Andre McGillivray and Steve Da Cruz have formed their own company, pistol star restaurants inc. and with Chef Anthony Sedlak – the popular host of Food Network’s The Main – will open a new restaurant named the corner suite bistro de luxe in Vancouver this July 2009.

The restaurant will be founded upon a back-to-basics approach with contemporary twists in both the cuisine and restaurant design. Sedlak’s menus will be French at heart done in a modern perspective and delivered at a bistro price range. With the corner suite bistro de luxe McGillivray, Da Cruz and Sedlak plan to offer a smart, eclectic, and innovative restaurant with the intention of livening Vancouver’s independent downtown dining scene.

the corner suite bistro de luxe will serve lunch from noon until 5:00 pm and dinner until 1:00 am Monday through Saturday, closing at midnight on Sundays. Located on the corner of 850 Thurlow Street, the room will have 130 seats total, with 90 in the dining room and 40 in the bar. The restaurant will be owned and managed by McGillivray and Da Cruz, both of whom have operated some of Vancouver’s most successful restaurants. McGillivray was instrumental in the formation of the wildly popular Boneta; Da Cruz has managed and tended bar while creating some of the most coveted cocktail lists in the city. And Sedlak – who is a Vancouver native and earned his stripes at The Observatory and La Trompette before winning the Food Network’s Superstar Chef Challenge and becoming host of The Main – is excited to bring his comfort cooking out from behind the camera and back to the plates of diners.

The restaurant is anticipated to open July 1st, 2009.

ANTHONY SEDLAK – CHEF

Twenty-five year old Anthony Sedlak obtained his first job as a busboy at Lupins Café – one of the restaurants atop Grouse Mountain – at the age of 13. He was very quickly promoted to a line cook position at the mountain’s main kitchen. By 16 Anthony was working at the resort’s flagship dining room, The Observatory, where he made his way from 2nd cook to 1st cook and then Chef de Partie. At the same time, Anthony also completed the Culinary Arts Program at Carson Graham Secondary School in North Vancouver and a four-year BC Chefs’ Apprenticeship through Vancouver Community College.

Next, the just turned 20-year-old Sedlak joined the team at La Trompette in West London. Though he joined the restaurant in a junior role, Sedlak worked his way up to the position of Executive Sous-Chef in just one year. The time in London would prove to be a pivotal experience for the young chef, with late night hangouts with the crew from Fat Duck and Gordon Ramsay’s all part of an 18-hour day’s work. Following two years at La Trompette, Sedlak returned to Vancouver and accepted a Sous-Chef position at The Observatory.

In 2006 at just 22 years of age, Sedlak was selected to represent Canada at the Hans Bueschken World Junior Chef Challenge in Auckland, New Zealand, where he took silver medal honours. Later that same year, Anthony was one of six participants selected to compete in Food Network’s Superstar Chef Challenge. Anthony was a natural in front of the camera as well as in the kitchen, and he won the competition.

Since 2007, Anthony has traveled between Vancouver and Toronto to film the Food Network series, The Main. With filming now wrapped for the 2009 season, the corner suite bistro de luxe will bring Anthony back to his hometown of Vancouver, and into his own restaurant kitchen.
ANDRE McGILLIVRAY – PISTOL STAR RESTAURANTS INC.
Andre McGillivray moved to Vancouver in 1991 with a few years of restaurant experience under his belt. His first day in the city, McGillivray landed a position at the newly opened CinCin restaurant, where he stayed and worked the bar for the next eight years. After CinCin, Andre held a number of managerial positions at some of Vancouver’s top restaurants, namely Lucy Mae Brown, Lumiere, Feenie’s, and Chambar. In 2006, Andre returned to Lumiere and Feenies as General Manager, and followed with a position as Maitre’D at the renowned Le Crocodile.

Deciding that 18 years of experience running other people’s restaurants was enough, Andre opened his own restaurant, Boneta, in June of 2007. Boneta became one of Vancouver’s most acclaimed and talked about restaurant openings of that year, and the restaurant earned numerous awards and accolades locally, nationally, and internationally.

It was at Boneta that McGillivray first worked with Steve Da Cruz, and the two became friends quickly. In late 2008, McGillivray and Da Cruz left Boneta, but remained in close contact. The friendship would prove to be serendipitous. In April of 2009 the two formed a partnership under the name pistol star restaurants inc. and their first restaurant, the corner suite bistro de luxe, will open in July 2009.

STEVE DA CRUZ – PISTOL STAR RESTAURANTS INC.

Steve Da Cruz honed his skills in many New York restaurant bars including; Ristorante Brunelli, The York Imperial, Anju, Ruby Foo’s Times Square, Mona’s, The Tupelo Grill, Time Café, Fez, and City 75 at the Rockefeller. From the top of the Algonquin Hotel to a basement with Tony Bennett and an underground speakeasy, Steve earned his stripes behind the bar, and then some.

Over the last two years Steve has consulted for and managed the bar program at some of Vancouver’s most exciting and beautiful restaurants including Boneta, Chill Winston, and Gastropod. Founded upon his love for the classics, Steve is dedicated to the unearthing of long lost recipes and modernizing them with the finest of techniques. His encyclopedic knowledge of spirits and their amazing stories is a point of pride.

Steve’s personal and program accolades have been many including being nominated as Bartender of the Year in several local media outlets. As well as being partner in pistol star restaurants inc. Da Cruz has also pioneered a new presentation format for classic
cocktails, “The Genuine Article”, a study that contains over 100 recipes.