My series Celebrate Toronto begins with the beach, one of the coolest areas of Toronto. Not only does the beach offer a resort like sensation and sporting opportunities, similar to the Southern California Oceanic community, it’s also a great entertainment area with a wide choice of restaurants.
I heard some interesting things about a fairly new restaurant called Michelle Beach House, and it was time to check it in person and meet with the owner of this establishment. Last Wednesday, after making some purchases in a local book town on the beach, I sat down at one of the tables by the window and watched people walk back and forth along Queen Street East.
After the settlement, I had the opportunity to take a few photos of the restaurant and was especially fascinated by the hanging fish tanks, which are home to a variety of bright tropical fish. One of the fish tanks on the north side, apparently, contains a kind of fish that consumes meat. Fortunately, they are well packed in thick glass.
The light decor of birch and teak is very avant-garde, and two round raised tables in front of the bay windows provide a wonderful view of the busy street. The walls are decorated with black and white photographs, and the granite bar provides a solid anchor in this stylish establishment. Interesting architectural touches are added in bathrooms, where restaurant owners usually don’t pay enough attention: I have to admit that Michel’s beach house has some of the most attractive toilets in the city, with the most modern glass fuss and beautiful photos in private stalls. Hallways are decorated with an interesting image of a large size. And, interestingly, there are no permanent signs in men's and women's toilets. No, the toilet for women is marked with a bikini, and a pair of swimming chests signals for men. Now someone definitely had a sense of humor.
I arrived a little early and just a couple of minutes after seven in the evening, Michel Gebhart, the owner of Michel on the Beach, by the way, also the owner of Michel in Toronto. in the prestigious district of Yorkville, arrived. A tall, young and very attractive woman with a certain talent for fashion presented herself and, after taking care of some of the staff’s questions, sat at my desk, and I had a chance to get acquainted with this successful hospitality entrepreneur.
Michelle sent her early days to Timlins as an “army squad,” and then moved with her family to British Columbia. Her father, an officer in the Canadian Forces, is of German descent, and her mother, a retired high school teacher, is from France. She came to Toronto as a teenager and said that she always had a Cinderella complex, which is the middle daughter.
There is no doubt that Michelle is an adventurer: at the age of 16 she hitchhiked across the country and then worked at a horse ranch. An even more interesting item adorns her resume: she used a trap. When I asked what she explained, she used to catch wild cats and beavers for a company that sold skins to mechanics. Michelle also tried to tame activities such as selling life insurance. At a young age, Michelle got some experience as a bar tender and soon enjoyed the hospitality industry.
After high school, Michelle took a graphic design program, but she never worked in this area. But her sharp look at designer shows, both in tasteful, modern design of her restaurant, and in her personal taste in fashion. Soon Michel decided to start her own business and founded a restaurant called “Michel Elibi” in Newmarket, but, unfortunately, the business partnership with a friend turned sour. Michel says that she was “removed” by her business partner and returned to becoming an employee. For some time she worked at the Founders Club at Skydome and gained valuable experience in the high-class hotel business.
Michelle offered a place for her own restaurant in Yorkville five times, but she refused all these offers. In 2002, she finally made the jump and created La Brasserie in one of the most prestigious entertainment districts of Toronto. Failures, such as her partner, fleeing her, or the atypical pneumonia epidemic, which affected Toronto’s hospitality and the tourism industry, like a ton of bricks back in 2003, did not help her.
With great determination and hard work, Michelle did it in those difficult times, and at the end of 2005 she began to look for another place in the restaurant. She chose a beach for her new venture and began looking at different properties. Placed by the Stoney Sports Bar went out of business, and when Michelle looked at the property, she saw a locust tree growing in the courtyard. The same type of wood grows in her Yorkville restaurant, so Michelle saw it as a sign and bought a seat in November 2005.
Due to a very busy winter season at the Yorkville restaurant, Michelle postponed the renewal of her new place until March 2006, then she started her sleeves and started working on completely destroying the existing establishment. The central part, heavy oak cabins, drywall, everything was removed, and Michelle could start her own design.
But Michelle not only took care of the design and organization of the repair, she was there, she worked on plumbing, electrics, she cut the granite on the worktop, laid the floor, put it to drywall. Some of the tidbits of renewal were breaking the ceilings with dead mice dropping the floor. After all these small details, Michelle and her father completely changed the rewards and finished the repairs in about two months. Today she has a great restaurant.
She had a few extra helpers: teens from downtown Toronto downtown called Evergreen Youth Drop-In Center helped her with construction. Michel regularly volunteers for this organization. Every other Monday, she cooks for children, donates food and brings several of her employees to make it all happen. The Evergreen Center has a day care center, it provides primary housing for teens and helps street children find work.
I asked Michelle how she connected with the Evergreen Center, and she said that her motorcycle group Los Silverados regularly donates to this organization. My jaw dropped: I thought that I only have a representative of talent hospitality in front of me; Now it became clear to me that I was talking to a woman who knows how to do plumbing, electrical and construction work; a woman who rides a motorcycle; and a woman who regularly volunteers in a recreation center in the city center, using her time and resources .....
If I were wearing a hat, I would take it off from now on. Being completely hopeless klutz, a woman who can control a power tool (including a motorcycle), and who is engaged in social work, will always attract my attention.
Michelle all the time insisted that she had nothing to tell, she argued that she really had nothing to share, and the more I listened to her, so I realized that with her modesty I was talking to a multi-talent, a multi very very unusual woman. I began to enjoy the conversation more and more.
The Michelle design in the guest bathroom called for a stylish vanity style, a type of vanity that is really in fashion now and can cost several thousand dollars. Michelle just went to Home Depot, bought several components and built her self-esteem at the expense of several hundred dollars. At some point, she needed to connect a washing machine in the basement to wet laundry and napkins in place. She called the local plumber to get an estimate: $ 900! Michelle believed that the work would take no more than 20 minutes and maybe $ 50. She sent a plumber and finished the project itself. Now here is an authorized woman!
