It's a lovely sunny day when the owner of the Hart House invites us over to a private table outside among the trees, serves coffee and chats about the restaurant's busy weekend.
The restaurant stands inside a 1906 Tudor Revival building, on a picturesque 13-acre estate stretching out to Deer Lake, which has enchanted young couples to host their weddings there, film crews to shoot a movie, and friends to meet up for Sunday brunch.
It begins to make sense why the Burnaby hotspot, run by Paul Smolen for the last 25 years, is being inducted into the B.C. Restaurant Hall of Fame this year.
"It's an honour for sure," Smolen says, while sitting on the small patio overlooking the grass lawn with a large white tent that'll stick around until October. "Not too many people get inducted into the hall of fame. I've been around for awhile, so I guess part of being in this business, if you do good, you get inducted into the hall of fame."
Smolen has been in the business since 1976, as he had two restaurants on Robson Street in downtown Vancouver. The City of Burnaby
approached him and asked him to put in a bid to turn the Hart House into a restaurant, as at the time it was a lot that only got used when a movie crew needed it for filming.
After two years of planning and negotiating, Smolen opened the restaurant.
"It's like being out in the country every day," he said. "You've got twoand-a-half acres of lawn and lakes, and I have a dog, I can take the dog out onto the lake."
What has kept the restaurant going is its reputation and customers who keep returning.
"We've got great customers," he noted. "We have a fair amount of business customers, we have a fair amount of customers from Greater Vancouver, even all the way from Montreal."
When asked if Smolen would do it all again if he had the chance, he was quick to answer.
"Absolutely," he said. "First of all, I like cooking. I like dealing with people, and it's challenging. Every day is different."
One day there's a wedding, another day a big company is setting up fireworks for a staff party, and another day someone is shooting a movie or a commercial, he said.
"Last Saturday, we had 228 people
in the tent, sit down dinner," he said. "Plus, the restaurant is open. Then, on Sunday, we opened for lunch plus 250 people for dinner who were going to the VSO (Symphony in the Park) concert, and we had two-and-ahalf hours to feed them and then the restaurant opens."
Hart House employs about 50 people, including 12 cooks in the kitchen. Smolen says he has some staff members who have been there for 20 years.
Although Smolen said he doesn't have a favourite dish, he tends to go for the seafood.
"Basically, what we do is local food and try to do a really good job with it," he said.
When it comes down to it, Smolen attributes the restaurant's success to sticking to the basics.
"The last 15 years has really changed," he said. "You adjust just by osmosis, by being here. It just happens. People's taste has changed. ... You have to do it with feelings."
Smolen is among 11 B.C. restaurateurs, chefs and culinary industry standouts who will be inducted at a Sept. 30 ceremony at the Vancouver Cultural Centre.
For more information about Hart House, visit www.harthouse restaurant.com.
