An Eastern Townships’ restaurant has made a name for itself at the national level after opening its doors less than a year ago. 

L'Éspace Old Mill is a historical landmark in the village of Stanbridge East dating back to 1849. It was purchased by Jean-Martin Fortier, a market gardener and owner of Les Jardins de la Grelinette, over a year ago. Fortier and his team transformed the space, which was formerly known as the Cecil House, to open up a farm-to-table style restaurant in Brome-Missisquoi.

L'Éspace Old Mill officially opened in March of this year and now it has been named as one of “Canada’s Best New Restaurants” by Air Canada enRoute magazine. 

“It’s the premier critic review of restaurants in Canada. We were nominated in the top ten and we went to Toronto last week where we finished 9th. There were restaurants from Toronto, from Montreal, Victoria, there was one restaurant from Winnipeg, and there was Stanbridge East,” highlighted Fortier. 

Food journalist Amy Rosen is the critic behind this year’s list and she secretly made a visit to the Eastern Townships to experience L'Éspace Old Mill. 

“They come blindly, we don’t know when they come and we don’t know who they are. (…) The list goes down to 30 and she does the 30 restaurants, which is probably a lot of food, a lot of work, a lot of wine, but then she cracks down the list to ten and then goes and eats at all of these restaurants,” explained Fortier. “For us, it’s a really nice reward. We worked so hard the whole team, from the kitchen to the people on the floor. Also, me and my business partner took a lot of risks to open a restaurant here. (…) It was a mix of relief, of happiness, and oh boy, this is a lot of work and believing in our project.”

Now that L'Éspace Old Mill has received this recognition, Fortier highlighted that he and his team will continue to “refine” their work for those that visit the restaurant.

“We need to commit to making sure that we are up to the standings. It’s [more difficult], I think, to stay on top than to get on top. What we want to do is refine what we do, get better at what we do, but we just want to make sure that everyone that comes here has a good experience,” he said. “We’re not super pricey, but we’re not cheap. We’re fully aware that when people come here that they are spending their money. We want to make sure that when people spend their money that they’re getting their value for it, they get a nice experience, and they get back home and they’re happy. That’s really what we want to do here, that’s our only goal.”

While CIDI could not get through to Air Canada enRoute magazine for comment, Fortier said that it’s the “constraints” and “parameters” that are placed on L'Éspace Old Mill that sets its apart from other restaurants and that led to finding itself in the Top Ten. 

“What we read and what we know is that first of all, this is a farm-to-table. It’s an authentic farm-to-table where most of the produce - vegetable wise - comes from the gardens. The gardens are 10 meters away from the restaurant, it’s the backyard. It’s a pretty big year-round market garden. We supply the restaurant every month throughout the year with what we grow,” he highlighted. “(…) Everything that we serve at the Old Mill is 100% locally sourced, that’s the parameters that we have. There are a few exceptions with salt that comes from the St. Lawrence and a few bottle of wines from France, but we only use local products from Brome-Missisquoi. Not many restaurants go that far.”

According to Fortier, the recognition has already caught on and the restaurant received 200 reservations within two days from people that want to visit L'Éspace Old Mill, which also includes a small auberge named after the Cecil House. 

Despite the massive uptick, Fortier invites all Townshippers to experience what L'Éspace Old Mill is all about. 

“We’re really proud to be here in Stanbridge East and the Eastern Townships. We only work with local artisans, farmers, and we are supportive of the community. We really appreciate when people come and eat at our place, so we’re inviting everyone,” concluded Jean-Martin Fortier. 

To read Rosen's review.

Listen to the full interview with Fortier below: