Grain, Curd and Bean
1414 Dundas Street West
416-533-1418
This new little shop at Dundas just east of Dufferin is the latest bright spot in the neighbourhood. And it's the kind of place where anyone can feel like a regular the first time they walk through the door. Also it smells good. Really good.
Owners Mike Wdowiak and his wife, Yvonne Murchison (along with their little boy, Max) are finally realizing an idea, the seeds of which had been planted some time ago. “When I first met Yvonne, one of the first things we talked about was ‘You know what? We should open up a little shop on Dundas’ because we used to live at Dundas and Bellwoods,” says Mike. “It was just kind of a fleeting idea, and then as things went along we kept coming back to the idea. Initially we were going to open up in the Junction, but we live around the corner on Gladstone and when we saw this place it was like ‘Okay, we don’t even have to drive to work anymore.’ It’s fun. That’s basically what it comes down to. And I can have my family here and do it too.”
Both Mike and Yvonne are passionate about great food. After 15 years working in the film industry in a variety of capacities, Mike worked at a few “foodie places” including The Healthy Butcher, Mill Street Brewery, All the Best Fine Foods and also managed a small shop in Parkdale.
“I grew up in the Bloor West Village,” say Mike. “My father owned a drugstore at the other end of the block that the Cheese Boutique used to be on. So I basically grew up next door to it. This was back in the day, before Baby Gap and all that came in, it was all about food. It was Eastern European deli type of food, but that was the focus. It was food and family and going home and sitting around a table and eating.”
Now it’s all about Grain, Curd and Bean – great bread, great cheese, and great coffee. “The three things people can’t live without.”
Newly opened this past November, Mike and Yvonne are still exploring the possibilities of their new business. They’re certainly in love with what they're doing, but are not keen to rush into things. “We just want to make sure that we're not going to offer something that we wouldn't love to eat ourselves. It's back to basics. I offer what I like. And I think that's kind of what the store is. I don't want to seem selfish, but it's got to come from somewhere, and, basically, this is all the things and I and my wife and my friends appreciate. We want to see how the community adjusts to it. I don't want to force anything on anyone.”
For what it’s worth, Grain, Curd and Bean can force on me whatever they like. There’s a fantastic array of wonderful Fred’s Bread, an impressive display of artisan cheeses, and numerous other delights such as pate, olives, housemade hummus, Montreal-style bagels, and fresh-roasted coffee. “The whole coffee idea was really selfish. It was because I wanted to have a really good coffee in the morning while I was at work. But we’ve made it work within the business plan. We spent about the last three months developing our blend, if you will. It sort of leans toward a dark roast, and there’s an espresso blend in it as well which is a lighter roast which kind of brings flavour around the outside.”
They’ve been selective about what’s to be offered. “Starting next week we’re going to be doing soups. And then down the line, in maybe three weeks or so, we’ll have one or two sandwiches and we’re going to be doing a Ploughman’s Lunch which is something that I’ve definitely been looking forward to and just trying to put together the right way. Make sure that it’s high quality ingredients, and not just doing something just to do something. We haven’t yet realized the grand plan. Things will be coming in as the season matures.”
Mike is also keenly aware of what he doesn’t want. “I'm not interested in how many tables can we turn over for lunch. I never wanted to get into the restaurant business. One of the main focuses of this was to have quality products for people to take home and cook with. Our first banner was about brunch essentials to take home. A whole bunch of stuff that when you put it all together you've got an awesome brunch.”
While they source local and organic products as much as they can, they’re not zealots about it. Says Mike, “I’m not going to pigeonhole myself and say we’re only going to use organic this or that because you know what? There’s a lot of stuff out there that’s not organic that’s really good. Olive oils for example. The best olive oils, they’re not organic. To say you’re only going to use one kind of thing, you’re isolating yourself from other items that could be really good. With the cheese selection, we’ll do a lot of stuff that’s close to home as possible, but Roquefort? It’s difficult to find a Roquefort in North America. So we’ll go overseas. Same thing with Parmesan and a few other specific cheeses.”
And it’s plain that Mike’s passion is clearly the curd part of the business. “I really like the focus of cheese, this is where my heart is. If I can bring cheese to people and educate people… I don't know everything about cheese, and if people come in and ask me a tough question, I'm not scared to say I don't know. I want to learn.”
His current distraction is Peau Rouge from Quebec. What starts out as a rather bland raclette becomes transformed in the hands of master affineur, Jean-Philippe Gosselin. “He buys the young raclette, washes it, ages it, and comes out with a completely different product. It is fabulous. The interior of the cheese is really creamy and dense, and the rind is absolutely unbelievable.”
Me, I tried some. I bought some. It is fabulous.
“I’ve actually had people walk in here and say ‘I don’t like cheese.’ And that’s just throwing down the gauntlet. You just haven’t found the cheese that you do like. There are just so many cheeses. You could spend a lifetime discovering cheese.”
But if you don't like cheese, that's okay too. “We want the place to be accessible to everybody, no matter how you're dressed or how much money you have in your pocket, there's got to be something in here for you. I don't want to gouge anybody, I don't want to be elitist. It's just good food. Everybody should be able to have it.”
