Introducing: At Nevada Ristorante, Hospitality Is A Family Affair
You’ve probably noticed by now that I spend most of my free time in Toronto’s beachside neighborhood. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to visit various beach hospitality establishments, and one of my favorites is Nevada’s Ristorante. Centrally located at the intersection of Queen Street and Kenilworth Avenue, it’s an easy walk from the Boardwalk; its attractive warm decoration and the colorful murals inside and outside the building create a unique atmosphere. But even more important is the food, and I have always enjoyed the culinary offerings at Nevada’s.
So I decided to make the call and find out who is behind this fine establishment. I arranged an interview with Chris Housseas, co-owner of the Nevada restaurant, and on a cold Friday night at 6:00 pm I had the chance to sit down with Chris for an interview, just before the night’s activity started. His mother Dimitra, nicknamed Toula, joined us and told me the history of the Housseas family.
Chris grew up in the restaurant business. His father, Gus, a Greek immigrant, opened his first restaurant in Canada in 1961, long before Chris was born. Even before that, he at 17 he had embarked on owning a restaurant in Greece. After his arrival in Canada, he moved several times between his native country and Canada. During one of these trips back to his home country, he met Chris’s mother in 1976 and fell in love with her. Soon after Chris was born, and in 1978 the entire family, including parents, two sisters, and a brother, moved to Canada.
Originally, Gus had worked as a dishwasher and a waiter. Once he arrived in Toronto, he owned several fast food outlets, including a Dairy Freeze near St. Clair and Caledonia. Several other fast food outlets followed near Bloor and Christie’s, and he added a Steak Queen near Rexdale and Martin Grove avenues to his hospitality portfolio. Both the parents and Chris teamed up to purchase Nevada’s in 2004. Nevada’s has a long tradition at the beach, and Chris said it has been around for about 50 years.
Chris explained that the cuisine at Nevada’s Ristorante is a mix of Californian and Italian style with a dash of Asian influences and various New Orleans-style dishes. The star dishes of this restaurant are the Chicken Gorgonzola, which includes chicken, penne and mushrooms in gorgonzola sauce. New Orleans-inspired Bourbon Street ribs are in the oven for two and a half hours and covered in a delicious honey garlic sauce.
The list of delicious delicacies continued. Chicken Pesto Pasta consists of linguine noodles, chicken, vegetables and leeks in a pesto and cream sauce, sprinkled with pine nuts. The soups are homemade, and the salads are also very popular, especially the Warm Spinach Salad and the Wild Mushroom Salad. Desserts round out the delights and include, among others, a Bourbon Street chocolate cheesecake, a chocolate raspberry truffle, as well as an ice cream crepe and various sorbets.
The regular menu is spiced up with late-night features. In the winter, at a fixed price of C$21, the dinner, which includes a soup, an appetizer and a main course with three to five options, invites people to brave the cold and stimulate their taste buds. Nevada’s Ristorante is open daily, Monday through Friday from 11 am to 10 pm, and on weekends the restaurant opens at 9 am for brunch. Chris explained that brunch is very busy, and oddly enough, the most popular item on the brunch menu is the Big Breakfast, which consists of three eggs, maple-smoked bacon, sausage, home fries, and fruit. Eggs Benedict (with Canadian pea flour bacon), Eggs Nova (with smoked salmon), and Eggs Florentine (with spinach) are also favorite choices.
Nevada’s is quite a large restaurant: the main dining room on the ground floor and an equally sized dining room upstairs offer 135 seats, while the patio in the summer seats an additional 35-40 people. The Nevada playground is particularly popular with athletes, for example beach volleyball players who come from Ashbridges Bay, as well as tennis players from the Kew Gardens Tennis Club. The restaurant employs 35-40 people in the summer and has 15 regular staff members during the slower winter months. Chris emphasized that they try to hire local residents as much as possible.
In addition to learning about the restaurant, I wanted to know a bit more about the owners. Chris was born in Greece and his parents moved to Toronto when he was 18 months old. He grew up in Etobicoke and in the Victoria Park and Lawrence area. Even as a child he often went down to the beach; he added that he always liked the area and was very excited when Nevada’s Ristorante became available for sale.
