Caroline Ishii and her sous chef pose for the camera at Zen Kitchen. Photo courtesy of John Wiseman on Flickr
It’s no secret that we are big fans of ZenKitchen here at Apartment 613. The little vegetarian restaurant on Somerset has become a welcome addition to Ottawa’s culinary scene. When we first wrote about ZenKitchen back in the summer we reported that the restaurant’s executive chef, Caroline Ishii, and co-owner/sommelier David Loan were followed by a camera crew as they tried to fulfill their dream of opening the place and making it a success.
That adventure has now been documented in the new show from Mountain Road Productions titled, The Restaurant Adventures of Caroline and Dave. The first of 13 episodes will premiere on the W Network, this Wednesday night at 9PM. (Click here for a sneak peak). The co-owners are planning a small party (media event/tasting/episode watching) that evening to kick the series off – invitation only, we’re afraid (more on that later).
According to the shows’ producers, Caroline and Dave did not have an easy voyage turning ZenKitchen into a reality.
Though Caroline is an excellent chef who prizes the freshest ingredients, she did not have much experience with the business side of running a restaurant. Dave too, a former political staffer, was a little wet behind the ears on business front.
Their inexperience was compounded by early financing problems, real estate issues, faulty equipment, absent contractors and “staff walking out the door.”
Somehow, they made it all work and came out with a great product. If you want to see exactly how they managed to make their restaurant one of the city’s best culinary additions this past year, you should tune in to the show. We will.
As a very special treat – ZenKitchen has invited two lucky Apartment613 readers to their party/ screening tomorrow night. If you want to get your vegan on and celebrate with the team at Zen, email us at editors@apt613.ca and we’ll enter your name in a draw for the chance to attend! Get typing… we draw names at 6:00pm!
Sarah L. is the lucky winner! She and a guest will get to attend the ZenKitchen party.
So how was the show and the party??