It doesn’t look like much today — chef Matthew Carmichael’s planned El Camino is still very much a work in progress. He’s accepting job applications now.
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Hopes to open at 380 Elgin St. in early April
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MAR 06 13 – 12:01 AM — Chef Matthew Carmichael is inviting applications for both front- and back-of-house positions at his new El Camino restaurant on Elgin Street, at Gladstone, which he expects to open in “the first or second week” of April. Applicants for cooks, servers, assistants, bartending and dish washing should email him at mattdcar@yahoo.ca.
I dropped by the basement space, formerly a shawarma shop, yesterday to find it’s pretty much an empty if not yawning abyss with bare walls, empty kitchen area and rough concrete floor. But he expects it will come together quickly once the equipment and furnishings arrive — including custom stainless steel bar stools with maple seats now being built near London, Ont.
Food will include tacos made with sustainable seafood and a raw bar with tuna, scallops, oysters and spot prawn tartare, as well as Thai curry, shrimp dumplings, papaya salad, guacamole.
“At night it will be cool where you walk by on the sidewalk and see the kitchen and taco machine through the window downstairs,” Carmichael says.
Custom bar stools being fabricated near London, Ont., will not have the foot rest shown at left.
Initially, he expects to open five days a week Wednesday to Sunday, with lunch takeout through the front takeout window and dinner service beginning at 6 p.m.
A prominent feature in the 55- to 60-seat restaurant is a Woolworth-style oak bartop “peninsula” that juts into the cente floor space, lined on both sides with 30 fixed stools. Two booths at the rear will each seat eight, plus about five high-top tables on the main floor. He plans to retain a poured concrete wall on the north side, as well as polished concrete floor.
“We’re not going for any pretension here,” Carmichael says. “It’s just going to be straightforward, bare bones — no rustic, no reclaimed wood, no Edison-style light bulbs. Nothing fancy. It’s going to be super casual with backless stools at the bar, all high-tops.”
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Twitter @roneade
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