It was a normal Monday night at Le Violon, a small fine-dining restaurant located on Le Plateau in Montreal, until a former prime minister and a pop star walked through the door.
Danny Smiles, partner and executive chef of the establishment, says the surprise date of Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry’s July dinner — that made international news — It took him by surprise as much as it took everyone else.
“There was a strange energy in the room,” he recalled in an interview with CBC Radio. Information tomorrow Nova Scotia on Thursday. “That’s all people talked about.”
A former finalist in Canada’s best chefnot to mention the owner of one of the top rated restaurants In the field, Smiles worried that, although “they were lovely,” the visit could cast a shadow over the entire operation.
“It took on a world of its own,” he said. “I hope we’re not known for the restaurant Justin and Katy ate at.”
When Smiles arrives in Wolfville, NS, next week — except for an extremely unlikely appearance of the possible couple — His cooking and the culinary talents of other Montreal chefs will be the main focus of the 15th annual Devour food and film festival.
“It’s nice to see Montreal highlighted,” he said. “We’re not too far away and I feel like there’s a lot of connection to the Maritimes…we buy a lot of seafood from Nova Scotia.”
Smiles first came to the festival in 2017 and hopes to return for Round 2.
“Wolfville is an amazing place. It’s a beautiful community,” he said.
He’ll cook at the festival’s Montreal Night Market on Thursday, lead a culinary workshop and join four other top chefs from his city on Friday at the festival’s big “tasting” dinner. A tasting menu will be prepared with wine pairings and five short films related to gastronomy will be shown.
“We’re all going to cook together,” he said. “That gets pretty wild.”
The festival will take place from October 20 to 26.
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