New French restaurant opens in Hamilton with must-try menu
- Jody Aberdeen
- 03 Feb 2021
You can’t get much better than Resto Chez Chloe.
A casual French eatery located in the heart of Hamilton’s Hess Village, its beautiful patio perfectly situated for people-watching with a nice apéro in hand, Chez Chloe (pronounced “klo”) features healthy and delectable seasonal dishes, sustainably-sourced from local farms whenever possible, and all made from scratch.
Even its French wines qualify as “local”, delivered in from Château des Charmes, a Niagara-area winery owned and operated by 5th generation French winemakers.
This was the dream that Chloe St Pierre-Grills had in her heart for the past thirty years, a vision that only came to fruition last October when Chez Chloe opened for business during the seventh month of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Her commitment to accuracy, efficiency, and quality food at accessible prices exemplify the eatery’s motto: “Casual French Dining at Its Finest”.
Under normal circumstances, Chez Chloe would be one of the hottest new restaurants in Hamilton.
However, these are extraordinary times. And Resto Chez Chloe is in trouble.
The October opening meant that there was a narrow window to gain traction before the second lockdown. Starting with a staff of six, Chloe was forced to let all but one of them go in December.
As a new business that opened in 2020, Chez Chloe does not qualify for government bailout packages, which require the previous year’s tax records as a condition for application.
Food delivery services such as Uber Eats and Skip the Dishes that were supposed to help boost the restaurant’s profile with area customers have only yielded a handful of orders at high cost. Savings are running out as January – a month that is ordinarily slow for restaurants – continues to drag on with the added heavy straitjacket of pandemic lockdown that makes dining in impossible.
Unless fortunes improve, it’s very likely Resto Chez Chloe will be forced to close, a tragedy that would be further compounded by the fact that Chloe personally funded and did most of the work setting up her restaurant on her own, contracting only for painting, electrical, and plumbing.
However, if you ask about those changing fortunes, you may be surprised to find that Chloe is genuinely optimistic.
“I have no clue why the hell I’m still positive,” she says. “I should not be. It has been really hard. I am prone to depression and anxiety. None of them are affecting me during this, and I don’t know why. I’m very close to losing everything that I’ve worked hard for.”
Perhaps it’s the golden thread of serendipity woven throughout Chloe’s 20-year journey from a troubled past in Quebec City to the present that has her approaching these challenges with hope.
“I left Quebec City with my baby to escape a violent relationship,” says Chloe. “We moved to Ontario, first to Burlington, and then later Hamilton. I found work with a large corporation, eventually becoming a senior financial analyst.”
“Even while working in the corporate world,” says Chloe, “I would organize food events, whether it was multicultural food days for the company or having dinner prep parties after hours. I would put together catered events for the French centre in Burlington to raise funds for them. When I left the corporate world, friends would ask me ‘are you going to do your food thing?’”
Chloe was never in a financial position to open her own restaurant. The turning point came five years ago when her marriage ended, and they had to sell the house. “I was house-hunting at a time when the housing market had taken off,” says Chloe, “but I managed to find an affordable place just three weeks before I had to leave the old one.”
A year and a half ago, Chloe realized she could finally finance her dream by selling her newly-renovated home. She did so in March of last year and set about looking for a restaurant space, eventually finding an ideal spot on Hess Street, which she found to be reminiscent of the old cobblestone streets of Quebec City.
At the end of August, Chloe set about renovating the restaurant space mostly on her own, learning how to lay cement and assemble cabinetry, among many other new skills.
Never formally-trained as a chef herself, Chloe cites her mother and grandmother for cultivating her love of good food, keeping a picture of her grandmother’s award-winning pie over the hood in the kitchen. All three were also greatly inspired by the venerable Jehane Benoît, regarded by many as the Julia Child of Canada.
“The menu is creative, but there’s always that nostalgia around each dish. My grandmother was an amazing cook and very avant-garde, one of the first to make lasagna in our village when lasagna pasta was considered ‘fancy’. She had my great uncle, who worked on trains, pick up lasagna noodles in Montreal to bring back to her.”
Chloe notes that when most people hear “French food”, they think foie gras or poutine. “I want them to learn that there is so much more to French cuisine than the very high end.”
Offerings include such staples as boeuf bourguignon, Croque-Monsieur and Croque-Madame, coq au vin (with actual heritage roosters from Murray’s Farm), French Onion Soup, Breton Crepes, and in-house baked goods. They are also one of the only eateries to offer raclette for take-out, melting layers of hot delicious cheese onto Quebecois-style baby potatoes.
Keeping a commitment to fresh, high-quality food with only two people on staff and no in-restaurant dining can be challenging even for seasoned chefs and owners. “We hate wasting food,” says Chloe. “If you make fresh-baked goods and no one shows up, you have to throw it all out and start over again. We don’t want to do that, so it’s been a balancing act to try to come up with take-out menus that can be prepared quickly.”
To that end, Resto Chez Chloe features a “Prepared For You Menu” with dishes that customers can order 24 hours in advance. This helps Chloe stay aligned with her principles of making fresh, beautiful, casual, and sustainable food, while also maintaining a separate menu for faster orders. “There is a give and take between quality and speed, and we try our best to make everyone happy. We’ve made a few compromises, and we hope it’s worth the wait.”
This month, Chloe introduced a special weekly clean-eating program, preparing healthy meals for customers. The signature dish of the program is the vegan lasagna, made from butternut squash, lentils, mushrooms and cashew garlic sauce, all locally-sourced.
Despite the odds, Chloe still sees some hope. She is getting support, notably from Hamilton-based TMC, who have offered pro-bono marketing and promotion services, though the road ahead is difficult.
“Chez Chloe means ‘the home of Chloe’,” she says. “When you walk in, it’s like you’re walking into my home. Our waiting area, which we hope to use one day, is actually a living room. I want our guests to be part of the environment the minute they walk in.”
“I look forward to welcoming my guests, seating them, feeding them, and watching them enjoying their meal. That’s my bonus. We just need to hang in there.”
You can find Resto Chez Chloe on Facebook and Instagram, and by visiting restochezchloe.com
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