Introducing – Mary Lee of Spiaggia Restaurant – A hospitality entrepreneur with a heart for art
Website design By BotEap.comOne restaurant I’ve wanted to visit for a long time is Spiaggia Trattoria (“spiaggia” means “beach” in Italian) on the eastern end of the Queen Street strip. Local beach expert Glenn Cochrane had mentioned that the owner, Mary Lee, was an interesting person and recommended that I interview her. To catch her before the busy evening hours at her establishment I met her at 5:30 and we were seated in a quiet corner at the back of the restaurant.
Website design By BotEap.comMary Lee indicated that she and her husband John moved to the beach in 1989. Before the couple moved to this neighborhood, they lived in an apartment in the Sutton Place Hotel. Noticing my surprise, Mary Lee explained that floors 19 through 31 of this famous Toronto hotel were reserved for rent-controlled residential apartments. Even today, some of the apartments are still occupied by the original tenants. I never knew there were private apartments in the Sutton Place Hotel. You never stop learning about your own city…
Website design By BotEap.comBefore becoming a restaurant entrepreneur, Mary Lee was an interior designer while her husband worked as an architect at Bank of Montreal. Spiaggia wasn’t her first foray into hotel property; the couple had owned restaurants in Oakville and on St. Clair Avenue in Toronto. In 1990 they bought the building where the current restaurant is located; It housed five apartments and the small Spiaggia..
Website design By BotEap.comMary Lee and her husband immediately began renovating the property and when demolition work began, they found newspapers on the wall dating to 1902. Throughout the renovation they continued to operate the existing restaurant and patrons enjoyed looking at the stucco. that is taking place in the building, right through the front windows.
Website design By BotEap.comToday, the second floor has a beautiful apartment: Mary Lee took me upstairs briefly and I saw a spacious apartment with an unusual layout with many angles and a beautiful decoration scheme of light colors, obviously the result of her talent for interior design . She took me to the back balcony and mentioned that she can see all the way to Toronto City Hall from this spot.
Website design By BotEap.comThe couple spent three years repairing the building and dealing with technical problems along the way. A local regulation required them to keep the old pipes intact while installing the new pipes. As a result, the current building has two sets of plumbing throughout, of course only the new plumbing is being used.
Website design By BotEap.comMary Lee’s real estate investment and renovation skills, as well as her protective feelings about the neighborhood, became apparent when a video rental store across the street was being converted into an adult video store. Concerned about the impact on the neighborhood, the couple bought the property and turned it into an art gallery. The adult video store moved further west on Queen Street, out of the Beach neighborhood.
Website design By BotEap.comWhen her husband passed away in 1998, Mary Lee closed the art gallery because she did not have enough time to run both businesses. A graphic design business now occupies the space. Mary Lee mentions that during the difficult time surrounding her husband’s death, her loyal customers at her restaurant took care of her. Her support and the increased workload she was now carrying got her through a difficult transition period.
Website design By BotEap.comWe started talking about Spiaggia and the unique features of this elegant restaurant. Spiaggia is open seven days a week in the evenings from 5 to 11 pm. It has two seating areas and the area on the north side of the building can be reserved for private gatherings. Often this room hosts special events for up to 20 people.
Website design By BotEap.comSpiaggia’s cuisine includes seven different types of pasta dishes, fresh fish, shellfish and veal dishes. Spiaggia is part of Eat Smart! – Ontario Healthy Restaurants Program, an exclusive program that rewards Ontario restaurants that meet high standards in food safety, nutrition and non-smoking seating. Mary Lee added that guests can get custom meals prepared in front of them in the open kitchen. Guests always enjoy fresh and healthy food at Spiaggia.
Website design By BotEap.comAs we sat there, Mary Lee told me a couple of funny stories: In late December, she got a reservation out of town with a credit card from a prospective restaurant customer in the United States. They called a week in advance to reserve a seat for Spiaggia’s New Year’s Eve dinner. Mary Lee was wondering what happened when these customers didn’t show up. A few days later, she received a phone call from a woman in West Virginia who said that she couldn’t find Spiaggia’ on Queen Street, but she was finally able to find it on Michigan Avenue, in Chicago!
Website design By BotEap.comApparently, he had found information about Spiaggia on the internet and was planning to have a nice New Year’s Eve dinner in Chicago, but ended up booking with Spiaggia Trattoria in Toronto!
