Justin Champagne-Lagarde and Amanda MacIntosh are tearing down walls in the restaurant business – literally. In their own Ottawa restaurant, Perch, there is no divide between the kitchen and the tables where diners enjoy their meals.
“We are a wide-open kitchen,” says Champagne-Lagarde over a video call, swivelling his computer around to show just how minimal the divide is between guests and staff. “Because our tables are three feet from where we put food, oftentimes guests will just start talking to us. They’ll be at their table and go ‘Hey, we’ve got a question.’ We’ll have full-on chats while we’re plating or cooking. It gives the restaurant a nice dinner-party vibe.”
Perch’s Purpose: Holistic Sustainability and Mental Health Awareness
Perch restaurant was launched in November 2021 in Ottawa’s Little Italy. Champagne-Lagarde, as chef, and MacIntosh, as general manager wanted to break down barriers – both actual and metaphorical. The duo, partners in work and life, also wanted to create an example of what the restaurant industry should be. A space that’s sustainable, as much from a health and well-being perspective as an environmental one.
“When I came up through this industry, there was a bit more aggression and yelling in the kitchens,” says Champagne-Lagarde. “Nobody really cared about mental health or anything like that. Don’t get me wrong: I love restaurants; I love kitchens. But obviously that part is not where I think restaurants should be.”
“A big part of opening Perch was that mental health can matter, or does matter, and it can be factored into a sustainable process or products,” he says. Today, Champagne-Lagarde is also an ambassador for The Burnt Chef Project, an organization providing mental-health support for the hospitality industry.
Well-being has influenced how Champagne-Lagarde and his team have designed everything. The menu showcases ethical suppliers and the number of seats there are in the restaurant. While the Perch restaurant can seat 26 diners, Champagne-Lagarde capped it at 22. They also do only one seating a night.
“It’s all part of the experience we’re trying to provide,” says MacIntosh. “We’re not the food that you get before you go and do the thing that you’re doing that night―we are the thing that you’re doing that night. And we want [guests] to be able to take their time doing it and enjoy themselves.”
Nine-Course Seasonal Tasting Menus Using Sustainable Ingredients
Depending on the season, Perch’s nine-course tasting menu can include sturgeon mousse from New Brunswick, snow crab from Fogo Island in Newfoundland and black cod from Vancouver Island. “Obviously, the closer the better; that’s just a given,” the chef says about sourcing producers and suppliers. “But I would rather support a farm, a hunter or a fisherman doing things more ethically, even if they’re across the country.”
He also considers the impact of his kitchen’s purchases on the communities they’re coming from. “We try to deal with First Nations communities as well. The turbot we’re using is fished off Baffin Island – one hook, one line, just sinking their line down and coming up,” he says.
He’d rather receive the whole fish to break down himself in Perch’s kitchen, but he understands why smaller communities want to do the butchering themselves. “It’s about them creating another job in their community, right?”
Colour Outside The Lines: Creative Cuisine with Canadian Ingredients
Where some may find limitations in the focus on Canadian-sourced ingredients, the Perch team finds opportunities for creativity. Take the bar program, which is limited to one annual shipment of citrus from a Quebec farm that grows Japanese varieties of citrus in its greenhouse.
“Their citrus is beautiful – it’s fragrant, it’s delicious, but it’s also very expensive. So we can’t do the lemon wedge on the cocktail thing,” Champagne-Lagarde says. “Our bar team finds a way to stretch it, making super juices or tinctures out of it.”
They also make the most of kitchen waste: For example, peas on the dinner menu means pea pods made into a shrub or infused into a gin for cocktails. “It has opened the door for our bar team to really experiment and have some fun,” he adds.
For those who can’t secure one of Perch’s 22 seats for a meal, last October they released Perch the book. Subtitled Soil/Land/Sea, it’s Champagne-Lagarde’s first cookbook. He describes it as a compilation of Perch restaurant recipes with stories of the restaurant’s suppliers. For example, Vancouver Island Sea Salt, whose flake and smoked salts can be found garnishing dishes.
It’s more as a coffee-table book. “I don’t think people are going to buy this book and all of a sudden make the scallop macaron, but I wanted it to be true to what we are,” he says.
There are plenty of entry points, however, for home cooks. He explains the restaurant’s philosophy and practices of repurposing and composting food, for instance. It provides insight for the reader about how the recipes were shaped and inspiration for what they may be able to change in their own kitchens.
Both Champagne-Lagarde and MacIntosh recommend the rye bread recipe. The bread kicks off every meal at the restaurant and people often ask to buy loaves. “We sold loaves one time to the Danish embassy— that made me feel pretty good that the Danes were fans of the bread,” MacIntosh says.
It’s something they’ve made daily since the restaurant opened and what Champagne-Lagarde describes as “a nice little starter.” It’s an entry point to exploring the flavours of Canada and the creativity of the chef and his team.
Discover more Homegrown Heroes from ELLE Gourmet, in partnership with Wines of Ontario
- Chef Ned Bell Shares Tips for Sustainable Cooking on a Budget: The B.C.-based chef explains why sustainability is so important to him, and how to buy seasonal seafood for less.
- Behind Kebaonish, an Indigenous and Woman-Led Drink Company: Located on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in Ontario, this coffee and tea brand is infused with cultural teachings.
- Bonton and Company’s Fresh Approach to Local Yukon Ingredients: Owner Shelby Jordan talks about how the award-wining restaurant got started and her guiding principles as a butcher.
