Two of Canada's top chefs just opened a restaurant north of Toronto
The Gate, a new restaurant just north of Toronto that’s run by two of Canada’s top chefs, is already almost fully booked every night after being open for less than a month.
Located in Flesherton, Ontario, The Gate takes pride in its casual Mediterranean menu. The restaurant is co-owned by renowned chef Jonathan Gushue and restaurant and hotel manager Jennifer Belanger. Phillipe de Montbrun is also part of the team as their executive chef.
“It came to be by a total accident,” says Belanger, who hails from Toronto.
In August 2022, she and Gushue were in the Grey Highlands area when the owner of the now-closed Bicycle Cafe showed them the property, a 150-year-old building.
At the time, Belanger and Gushue were already working on another culinary project called The Vale (still expected to come out in 2024).
After hitting a few delays with that project this past spring, they decided to open up The Gate, where The Bicycle Cafe used to be, using the team that had already been hired for the first project.
It was a labour of love, according to Gushue and Belanger, who say that the entire team helped rebuild the space from scratch: painting the walls, pounding tin for the counter space, and refurnishing.
“People should know that the restaurant was built on [the team’s] blood, sweat and tears,” Belanger says.
The original plans were to make The Gate a diner, but after visiting the space, they decided it should be an open-concept, casual restaurant.
“The space dictated the concept,” Belanger says.
The 40-seat restaurant has about 25 dishes on the menu, which Gushue says pays homage to the 1980s movement in Californian cuisine. There are various dishes inspired by France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Morocco. It’s a mix of light and heavy meals that you can share, Belanger says.
Some of the dishes available include marinated olives, rosemary focaccia, slow-roasted leeks with parmesan, and goat with sunflower milk. There are also seafood options, like the shellfish agnolotti, salted cod with cured egg yolk, and marinated mussels. (Plant-based and vegetarian options are also available.)
“What I do love about this restaurant is that the food can be so elemental,” says Gushue, who owned and cooked at Langdon Hall in Cambridge, Ontario and Fogo Island in Newfoundland. “Two or three ingredients is really all you need as long as you’ve got some good product.”
And while it’s only been a few weeks since the restaurant opened, the reception has been very warm, say Belanger and Gushue; they’re already starting to have full reservations.
“Everyone who comes in is astonished at how comfortable and cozy it feels,” Gushue says. “So many people have commented on how this restaurant looks like it’s been around for 10 years.”
Now, with the opening of The Gate, the release of their upcoming project next year, and the overwhelming support from the community, it seems like the Belanger and Gushue’s stay at Grey Highlands is indefinite.
“I feel like I’m in home for the first time and I’m never ever leaving,” Belanger says.
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