JAN 09 13 – 10:20 AM — On request, chef Michael Holland, 37, puts his fists together on a small table at Francesco’s Coffee house in the Glebe, and there it is for all to behold: OVERLORD tattooed in bold greenish-blue capital letters across his knuckles.
It begs the obvious question.
Overlord is the moniker Holland has been using for years, first as member of a metal rock band called Coalition Against Shane some 16 years ago in Toronto, where he went by the stage name Overlord of Eternal Darkness. (Who knew? Hey, he was 21 at the time.)
More recently, he uses the handle @PastryOverlord on Twitter, as a pastry chef trained at George Brown College in 1992 who, along with chef de cuisine Sarah Allen, was with Ottawa chef Marc Lepine when he opened Atelier restaurant on Rochester Street in November 2008. As it turned out, both Holland and Allen moved on — Holland, in 2010 to work with acclaimed chef Joe Mercuri at Rosalie in Montreal, and Allen to join the kitchen at the new Union Local 613 restaurant that opened last July on Somerset Street West.
The good news is, Holland is back in Ottawa and has just started working again at Atelier.
Even better, he and Allen plan to open their own small restaurant somewhere downtown later this year. “We’re super excited to have Holland back in the kitchen of course,” Lepine says. “He’s one of the most talented and creative pastry chefs in Canada.
“And I’m really proud that he and Sarah are working towards opening a place. They both really helped me get Atelier going and I hope to be able to help them in return. No doubt theirs will be a one-of-a-kind spot,” Lepine says.
In fact, the Holland-Allen business duo is among a handful of exciting chef-owned eateries coming this year to the nation’s capital. Others include:
• Chef Steve Wall (formerly of The Whalesbone Oyster House, then Town, then Luxe Bistro) and his wife, Jennifer, are putting finishing touches to Supply and Demand at 1335 Wellington St., at Ross Street, and should open within days;
• Chef Jon Svazas (formerly at Farb’s Kitchen, then John Taylor’s Genuine Food & Wine Bar), is renovating a former shoe store and hair salon at Bank and Frank streets to open a new neighbourhood restaurant, called Fauna, which he hopes to open in either late March or early April;
• The folks at The Whalesbone Oyster House are taking over the kitchen at Elmdale House Tavern in Hintonburg with a March 1 relaunch date;
• Chef Warren Sutheralnd (formerly of Sweetgrass Abnoriginal Bistro, current chef and partner at SmoQue Shack barbecue on York Street), plans a new pizza place, called Slice & Co., in a former Second Cup location on Elgin Street;
• Chef Matt Carmichael (formerly at Social, Restaurant E18hteen, Sidedoor) expects his own place, called El Camino, with takeout tacos, to open on Elgin Street in about April.
What’s the attraction of Ottawa?
“My wife, Sara, and I really liked Ottawa and we’d been looking for an opportunity to come back,” Holland says.
“For me, there are not a lot of opportunities for a pastry chef in the city, so I was talking with Sarah Allen who’s at Union Local 613 and we decided to go into business together. That’s the main reason I came back.
“Meanwhile, Marc invited me back to Atelier to pick up where I left off, and I started there on Jan. 3.”
Holland says he and Allen plan a “small, very casual” place in a central location, with maybe 12 to 15 seats. “I won’t be doing much pastry, but more savoury cooking,” Holland says.
“We haven’t found a location but it’s going to be central. We’re still looking in the Glebe area, Elgin Street, close to bars. We want to attract everyone — families, the night crowd, people in their 20s and 30s — with just fun food. We’re hoping to open in about July, but it depends on the location.
“We expect we could open about three months after finding a spot, but realistically start to finish could be a longer.”
And their restaurant name is still under wraps.
“In the last five years the city is changing where more chefs are opening their own places — and they’re all unique,” Holland says. “It’s not a competitive thing, the chefs are all friends and they’re not trying to outdo each other. What you see are lots of restaurants and lots of cool dishes, each place with its own niche.
“So, Sarah and I want to create our own niche to complement what others are doing.”
Twitter: @roneade
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