Although Giselle Denis’s appreciation for Chartier precedes the pandemic, the story behind her connection with the Beaumont restaurant is the textbook definition of a match made in lockdown.
Chartier was doing a silent auction fundraiser online during COVID to help offset some of the costs of having to remain closed for several weeks. One of the silent auction items was a one-hour marketing session with Sylvia [Cheverie], the marketer and owner of Chartier,” Denis says. “When we won the session we were excited, but also a little sceptical, as we have hired marketing help in the past that didn’t really help us.”
Fortunately for Denis, her instincts turned out to be wrong, with Cheverie proving that her visionary abilities apply to a lot more than just French-Canadian cuisine.
“After our session with her, we were blown away by her ideas,” she says. “I wanted to find a way to increase the square footage of my current house/studio space, which I explained to Sylvia. Within one week of speaking with Sylvia, she helped us see the vision of what we could do.”
For Denis, it was just one more item to add to her ongoing list of reasons to love the locally run restaurant, which already included Chartier’s atmosphere, decor (she’s particularly fond of the mid-century velvet couch located in the front entry) and a crispy snack by the name of Haricots Verts.
“No matter what I order at Chartier, I always order these mouth watering tempura fried green beans with smoked maple mayonnaise and chilli maple syrup. A perfect mixture of crunchy and salty and sweet — I had never had anything like them!”
DineChartier.com | 5012 50 St., #102, Beaumont| 780-737-3633
Over the better part of a decade, the 25 Best Things to Eat feature was a summer staple for Avenue readers. Edify keeps the spirit of that program alive in 2021; we will feature the food picks of prominent Edmontonians throughout the spring and summer. Keep checking the food section at EdifyEdmonton.com for weekly updates to our Best Things to Eat recommendations!