Website design By BotEap.comEven funnier and more unusual is the story behind Mary Lee’s espresso machine. In the 1970s she traveled to Florida with her husband in her Corvette. On the way home, John saw an unusual item in a store window in Fort Lauderdale. He made an immediate U-turn and went into the store to inquire about this interesting looking item.
Website design By BotEap.comThe object, it turned out, was an espresso machine made in Italy, but the 1970s was an era before fancy coffee concoctions. When Mary Lee’s husband asked what the object was, the man simply replied in a southern accent “makes coffee.” John had to have the espresso machine and ended up buying it for $21,000, which 30 years ago was more money than he had paid for the Corvette.
Website design By BotEap.comHe simply had to buy this espresso machine, and since there wasn’t enough room in the car for Mary Lee and the espresso machine, he left it at the airport and drove home with the espresso machine strapped to the passenger seat that stood out from the ceiling Mary Lee laughed and said, “I’m the only woman ever to be dumped by an espresso machine.” Today the machine is still used to make coffee.
Website design By BotEap.comMary Lee told me about her attachment to the beach neighborhood. She said that she loves the area and likes to walk down Queen Street or the Boardwalk. It is a neighborhood with a very high quality of life, one of those Toronto neighborhoods that even on Sundays have a lot of life on the street. She chuckled when she mentioned a popular local saying: “you can’t live in this neighborhood unless you have a dog or a stroller.” In fact, the beach is very popular with dog owners and young families.
Website design By BotEap.comUnfortunately, international events have had an impact on the beach. Restaurant owners on the beach and Toronto in general have been really hit by the slowdown in American tourism to Toronto. In 2003, Toronto was affected by the SARS crisis, and more recently, travel between Canada and the US has become more difficult due to passport requirements and terrorism prevention measures. Mary Lee has noticed a significant decline in US customers in recent years. Additionally, the beach’s popularity as an entertainment area has raised rents for many merchants, making it difficult to do business in this neighborhood. Mary Lee stated that she is lucky as she owns the Spiaggia building.
Website design By BotEap.comMaryLee explained that she has about 14 full-time and part-time staff members working at Spiaggia. Her chef Jacobo Guerra is originally from Ecuador and has been in Canada since 1979. She started in the hospitality industry 16 years ago after completing a chef course at George Brown College. In addition to his culinary education, Jacobo is also talented in the arts and took a fine arts program at the Ontario College of Arts. Victor, Jacobo’s assistant, comes from India and came to Canada in 2001. He has been working at Spiaggia for almost three years and says that he has learned everything he knows from the expert Jacobo.
Website design By BotEap.comArt is a common theme at Spiaggia: Brittany Ross works part-time as a waitress at the restaurant and owns her own photography and web design business. (She designed the Spiagga website.) During my visit I also had the opportunity to sit down and chat with John Dowding, a renowned local photographer and photography teacher, who is a regular on the Beach Studio Tour. John has an interesting event at the beginning of February: a photo tour of Havana, he and I were going to arrange a personal interview so that I would have the opportunity to learn more about one of the many artists on the beach.
Website design By BotEap.comJohn noted that Mary Lee is an active sponsor of the Beach Studio Tour and is always available to help if the artists need anything. He commented that over the years he has enjoyed a great friendship with Mary Lee and loves coming here for a good dinner.
Website design By BotEap.comAfter my interview with Mary Lee and my conversation with John Dowding, I had a chance to sit down and try some of Spiaggia’s cooking. Spiaggia’s menu is extensive with many delicious options, and a prix-fixe menu that includes an entree, entree, and dessert is available at the reasonable price of $25.95.
Website design By BotEap.comI decided to go for the prix fixe menu and started with a Caesar salad followed by an extremely tasty “Vitello alla Balsamic” – a delicious arrangement of grilled beef, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, with leek Dijon balsamic sauce and capellini of garlic butter. on the side. I’m not usually much of a meat eater, but the tender veal accompanied by an interesting array of vegetable flavors was scrumptious. My dinner partner had the Gorgonzola Carbonara which he commented was fabulous too. After a delicious tiramisu, my favorite Italian dessert, Mary Lee invited us to taste the famous chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce. All I can say is that I was glad I finally made the journey to discover Trattoria Spiaggia.
Website design By BotEap.comAnd I had the opportunity to meet Mary Lee, a talented interior designer, restaurant owner committed to serving high-quality, fresh and healthy food, and an entrepreneur with a big heart for the arts…