Chefs leave city life to open rural restaurants, find culinary and personal rewards

Accomplished chefs are opening ambitious restaurants in small towns, fishing villages and on working farms across Canada. Diners are following them, often willing to drive for hours to reach these rural destinations. The trend is reflected in this year's Canada's 100 Best restaurant list, which includes several such spots. Jacob Richler, editor-in-chief and publisher of Canada's 100 Best, says the appeal has "everything to do with the feeling that what you are experiencing belongs to that particular setting." He adds that it is not conventional fine dining, and "no urban restaurant can deliver it quite like a country one can."

For the chefs, leaving the city is as much a personal decision as a culinary one. They cite reasons like family, a slower pace, relief from high rents and the chance to cook closer to where their food originates. Guillaume Asselin decided to leave Montreal after seven years running a popular bistro. He was exhausted and frustrated by the distance between his kitchen and his ingredients. "I wanted to have the best produce and know where everything comes from," Asselin says. "I wanted to do things from seed to the vegetables on the plate. I wanted the animals I raised to have a nice life."

He shared his desire for land and a true farm-to-table restaurant with his partner, Marie Daudelin, in 2019. The couple soon found a 126-acre farm in Saint-Anicet, Que., that had been empty for four years. Asselin, who was not a farmer, made an offer a week later. They undertook extensive renovations and landscaping to create Le Mangeoir, a 32-seat farm-to-table restaurant with a four-room farm stay.

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The farm raises all the restaurant's meat and grows nearly everything on the menu. Asselin notes that producing their own ingredients is cheaper than buying equivalent products. "Le Mangeoir's financial viability depends on how the farm, restaurant and accommodation work together," he says. He describes the model as requiring significant investment, personal involvement and a long-term vision, especially without a large starting budget. He finds cooking only what he grows to be a rewarding challenge that has made him more inventive.

Asselin says guests appreciate the authenticity of the meals. He also values the slower pace of country life. "I work just as much, maybe more, but it never feels like work," he says. "I just live." He contrasts the constant traffic noise of Montreal with the sounds on his farm. "Here, I listen to the goats, the birds, the ducks," Asselin says. "It's beautiful."

Benjamin Cormier, chef-owner of Origines Cuisine Maritime in Caraquet, N.B., once believed success required leaving his Acadian coastal home. "I thought I had to be a big-city boy," Cormier says. "But this place did not hold me back. In fact, it has helped me." His path back was unplanned. After restaurant management studies in Ottawa, he took a job in Shippagan, N.B., and entered the kitchen when the chef quit. "I've never left the kitchen, and that was 19 years ago," he says.

He later rose to become executive chef at Moncton's Little Louis' Oyster Bar and Fine Cuisine. An opportunity arose when organizers of a Caraquet wine dinner needed a chef after their restaurant went bankrupt. Cormier agreed to be guest chef, and the positive response led to suggestions he return home. He initially split his time, cooking in Moncton during the week and running weekend pop-ups in Caraquet. "I did that for six months and we were sold out every night," Cormier says. He moved to Caraquet permanently eight years ago. His 60-seat restaurant, Origines, offers ambitious cooking rooted in the local peninsula. Menus change weekly with the seasons and tides, and customers regularly drive for hours to dine there. Cormier says becoming truly integrated into the local food system took time, requiring him to earn farmers' trust and connect directly with fishermen.

With files from The Globe and Mail