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Message From John
How could I have imagined that driving down a California highway
in a 67 Volkswagon van, rag top down, singing Stevie Wonder
hits, would lead me to a small city on an island in Canada
for the past
23 years, creating and operating John's Place
Restaurant? Oh yes, I had the experience -- I've been cooking
for 30 years, even won a gold medal at the food Olympics,
but that's a far cry from running a very busy diner style
restaurant with breakfast, lunch and dinner 364 days a year.
It sure didn't start out that way, though.
I came with my best friend, Joe Weisbrodt, ( who
has since passed away Nov 19, 2004 ), a transplanted LA man,
to open a hamburger joint called Little Sammy's Fattburger
with his childhood buddy Howie Siegel. A far cry from gourmet
meals and gold medals you should ask? You're right; looking
back, I must have been crazy, but I've been a Bob Dylan troobadoor
my whole life and the intrigue of owning something far outweighed
my culinary desire. It will be of no surprise to everyone
that I lasted just about a year. I went to bed with Fattburgers
on my mind and woke up to the smoke of the charbroiler. Do
you believe in destiny? I had a ticket to leave Victoria and
go on another Bilbo Baggins adventure to Tahiti. I had saved
$6,000 and was headed to the sun. I had no idea what was in
Tahiti but I knew it was warm and had plenty of girls and
NO FATTBURGERS! As luck goes, my motorcycle broke down and
I had to start walking to work.
 Nice
walk from Bay & Fernwood down Pandora Ave. to Little Sammy's.
I had to pass the old, boarded-up London Fish "n" Chips restaurant
everyday. I would glance over and keep walking, dreaming about
the sun in Tahiti. Well, each day I would start to linger,
peering through the large glass windows in the front, glancing
at the tall ceilings and thinking about an old fashioned diner,
the kind we all grew up in back then, before the flood of
Franchise "FOOD". Suddenly Tahiti was very far away and I
had to find out some things about the building. It was boarded
up with no sign of life.
I started the ball moving by asking a realtor
friend, Dave Vogelsang, to look into the building to see if
it was for rent. I remember going home and calling my sister
Josie, in Windsor, Ontario. After all, her husband Denis Ouellette
was instrumental in getting me to cook. He has been a professional
chef for 40 years. I wanted to do this with them. Family and
a chef to help me and no FATTBURGERS, what a life! Yes, it
was for rent. How much? Make an offer. Dave helped me to negotiate
a good lease for a very good price since it was gutted and
we would have to build a restaurant. Josie and Denis would
fly to Victoria next week to check things over. I made my
first big blunder and not my last.
I signed the lease with the $6,000 down for
guarantee and 2 months rent free to commence the work but
I still had no guarantee that my family would help me. As
fate would take me, they backed out because they had 3 young
boys in school in Windsor and didn't want to uproot them.
Wow! In a little over 2 weeks I was going to Tahiti, owning
a restaurant, signing a lease with all the money I had, and
no one to help or finance me. Pretty nervous few days I would
say.
 I
went to ask my friend Howie Siegel to finance me and the rest
is history. We opened the doors in October 1984 and 23 years
later we are still going strong. People often ask me, "What
is the secret to your success". It doesn't hurt having a culinary
background because you can always step in at any time but
I would have to say the sacrifice. I lived in my office the
first 6 months on a throw down futon. I opened at 6 am and
sat down at 9 pm, seven days a week. As business would get
better I would start to treat myself with a day off or an
evening off and finally a week-end away from Victoria. HEAVEN!
I have been very lucky to have a beautiful
staff, many have been with me over 20 years. Bernie, Liz,
Sue, Deborah, Cheryl, Sandy, my chef Scott Dixon, night chef John Casimiro and of course, Rodney, my host and friend! A special thanks to Dave Ovans who makes all of our desserts, cooks and relieves me in the office a few days a week. I have
watched their own families grow and we have a good relationship.
They know what I
expect and I do my best to let them have
their own freedom.
As far as my life, I have 2 beautiful children, Norman
and Meela and they are the lights of my life!
 I
still try and manage a few things at the restaurant but I
have my freedom to see the WORLD and for that I am happy!
John Cantin
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