Antonio Park at home

Montreal is one of the cities with the most restaurants per capita, and if Antonio Park gets his way, it will also be the food capital.

Yet the renowned chef feels at home amongst the restaurant madness. “I didn’t open a restaurant because I wanted to open a restaurant, it’s because I wanted to eat so much!” he laughed.

This is the best city for food to Park, probably because back in the day there was a lot of home cooking. “Things as simple as paté chinois –just delicious– and poutine with fries and gravy sauce, canard, pintade, and much more.”

Being a multicultural metropolis, Park fits in. “I’m a Korean Montrealer who grew up in South America. I have kimchi running through my blood, an unconditional love for sashimi and I think like a Latino. I’m a messed up guy, big time!”

Proud Westmounter, he wants his son Alexander and daughter Naomi, to live in safe environment where neighbours helps one another.

In Febuary 2012, after years of study in Japan and France, then working in Tokyo, Osaka, New York and Toronto, “Park” opened on Victoria Ave. Antonio struggled about the name, but decided to honor his ancestors.

The Japanese restaurant uses only fresh, sustainable produce, some coming from the 5,000 square foot roof top farm and beehives. It mixes the tastes and techniques of Korean, Japanese, French and even Quebecois cuisine. They are an homage to what can be made today, he explained. “I keep these cultures in my kitchen to respect them. I am not a creator of new things. I take what exists and make it the best possible. ‘Park’ his who I am today.”

He opened Lavanderia next door almost three years ago. A tree in the restaurant lends to the simple décor and South American feel. “I wanted a place where I could sit down with my friends and eat charcoaled BBQ, like when I was a child.” Antonio grew up in his father’s denim-bleaching lavanderia in Buneos Aires. Every day, the staff, up to 100 people, would eat their meal together under a mango tree.

Antonio Park doesn’t believe in success or luck. For him, hard work is key. And the help of his friends. “Food brings people together, he said. You will talk to people you don’t particularly like around a good meal. Even your enemies need to eat!”
And because food is so important, he takes part in Action contre la faim, a humanitarian organization that helps build water wells and farms to develop agriculture in desert regions of Paraguay, where his family comes from.

The 39-year-old restaurant owner has also big plans for the future. Not only is he planning to open a restaurant in Prague with hockey players Petr Svoboda and Jaromir Jagr, but his biggest goal is to make Montreal to food capital of the world. His vision would bring all the chefs together, eliminate competition and let tourists experience what the city is all about.