Chef Jamie Oliver will open Vancouver restaurant by 2019

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      One of England’s biggest celebrity chefs is preparing to make his mark in Canada. Jamie Oliver will open his first North American location of Jamie’s Italian in Toronto in 2015 and a restaurant in Vancouver by 2019.

      Jamie’s Italian is a chain of casual Italian restaurants that launched in 2008. According to restaurant’s website, there are over 35 locations across the UK, and restaurants in Australia, Dubai, Ireland, Russia, Singapore, and Turkey. A location in Hong Kong is scheduled to open this summer, and another restaurant in Sweden is planned for fall.

      In Canada, Jamie’s Italian has partnered with King Street Food Company, a Toronto-based restaurant group that owns Jacobs & Co. Steakhouse, Buca Osteria & Enoteca, The Saint Tavern, and Bar Buca.

      In a statement on the Jamie’s Italian website, Oliver says that it was dining at Toronto’s Buca that convinced him to make the leap to open in North America.

      “Canada is a place very close to my heart. I'm always excited about spending time there, and whenever I visit, I always get an amazing welcome,” Oliver stated. “For a while now, I've been on the lookout for the perfect partner to open a restaurant with. So, when I tasted the menu at Buca, and found that we had the exact same ideas in mind, I knew I had found the right guys to kick start this exciting project with.”

      The Toronto restaurant will open at Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Although the menus at Jamie’s Italian are different at each location, diners can expect to enjoy fresh pastas and pizzas, an antipasti station, meat and seafood. Most of Oliver’s restaurants feature an open kitchen, and shared family-style dining is encouraged.

      “We have been excited to be a part of Canadian diners discovering the beauty in authentic, fresh and creative Italian food,” Gus Giazitzidis, one of King Street Food Company’s three managing partners, stated in a news release. “To be able to broaden that experience while filling a gap in the marketplace, specifically making excellent quality dining options more accessible across Canada, is a dream come true and we are thrilled to join forces with Chef Jamie Oliver to make it come to life.”

      After opening in Toronto, King Street Food Company plans on expanding Jamie’s Italian to other cities in Canada, including a location in Vancouver. Giazitzidis confirmed to the Georgia Straight that Vancouverites can expect to see Jamie’s Italian open in the city by 2019.

      “We don't have a set date for the opening but the plan is to break bread in Vancouver within the next 5 years,” he said. “We have had wonderful guests from Vancouver at our restaurants in Toronto for years It makes us so happy to finally to be able to open a restaurant in Vancouver with someone like Jamie who shares our passion for the artisanal approach to the craft and using only the best fresh, sustainable, and source-specific ingredients.”

      You can follow Michelle da Silva on Twitter at twitter.com/michdas.

      Comments

      3 Comments

      PD

      Jun 26, 2014 at 4:03pm

      Is this what counts as "news"? That a celebrity chef will put his name on a chain restaurant opening in the next FIVE YEARS? Good lord, how pathetic and fame-obsessed we must be if this is more exciting to us than news of something, local, imminent and relevant.

      @PD

      Jun 27, 2014 at 2:36pm

      You live in Vancouver, what do you expect?? Intelligence and foresight. As long as you look good and have a clique , who cares...

      C

      Jun 29, 2014 at 9:03am

      In 5 years. Hilarious. Vancouver is the city of broken promises. See: 20 year wait for False Creek East to be developed.