4 minute read
Modern Luxuria Vol 20 January 2022
French Fare with a Side of Hospitality
Veterans of the restaurant industry hold the recipe to success
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Patrick and Doris Saurette opened The Marc in October 2011, but their tenure in the hospitality business goes back to La Boheme, a French restaurant in the Highlands where the two were employed in the 80s. They’ve been together professionally and personally ever since.
WORDS BY TWYLA CAMPBELL PHOTOGRAPHY BY TATYANA SEMENOVA
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Patrick’s favourite part of the day is greeting customers, something he gets to do during both the lunch and dinner service. Doris, meanwhile, spends the majority of her time sourcing ingredients and tending to the mountain of administrative tasks demanded of a restaurant owner.
The couple considers The Marc their second home, and the staff their extended family. In an industry where employee turn‑around is extraordinarily high, having staff stay for over 10 years speaks highly not only of how the Saurettes do business, but how they treat people.
“They call us Mom and Dad here,” Patrick says, and credits much of the restaurant’s longevity and success to its foundation which he refers to as “good soil”.
When they worked at La Boheme, the owner, Ernst Eder, told Patrick and Doris to treat the restaurant like it was their
own. “It’s what we tell our employees now, and it makes a difference. It creates a do‑the‑right‑thing energy,” Patrick elaborates. “If a problem arises, we want them to think first: ‘what would Doris or Patrick do’?”
Having servers professionally and efficiently address issues instills confidence in the patron and is a reason The Marc’s clientele has stayed loyal over the years. The other reason, of course, is the food.
The menu offers classic French bistro fare like entrecote
frites, duck confit and beef tartare, but kitchen staff do have the license to create. If the dish makes it through rounds of testing, it’ll appear on the menu. Not all do, but the opportunity to be heard and experiment helps keep the creative juices flowing.
While pretentiousness and high prices are often associated with French food, a warm welcome from the Saurettes and a glance at the menu will assure you that such is not the case at The Marc.
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“It was always our intention to offer something that was approachable, both from a food perspective and a price point,” Patrick says of the time he and Doris spent planning to open a restaurant after il Portico, their former place of business, closed in 2008.
Mission accomplished. The Marc is the perfect place to have a business lunch or to sit solo at the bar with a glass of wine while enjoying some house‑marinated olives. Looking for a long table where the group can get together over escargot and Beef Bourguignon? The staff would be happy to pull a few tables together given appropriate notice.
Large windows allow the sun to flood in during the day and soft lighting makes the room cozy at night. A leather banquette and sleek mirrors on a white brick wall provide some ooh‑la‑la in a noticeably neutral hued room. When Patrick questioned the lack of color with the designer, she said, “The people will be the color.”
The statement made an impact. To Doris and Patrick Saurette, this business has always been about the people.
This year a special Valentine’s Day menu will run February 12, 13 and 14.
The best time to make a reservation is now.
www.themarc.ca
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