“THE CHEFS’ HOUSE” OPENS TO THE PUBLIC THIS FALL AT 215 KING ST. EAST

New George Brown College storefront restaurant to offer patrons distinctive dining experiences and students leading-edge culinary training

Toronto, ON (June 17, 2008) – The George Brown College Chef School, among Canada’s most recognized leaders in culinary arts and hospitality training, today announced it will open “The Chefs’ House”, a signature new restaurant on the southeast corner of King and Frederick streets in Toronto. The restaurant will be the first of its kind in Canada – fully open to the public with students training to cook, bake and serve. Housed in a 3,200 square foot heritage brownstone, the new restaurant will serve up one-of-a-kind dining experiences to the city’s food lovers while providing George Brown Chef School students with the latest in real-world culinary training.

The Chefs’ House will be an urban culinary retreat; a contemporary space that will be used to profile and celebrate the bounty of locally grown food products and pay homage to the international cuisine that influences Toronto’s culinary scene. The 70-seat space will offer daily lunch and dinner menus; food and wine workshops; special events space and programming, and a series of culinary excellence awards and educational programs.

For students, The Chefs’ House will offer Canada’s very first fully integrated culinary management program with direct public interaction, along with advanced culinary and food and beverage programs. Culinary students will be front and centre in The Chefs’ House, with a large, open-concept kitchen anchoring the 70-seat dining room and bar area. A private dining room, with a capacity for parties of up 16 guests, will be located in the restaurant’s lower level.

“We have always felt that training in a public-facing restaurant, serving paying customers, is necessary to developing graduates of unparalleled quality, excellence and workplace readiness,” said John Walker, Dean with the George Brown Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts. “With the opening of The Chefs’ House we have taken the back of the house to the front, raising the bar higher by introducing advanced real-world learning – George Brown’s distinct philosophy of challenging students by placing them in the middle of the action.”

In addition to its role as a public restaurant and learning centre, George Brown College’s Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts, in an alliance with the Ontario Hostelry Institute (OHI) will also use the facility to house the Culinary Foundation for Chefs. Through its programming, which will include the nation’s premier awards program for culinary professionals, educational partnerships with leaders in the hospitality industry and a series of publications to help raise awareness of the Foundations initiatives, the Foundation will promote excellence in the culinary arts and the Canadian hospitality sector.

J. Charles Grieco, Chair and President of the OHI, said, “the OHI welcomed the invitation and opportunity to house the culinary activities of our Culinary Foundation for Chefs at the Chefs House, as we work together to applaud and celebrate our national and international culinary masters and the growing numbers of rising star Ontario and Canadian Chefs. This focused alliance will provide the opportunity to pay tribute to and showcase such Chefs and their creations and their interpretative use of the best of our fine local and Canadian grown and produced bounty of foods and our VQA Ontario and Canadian wines and their provenance, while recreating their exciting dining experiences that are garnering wider and wider critical acclaim.”

George Brown College’s Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts is home of The George Brown Chef School, among Canada’s most recognized leaders in culinary arts and hospitality training. The School has a long track record graduating top talent and emerging stars serving in restaurants, hotels, convention centres, pastry shops and kitchens around the world, and has produced many of the country’s top chefs including Jamie Kennedy, Mark McEwan, Vicki Cheng,  James Olberg, Bonnie Stern and Christine Cushing.

About George Brown College

With nine out of 10 graduates getting jobs within six months of graduation, Toronto’s George Brown College has established a reputation for equipping students with the skills, industry experience and credentials to pursue the careers of their choice. From its three main campuses located across the downtown core, George Brown offers 158 programs across a wide variety of professions. Students can earn diplomas, post-graduate certificates, industry accreditations, apprenticeships and four-year bachelor degrees. More than 22,000 students attend the College (full-time equivalent) with about 68,000 registered with the George Brown College School of Continuing Education. For more information, please visit www.georgebrown.ca. 

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For more media information, please contact:

Paul Zanettos
Media Relations Consultant
George Brown College
416-415-5000 ext. 3428

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