FH1218

clientele are patrons.
But Harry’s Char-Broiled Dining Lounge is just one in a series of
stylized, über-cool restaurant digs owned and run by van Gameren
(and his friends/partners). He also operates Bar Isabel, Bar Raval,
Pretty Ugly, the Tennessee Tavern, the El Ray, Rosalinda (a vegan restaurant),
Quetzal and the catering company Victor Dries. But don’t let
the decor from Harry’s fool you — the Globe & Mail actually called
Bar Raval “the most beautiful bar in Toronto” and it’s won several
design awards. More than anything, this wide range of concepts
showcases the business acuity and diversity of product van Gameren
can balance.
It’s a portfolio that was just a seed in the mind of 16-year old van
Gameren when he worked at Pizza Pizza. “I had dropped out of high
school,” he says. “And then I did a bit of course work at George Brown,
but it just wasn’t for me.” But there’s something to be said for following
your instincts — for getting out of programs and courses that just
didn’t resonate. Instead, van Gameren followed the path of restaurant
work — along with a small money-making stint breeding and selling
exotic snakes. At one point, in his early 20s, there were more than 40
pythons roaming his apartment.
After four years at Il Fornello, van Gameren found himself at
Canoe Restaurant and this was the turning point in his life. “It was a
big wake-up call for me,” says van Gameren. “I really began to understand
what it took to succeed as a chef because I was able to work with
Scot Woods,” whose impact on van Gameren cannot be measured.
“He was intimidating and a bit scary, but he taught me about being
focused and caring about every detail of a dish, how it was served and
the extreme attention to detail. I’d never experienced anything like it
before.”
“I was a real task master and very demanding,” says Woods. “We
went on to work at Habitat together where I had brought several chefs
from Canoe. We inspired each other a lot with our love of charcuterie
and we bonded over our mutual respect for each other in the pursuit
of that. Grant was one of the few chefs who could ‘tough it out’ with
me and he eventually became my first sous chef.”
Woods speaks fondly about how far van Gameren has come in his
career. “Grant and I first met when I came back from San Francisco
and began working at Canoe. He was a junior cook/chef de partie,
but also a proud ‘Parkdaler’ with some edge,” laughs Woods. “He was
always sharing stories of his youthful misadventures, schemes and
days at Il Fornello. It was during that time I began to notice his raw
talent and ambition.”
While van Gameren lacked formal training, his ambition kept him
willing to fail and learn from his mistakes. “At a certain point, I began
to see my friends graduate from university with degrees,” he says.
“Instead of feeling defeated, I just decided I’m going to put my nose to
the grindstone and work.”
van Gameren ventured from gastronomy cuisine into charcuterie,
partnering with Woods on Lucien, a fine-dining resto, and then cofounded
the Black Hoof in 2008 with Jen Agg. “Charcuterie was about
coming back to the basics,” he says. While van Gameren talks about
charcuterie in passing, friend and business partner Owen Walker
recalls the depth of Gameren’s dedication to the craft. “It was an
obsessive thing to him,” says Walker. “He was digesting as many books
as possible about the subject and was setting up shady aging cellars in
the basement,” laughs Walker. “Grant is that person who is willing to
experiment and keep learning until he gets it right,” he says. “But he
isn’t a traditionalist, which is why it works.”
van Gameren then shifted his passion to working over open fires.
“Quetzal is a reflection of that,” he says. “We’ve got 28 feet of open
fire at that restaurant — it’s the best way to cook.” Named after one of
the world’s most gorgeous birds — and a sacred symbol to the Aztecs
— Quetzal celebrates Spain’s influence on Mexican cuisine. The joint
venture (his seventh restaurant in total and his third on College St.) is
co-owned by business partners Kate Chomyshyn and Julio Guarjardo.
“For business partners, I pick the cream-of-the-crop of the workforce
and bring in employees I believe in,” he says. Building business
ventures through friendships is something that came naturally for
the 36-year-old chef. He’s even tattooed what might be taken as an
“equation” for the business relationship on his body. His stomach tattoo
reads “1/2 MINE, 1/2 YOURS.” It’s from his “broke-cook” days at
Il Fornello when he lived with a roommate, shared all his food and
even his cigarettes. But also, in some ways, it was a prediction of what
would become his philosophy of business — share the wealth.
van Gameren takes people he believes in and raises them up to the
level of partner — once they prove themselves of course. Working
partners currently share anywhere from 10 to 50 per cent of the business.
Mike Webster — a current partner in Bar Raval — was the former
bartender at Bar Isabel. Owen Walker, who was also a bartender
there, says van Gameren offered him the opportunity, even when he
couldn’t contribute much capital. “It was such an honour when he
came to me with this personal offer. He was willing to offer a partnership
to someone, just based on the concept of hard work and not
a ton of financial banking,” says Walker.
Now father to a small child with partner Sunny Stone, van
Gameren sometimes spends his down time at his Prince Edward
County property, Cressy House. The six-acre farm — with requisite
fruit trees, lavender fields and 500 feet of waterfront — is a dream
estate van Gameren also uses for hosting food events and staff
retreats. This September, he hosted Keepers of the Craft, the latest
venture in his five-year partnership with Czech-based Pilsner Urquell.
The culinary event catered to “a few rock stars” and some local food
legends.
van Gameren’s access to Toronto’s elite circles hasn’t dulled his
conscience. “Giving back is something really important to me —
especially in my favourite neighbourhood, Parkdale,” he says. “It’s one
of the last all-inclusive areas that truly celebrates diversity. I spent so
many years living there and have three restaurants there, so giving
back just makes sense.”
However, van Gameren’s charity work beyond the neighbourhood
is extensive, including annual participation in Coats for Cocktails,
Chefs for Change, Socks for Bubbly, Holland Bloorview Children’s
Rehabilitation Hospital and auctions for Oakville Galleries.
“Everyone should have access to quality food,” he says. “We’re
lucky to still be in business.”
Given van Gameren’s raw passion, it’s clear his success can’t be
attributed solely to luck. But staying humble — and curious — is
what got him here in the first place. FH
44 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY DECEMBER 2018 FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM