Local eatery to be featured on Food Network

July 16, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Tabitha Wells – Food Network film crews took over the Barley Vine Rail Co. (BVR) for two days this week to film one of their popular shows, You Gotta Eat Here! at the restaurant. This marks the third time the series has filmed in Orangeville, and tells the rest of Canada what the locals here already know; that food and restaurants in Orangeville are worthy of recognition.

Following in the footsteps of Soulyve and Philadelphia Kitchen, the BVR was nominated online, and received enough nominations and requests that the show decided they were worth checking out. For the BVR crew, who have only been here for about a year, the news blew them away.

“It feels pretty incredible, and we’re all really excited,” explained Ryan Latorre, owner of the BVR. “To be selected so soon, in terms of us being here less than a year, is surprising, but it’s a great feeling. It was kind of very quick and sudden when we did get selected, and keeping it under wraps for as long as we did was the hardest part.”

He added that part of the reason they had to keep the news quiet for six or seven weeks was that there is always a chance something might occur and filming might not happen. But once it was confirmed, the BVR could barely contain their excitement.

The filming took place throughout the day on Tuesday and Wednesday, and featured different interview components and demonstrations with both Mr. Latorre and Chef Jason Cooney.

While each day was approximately 12 hours off and on of filming, the segment on the show will be condensed to about 10 to 15 minutes of air time.

“The filming has been really cool,” said Mr. Latorre.

“It’s kind of slow and methodical. Chef’s been making every dish twice to get different angles, so I think he’s doing the heavy lifting for this. I’ve mostly gotten to sit back and watch.”

He added that being a part of the show far exceeds their expectations for where the restaurant was supposed to go. When the restaurant opened, the goal was to provide a restaurant with great food that people would enjoy, which of course, is a pretty normal goal for a restaurant. Hitting a point where they would have their food and restaurant aired nationally wasn’t even a possibility that ever crossed their minds.

“We wanted people to enjoy our food, have a good time and like what we were offering,” said Mr. Latorre. “This was something that never even entered the realm of my thought ever. It’s really surreal, because it’s not something that was planned. This is just a completely different scale from anything we had ever planned.”

The success of the restaurant and the nominations by its patrons to be on the show speak volumes to the level of passion and dedication Mr. Latorre and the staff at the BVR have for their food and what they offer to the community.

Mr. Latorre has been a part of the food industry in Orangeville for just over eight years. He started his journey at One99 on Broadway, where he first started to learn about the types of diners the community has and what the industry is like locally. From there, he spent some time at Greystones, where he met a completely different aspect of the ‘Orangeville diner’, and started developing ideas of where he might like to go locally in the industry.

“I just really fell in love with the area and the industry here right away,” he said. “I just fell in love with the people in this town, with serving them and with getting to know them. When the opportunity came to open a restaurant in town, that was it. It was kind of a no-brainer at that point.”

The BVR is also very focused on being a part of the community, not just a business operating in the community. They are a huge supporter of the arts, and often host local musicians in the downstairs area of the restaurant.

“Club Art in Orangeville is one of our charities of choice and we try to do what we can with them to help foster the arts locally,” said Mr. Latorre. “We try to display different artist every month, and we do different charity events for organizations like Kerry’s Place. We’re trying to do as much for the community as we possibly can and be partners with all the restaurants in town, because that’s what community is.”

He added that in a small community like this, it’s important for local restaurants to partner and work together to bring more people to the area.

“The more people there are in this are, the more patrons there are for all us,” he said.

Although the exact air-date is not known yet, the episode will run sometime in season four of the show, which is currently airing season three on the Food Network.

“We do know that we’re supposed to be at the beginning of the schedule, but I don’t know if that means anything,” said Mr. Latorre.

“We’ll probably know for sure when they officially plan out the next season.”