It was a regular Monday night at Le Violon, a small fine-dining restaurant located in Le Plateau in Montreal, until a former prime minister and a pop star waltzed through the door.
Danny Smiles, a partner and executive chef at the establishment, says Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry’s surprise July dinner date — which made international headlines — caught him off guard just as much as everybody else.
“There was a weird energy in the room,” he recalled in an interview with CBC Radio’s Information Morning Nova Scotia on Thursday. “That’s all people were talking about.”
A former finalist on Top Chef Canada, not to mention a proprietor of one of the highest-rated restaurants in the country, Smiles worried that although “they were lovely,” the visit might cast a shadow over the whole operation.
“It took on a world of its own,” he said. “I hope we’re just not known for the restaurant that Justin and Katy ate at.”
When Smiles comes to Wolfville, N.S., next week — barring an extremely unlikely appearance by the would-be couple — his cooking and the culinary talents of other Montreal chefs will be the main focus at the 15th annual Devour food and film festival.
“It’s nice to see Montreal highlighted,” he said. “We’re not too far and I feel like there’s a lot of connection with the Maritimes … we buy a lot of seafood from Nova Scotia.”
Smiles first came to the festival in 2017 and is looking forward to heading back for Round 2.
“Wolfville is an amazing place. It’s a beautiful community,” he said.
He’ll be cooking at the festival’s Montreal Night Market on Thursday, leading a culinary workshop and joining four other top chefs from his city on Friday at the festival’s big “degustation” dinner. A tasting menu with wine pairings will be prepared alongside a screening of five food-related short films.
“We’re all going to be cooking together,” he said. “That gets pretty wild.”
The festival runs from Oct. 20-26.
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