Chris’ personal background is not really in the hospitality industry: he studied computer science and worked for several years for Sony Canada. Three years ago he decided to team up with his parents to go into the restaurant business himself. He indicated that a family member is on the premises at all times, they enjoy a great working relationship and have a lot of fun together. He doesn’t have a lot of free time these days, but he’s getting ready for a big change in his own life: Chris and his wife are expecting his first baby this March!
Dimitra, Chris’s mom, was born in Greece in Kalamata, located on the large southern Greek peninsula called the Peloponnese. She graduated from high school in 1973, and by then her older sister and her brother had immigrated to Toronto. Her mother was also here, and in 1974 Dimitra herself came to Canada. From 1976 to 1978 she returned to Greece, where she worked together with her husband. The couple have since returned to Canada, where they now have strong roots. In total, 16 of Dimitra’s nieces and nephews were born in Canada and all of the uncles, aunts and cousins have close family relationships and enjoy spending time together.
Gus and Dimitra only live ten minutes from the restaurant, and Dimitra often comes here to cover the noon shift, while Gus or Chris cover the night shift. Gus also does the shopping and buys the fruits and vegetables at the Ontario food terminal. Chris added that they have committed to healthy eating, which is why they now use vegetable oil instead of shortening in the fryer. 95% of the sauces are now homemade and have minimized the use of preservatives or MSG.
Chris enjoys making people happy. He said that when people go to a restaurant he wants to have a good time. Many of the regulars have become family to Chris, drawn again and again by the cozy atmosphere, friendly service, and excellent food.
There are also some new initiatives on the horizon for the Nevada Ristorante: In the coming weeks, the restaurant will close for two to three weeks for some renovations. Chris plans to relocate the bar to the rear of the main dining room, so that tables can be placed at the front, allowing for a lovely view of the action on Queen Street. He has also been thinking about integrating live music and theme nights into his entertainment offering. This could include a Greek night with some belly dancing, or an Italian or Mexican themed night with music and ethnic food.
Another new initiative will include freshly baked bread that can be purchased on a walk-in basis. This will include olive bread and foccaccia. Cooking classes are another idea that has been floating around Chris’s mind; he’s planning to set up the upstairs dining room for free cooking classes that he plans to hold three to four times a year. Chris is imagining a lot of things to get the neighborhood more involved in the hospitality experience.
Creative entrepreneurship also manifests itself in a collaboration with the recently opened Bizzy Bee Playcentre, a safe and fun indoor play area with slides and ball pits, pretend play areas, sand table, paint and crafts, games construction and a children’s area. . Along with a number of other local businesses, Nevada’s Ristorante participates in a Shop + Dine program, where customers receive two hours of free childcare at the Bizzy Bee Playcentre if they spend $25 or more per child. A practical idea for a getaway with a local romantic dinner…
After this detailed explanation and a tour of the facility, I headed upstairs to prepare for my own dinner. My friend Leslie and I sat at a cozy table on the second floor overlooking busy Queen Street. We both commented that we really enjoyed the decor, and one table in particular, a small table in the northwest corner with a private window, is ideal for a romantic tête-à-tête dinner. With Valentine’s Day approaching, we figured this table would have no problem selling out.
All this dinner talk had set us up for our own culinary experience. I started my meal with a tasty Potato and Leek Soup, accompanied by a slice of foccaccia bread with subtle Mediterranean flavours. I’m a big fan of appetizers, and it was hard to choose just one from a wide selection of enticing options. I settled on a Pecan Crusted Brie while Leslie had the Indochine Spring Rolls. I then moved on to a shrimp and asparagus risotto while my friend had the Chicken Maximus, which consists of a chicken breast with wild mushrooms, leeks, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic in a sweet basil chardonnay reduction. After an incredibly filling and delicious dinner, neither she nor I had more room in our stomachs to sample some of the amazing desserts. I would have loved to try some of the Nevada sweets, but I couldn’t even finish my main course and had to take half my dinner home in a doggy bag.
Chris and his staff came by several times to check on us and see if we needed anything else. The service was discreet but attentive. Leslie and I had a wonderful time catching up, two busy women who hadn’t seen each other in quite some time, and our evening at Nevada’s Ristorante was the perfect opportunity to reconnect.