"The Best of French dining with none of the pretentiousness"
John Phillips, the bilingual owner and maitre d' of Restaurant Matisse, is a native of Canada's East coast. Having lived and traveled throughout Canada and Europe, John settled in Victoria and has worked here for fifteen years. After ten years at Deep Cove Chalet, he comes to Restaurant Matisse with a love of French cooking and a "penchant for perfection." His passion for pairing fine wines with unequaled fine foods and the enjoyment he gets from meeting people, ensures that restaurant ownership is the ideal life for him - and that dining at Matisse is the ideal experince for "food lovers."
David Reimneitz, the co-owner of Restaurant Matisse, grew up in eastern Canada. Born into a restaurant family, he learned that a "good life" involved "good food." After studying and living in Ontario, he moved to Vancouver and acquired years of managerial experience in the restaurant business. David then moved to England where he further developed his knowledge of the European cuisine and style of dining. On his return to Canada, he located here in Victoria, extending his knowledge and experience in both the restaurant and finance industries before coming to Restaurant Matisse.
THERE IS AN ART to making complex food concoctions seem as though they were easy as pie to create. It’s a talent that takes a lifetime of experience to develop, and Peter Heptonstall, executive chef of Restaurant Matisse, has mastered it. So when a customer recently asked him, How do you make this incredible soup?” Heptonstall’s response had little to do with specific ingredients or a recipe. “Well, first you start by working as a chef for more than 30 years.
Classic French cuisine “is essentially simple,” the enthusiastic 54-year-old chef explains. “You use the best ingredients and try not to get in the way. You allow the food to speak for itself and keep it simple and beautiful.” Heptonstall acquired this methodology as a 20-something by studying the immortal words of the legendary culinary innovator Georges Auguste Escoffier. “Escoffier’s was my bible,” he confides. “He said it’s all about presentation, aroma and taste, and that those who consider French food complicated and elaborate will be surprised to learn that the true essence of French cooking is fait simple. That’s where I live with food.”
Peter Heptonstall was born in Liverpool, famous as the birthplace of the Beatles. His parents owned several newsagent shops, one in the lyrically named Penny Lane. As a young lad, Heptonstall made breakfast for his four younger siblings because his parents started work early in the morning. “My mother was a good cook and taught me everything she knew. I was encouraged to be creative artistically as well as in the kitchen.”
At 16, he enrolled in a classical French cooking course at a Liverpool technical college, where he also studied art. The cooking students made lunch daily for 1,200 students. After graduating as a journeyman cook at 19, he worked at Liverpool’s Adeiphi Hotel. During his next gig at London’s Dorchester hotel, he met a Canadian chef who motivated Heptonstall with tales of a “whole new world of prosperity” in Canada. At 20, he sailed from Liverpool to Montréal with the promise of a job through Cara Operations, now the largest operator of restaurants in Canada. His first stint was at the famed Papa Dan’s, where he worked his way up to sous-chef.
Later he heard John Phillips was looking for a new chef for Restaurant Matisse.” Cooking French food in the romantic Parisian-style restaurant “was like coming home,” says Heptonstall. “This is my dream job. Everything about it is perfect. It’s a lot of fun working with John. He’s a wine expert and driven by passion. I get to be creative, and John and David want nothing but the best. We know every night we’re going to impress the hell out of everybody.”
“Cooking means even more to me now than when I was young and learning. Now I’m comfortable with my art. I know how to create depths of flavour without being ostentatious. Many customers don’t even want to see a menu. They just give me the freedom to serve them whatever I think they will enjoy.” extracted from an article in Boulevard, The Magazine of Urban Living (July/August 2005)