'Grandfather of local' John Taylor sells his Ottawa restaurant
Chef John Taylor is selling the restaurant that bears his name in Old Ottawa South to move to British Columbia after two decades of adding local flavour to the capital's restaurant scene.
Taylor said he wants to reconnect with his children after years of long hours as a restaurant owner and chef.
"The hours that you have to put in in a restaurant — it's 24/7, 365 days a year," he told Alan Neal on CBC Radio's All in a Day.
"It's a hard gig and it's even harder now. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the guys who are doing it right now, but you have to be young. You have to have the energy."
Taylor sold Taylor's Genuine Kitchen and Wine to Tony Irace, a server and sommelier he once employed. The restaurant will reopen as AntiPazzo Italian Plates and Wine.
"He's going to do a small-plates Italian, wine on tap, which is a very hot thing right now," Taylor said.
The Taylor's restaurant website says the new restaurant at Bank St. and Sunnyside Ave. will open Feb. 1.
Bringing local mainstream
Domus Café — which he took over with his wife Sylvia in 1997 and ran until 2014 — helped advance the farm-to-table locavore movement in Ottawa.
"This tag I get, the grandfather of local, I mean, there's still lots of people doing it," he said. "I think bringing it into the mainstream and show it could happen was the most important part."
He said restaurants moving to buy their ingredients locally has helped foster a growing number of farmers' markets across the city.
Taylor said he also saw the way Ottawa's restaurant scene has changed over 20 years.
When he closed Domus in the ByWard Market, dining out was no longer concentrated in one part of the city.
"With all the (gentrification) of all the neighbourhoods, they all have their own little restaurants now and a lot of them have fabulous restaurants," he said.
"There's no need to travel anymore in that destination because there's so many destinations to go to or stay in your own suburb."
Taylor said the move to B.C. will also bring him closer to his only siblings. He said he's grateful for the support Ottawa gave him and his family.
"I just love Ottawa. It's an amazing town. We raised our family in Old Ottawa South, where the restaurant is now and we have a ton of fond memories," he said.
Listen to the full All in a Day interview with John Taylor here.
