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Zak’s Diner is set to open an Elgin Street eatery in the space once occupied by Dunn’s Famous Delicatessen.

This will be the third location for Zak’s, which opened its first restaurant in the ByWard Market in 1986, followed more recently by a second location in Kanata.

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Owner John Borsten said he’s aiming to open the new Zak’s on Sept. 1. The 3,300-square-foot space has already been gutted.

“The trick is to open in a controlled way,” he said. “It’s a great location, close to city hall and the courthouse and new condos.”

Although the Elgin Street location won’t initially have 24-hour dining, as the Market Zak’s does, that may happen after staff are trained and Borsten has a sense of the neighbourhood.

Dunn’s Famous Delicatessen, known for its smoked meat, closed last fall after 20 years on Elgin Street.

Stanley Devine, who owned the business with his wife, Ina Dunn Devine, whose father opened the original Dunn’s Delicatessen on Ste. Catherine Street in Montreal in 1927, said business had dropped by half in the recent years as people lost their taste for deli fare.