A television show about the renovation of a restaurant called “Opening Soon” even interrogated Michel and linked up with her. When the working group returned to the project progress record, Michelle and her father had already completed the renovation. The crew said they were working too fast and indicated that they would not be able to use the footage in the end. As a result, the show about the Beach Michelle repair has never been done. Talk about punishment for effective work ....
Shortly before the official opening of the restaurant, Michel held a special event: a promotional launch for a winery that ordered invitations to a private event. Michelle repaired all day, put all the tools and materials in different cabinets, tied up clothes and hair at the last moment — the local store on the street did her makeup — and after a hard day, Michelle played the role of a kind hostess all night long.
On May 18, finally, her institution opened, and Michelle Beach House was born. In the beginning there were several glitches, for example, a chef with a super-sized ego. But Michelle does not tolerate divas in her kitchen, and everything that needs to be done must be done. Michelle will even score the tables herself if the need arises.
The restaurant is definitely hard work. Michelle is actively working every day in both restaurants. If she opens one place for dinner, she closes the second after dinner and vice versa. Being in place on a daily basis is very important to maintain control over quality and costs. Michelle collects fresh fish every day at a local fish store and is used to handle all purchases, a task that requires her to get up at 4 pm every day. Now one of her employees masters it with the tasks for the purchase.
Michelle loves the kitchen and made extensive meals. Her philosophy is based on high-quality food and fresh ingredients, but despite the high quality of her cuisine, she believes in providing solid serving sizes. The menu changes on a seasonal basis, and it describes the cuisine in Michelle on the Beach as a French Riviera style with a lot of olive oil, lemon and various Mediterranean influences. Genuine dishes include bouillabaisse, pate, Nikouaz salad and dates wrapped in bacon.
I asked about the features of this restaurant, and Michelle indicated that the restaurant has 63 seats inside with 87 more seats in the courtyard. The beach house Michel is definitely a popular hangout in the summer. In its restaurant, winemakers are often taken. and brewers. Another special initiative is Manicure and Martini Mondays, which she organizes with a local merchant called Five Star Nails. Guests can have breakfast and pamper themselves, try delicious snacks and wash their martinis. Michel also calls these events “manicure + martini + sip”, all at an affordable price of $ 30. In her place in Yorkville, she organizes the same event in collaboration with the Jeanette Spa.
With all these interesting initiatives, of course, there is not much time to ride your motorcycle, one of Michel's favorite games. Michelle owns and tunes in to the V-Star 1100 Yamaha Cruiser. Last year, she didn’t have to drive at all, not surprising, considering that she has hands that are operated by two restaurants. She wants to start building her own motorcycles, and I have no doubt for a second that she has the skills to do it.
Despite the fact that her time on the road is limited, she still regularly communicates with her friends from Sillados and was introduced to the Royal Order of Silladados for her work in the community. By the way, Los Silverados is a group of motorcycle fans (of course, not a gang), which began in August 1997 to raise money for Mission Yonge Street, an organization that helps the poor and disadvantaged Toronto, regardless of race, religion, Egypt background. The Los Silverados motto is “Make a contribution and enjoy the ride,” and their website explains that the name goes like this: Los = "the" and Silverados = "people with silver in their hair, silver in jeans that are looking for a silver lining for life ".... the name could come from a mine in Mexico or from a pickup truck - no one knows for sure. I didn’t even realize that there is a group of motorcycles whose mission is to make a positive contribution to the community.
One thing Michelle really takes time to do is her puppy dog. She bought a mix of Bernese mountain dogs and a golden retriever as a Christmas present for her brother's children two days before the holidays and immediately fell in love with him. Of course, it was difficult to discard him, but, fortunately, the staff of Michelle collected their money and bought her a golden golden retriever as a gift that she could give her for a puppy. It is no wonder that Michel’s beach house is a restaurant for dogs, and the puppy often hangs in the backyard.
As we were nearing the end of our conversation, out of the corner of my eye I saw our waiter approaching two sample hors d'oeuvres: the famous baked clams Michelle with tight bread crumbs and renamed dates with bacon with grapes and onion chutney. Both were exquisite, and the dates only melt in your mouth. But her case needed her attention, so Michelle was forced to apologize and return to work. Meanwhile, I had the opportunity to try the menu.
I ordered a potato soup with cheese and bacon as a first course and a Canadian cheese plate as a second course. Michelle sent through her talented chef Ben, who explained to me the ingredients: Canadian cheese platter includes Benedictine blue, Canadian brie and cow's cheese. Walnuts, carved grapes and dried berries add a pleasant counterpoint to tasty cheeses and fresh warm baguette companies, delicacies. I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and the Canadian-Mediterranean spread.
On Wednesday evening, I photographed the entire crew of Michel, and I could say that this group of young people enjoyed their work and atmosphere. When Michel was engaged in her duties, I had a chance to enjoy her restaurant and think about a woman with so many interesting and unexpected aspects - a perennial woman and a Renaissance entrepreneur who cares about society. I thought that in her modesty there were so many things that this intriguing woman did not even share with me.
After our personal meeting, I visited the website for Brasserie Michelle and was stuck in a welcome message on my homepage:
When we sit in a bar called life, unsustainably balancing our overflowing glass of morality, eating something mediocre on plates, we need to ask why?
I believe that we are always looking for something new to shake up the martini that we call life. We wander from creation to institution in the hope that somewhere someone will offer the final pimento to fill our notorious olive.
Michelle was created to meet this need.
Can you find your pimento with us.
Vive l & amp; amour
Michelle
