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Leon Goldnshtain,
Mideastro,
Thornhill, Ont.
By Gary Lipovetsky, President of MenuPalace.com
 Leon Goldnshtain is the quintessential Canadian success story. Born in Israel, Goldnshtain grew up in South Africa and moved to Toronto just six years ago, attracted to this city for its diversity and all the opportunities it provided.
When one particular opportunity presented itself - a chance to open his own restaurant - Goldnshtain made sure it was a completely unique concept. He took the best parts of his home cuisine, blended it with another of his favourite cuisines using as much fresh, seasonal Canadian ingredients as he could. The final result, Mideastro, is quite possibly the world’s first Middle Eastern/Mediterranean fusion restaurant.
MP: What’s unique about Toronto’s restaurant scene?
LG: I really like the wide variety of cuisines available. We’re an immigrant hub - everybody here is from a different place, and they all bring their own cuisines. There’s so much choice.
MP: Whose idea was it to blend Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food?
LG: My original partner was pushing me to do something with him for a long time. His father is a chef. When we found this spot, we decided to go for it. But unfortunately, just five months before we were to open, his dad got sick. He told me he couldn’t go ahead, so I was pretty much left on my own.
At the time I had a lot of Israeli and Italian friends, and I thought it was funny because all my Italian friends liked Middle Eastern food and all my Israeli and Jewish friends liked Italian food. So I decided to combine the two and see if I could accommodate them both.
MP: It’s a very unique concept.
LG: I knew it was something nobody had ever done. Sure, there are a lot of fusion restaurants, but they all focus on Asian cuisines. I wanted to do something different. We’ve been open for just over a year, and we’re also going to be featured on the Food Network in a new David Adjey show called The Opener.
MP: Did he help you with the opening?
LG: He didn’t really help us with the opening, but when you see the show it will look this way (laughing). It’s a one-hour show, which is going to air in March. At the end of the day, it’s great marketing, but it was also a very nice experience. David and his team were here for a month before we opened with cameras and sound crews. The place was already put together, but they helped us come up with new dishes and refine our concept and how we blend these cuisines together. That was the biggest challenge. There was a lot of drama, if you can imagine.
MP: Sure, it’s a TV show, after all. Did Adjey like the concept?
LG: That’s one of the reasons he chose us for the show. He said it was very unique. Overall, it was a great experience.
MP: Was it a challenge to blend these cuisines together?
LG: The biggest challenge is that Middle Eastern food is typically known as fast-food cuisine. In Israel, most of the restaurants are fast-food-type restaurants, serving pita, quick salads, shawarma, et cetera. And everybody likes Italian food, with all the great pasta and wine. I think they’re equally popular.
MP: There is also common ground with ingredients and flavours, like garlic, olives, lamb, et cetera. Who’s the chef?
LG: We have two chefs. One is Italian and the other is Israeli.
MP: Do they get along?
LG: It took three months, but now they’re trained to collaborate. They both bring in very authentic dishes and work well together to mix them up and create something new.
MP: People are craving authenticity these days. What’s a signature dish?
LG: Our Moroccan platter appetizer is very popular. It features vegetarian falafels,
beef cigars and kubbe with tahini sauce. We also serve veal, Mediterranean sea bass, and dishes like warm goat cheese salad. Our menu is very accommodating to everybody.
MP: Is it a kosher restaurant?
LG: No. We don’t have pork or any dishes like that but we do have salmon, tilapia, sea bass, veal chops and lamb chops with couscous.
MP: Are there any Israeli wines?
LG: Yes we keep some, but they’re not on the menu. Our wine list has nice variety. There’s a lot of Italian wine as well as stuff from everywhere.
MP: What do you love about the restaurant business?
LG: It’s about the beauty of seeing people enjoy themselves, and see them come back. But it’s more than the food - service, ambiance and music are also important. We have live jazz here on the weekends. Our Maitre ’D, Jeff Peller, is from the Peller Estates family. He works here six nights a week, and he does a little Frank Sinatra thing at the end of the night with the saxophone player.
MP: What’s the most challenging part of it?
LG: Consistency is very tough. It is easy to please one customer, but in order to keep it rolling it has to stay the same, or they’ll know. That’s the biggest challenge.
MP: Has it been tough to get your employees all on the same page?
LG: I’ll tell you what. I have created a different sort of atmosphere here. My staff - they’re friends as much as employees. We all share the desire to succeed. Look, we started this with no experience, from the concept to the menu items. It’s not like a chain here. This is custom made to our attitude, and you know what? It works.
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