious! “I love social interaction. I love people, and if I could, I’d hug and kiss every person who walks through the door,” says Jake. “I was a passionate customer first: I loved going out to eat and building relationships with restaurateurs. Now, I’m on the other side of the counter, and I’m creating those relationships myself. I never thought I’d be rolling knishes, yet here I am. I love coming to work every day.”

As soon as he launched the project on Instagram, people from Joe Beef and Beba started sharing the news, thinking it was Benji Greenberg’s project. The former Joe Beef chef is indeed set to open his new venture soon as well. “I had a good laugh. Our families know each other, and he’s obviously a great chef. So now, every time I make an important decision, I ask myself: what would Benji do?”

Written by Élise Tastet
Photography by Mikael Lebleu

Last update: January 17, 2025

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