Shawn Lewis X Gio Restaurant
Shawn Lewis has been at the Prince George Hotel for 36 years. Though the food and beverage manager is uncomfortable with the spotlight, he has undoubtedly been a through-line at Gio Restaurant, where he started as a server when it opened.
BY LAURA OAKLEY
PHOTOS MICHELLE DOUCETTE
After graduating from the burgeoning hospitality program at Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) in 1988, when he was 19, Lewis completed his co-op work term at the Prince George Hotel and was subsequently hired. “I worked every single position imaginable in food and beverage—breakfast, room service, catering, all that kind of stuff,” says Lewis. At the time, the hotel’s restaurant was called Giorgio’s, and the interior was quickly becoming dated. In 2006, hotel ownership worked with designers and architects on a new concept, and gave its buzzed-about chef, Ray Bear, culinary freedom to bring something new to the Halifax dining scene.
Lewis started at Gio as a server, but was managing within a month. The early days for Gio proved wildly successful, with Bear winning accolades left and right, plenty of media coverage, and the restaurant earning four-diamond ratings for food and service. “Since the beginning, it's always been very collaborative,” says Lewis. The team's involvement ranged from working with chefs to having input on décor, music, uniforms, and collaborating with Katzman Art Projects to showcase a rotation of (mostly) local and Canadian artists. “That gave me a lot of energy to maintain 36 years later,” says Lewis. “Gio was making and delivering service that few [restaurants] were delivering at that time, which is exceptional and exciting to be part of, right?”
Complementary to the culinary program at Gio, in 2010, the mixology program was starting to grow, thanks to Lewis and server Jared Wall (who later became assistant manager). “The cocktail scene [in Halifax] was just sort of catching,” says Lewis. “We were given the freedom to throw spaghetti at the wall and see what stuck.” Lewis says: “A passion for signature and unique flavour profiles was truly inspired by the introduction of Ray Bear’s food and the ability to spark some memorable and unusual notes in his dishes.” This food-driven cocktail program helped to further set Gio apart from other upscale restaurants in Halifax. It was these kinds of creative efforts that helped drive the entire scene forward—a cocktail culture and level of skill praised nationally today. ”It's now been years building a mental flavour codex and dreaming challenging combinations,” says Lewis.
Lewis became the food and beverage manager in 2011, and Gio stayed under his umbrella of responsibilities. Although chefs have come and gone, its reputation for food quality has never faltered. According to Lewis, every new menu must survive a panel of judges. Everyone comes together to taste new dishes. “I don't make a drink, we don't make a dish, we don't come up with a concept that we don't try to shoot holes in, because it's only the ones that can survive that are truly good,” says Lewis. “There's no way that any one person's palate should speak to a restaurant when you're talking about the general public,” Lewis says. A big part of his job has always been to play off whatever chef is leading the kitchen at Gio. “The particular style of any one given chef during that time changed my direction in where the wine program was going, and where our cocktail program was going,” says Lewis. “You have a French-driven chef, you have an Italian-driven chef, you have an Asian-fusion chef. All the ones we've had over the years—it just keeps me on my feet.”
Surrounding himself with talented people has helped keep Lewis on course all these years. The Prince George boasts multiple staff who have been working in its food and beverage department for 10, 15, even 20+ years. How does Lewis keep the team together and engaged? He says the key has been to “create a culture where no one is working for someone but rather working with each other, no matter the title,” and where “everyone shares in the wins, and owns challenges.” He stresses how you can train people for job-specific skills, but you can’t train them for personality or sense of hospitality. He looks for “like-minded people for who they inherently are, and trains the rest.” Team recruitment seems to line up with one of Lewis’ overarching life mottos: “Life is a menu, choose well.”
Lewis is big on how a restaurant makes you feel, consciously and subconsciously. Every touch point for the customer is crucial. “We want Gio to deliver a sense of hospitality that is experience-driven,” says Lewis. “It’s curating the music to come in and out of slow paces to match your heartbeat,” he says, which naturally puts people at ease. “It’s about putting obnoxious music in the bathroom so that when you re-enter the room, you feel relaxed and good again, and you don't know why.” He feels passionately about a restaurant being a place for the guest to retreat and relax, “allowing them to be present, allowing [stress] to stay outside, and just giving them a break.”
So, where does Lewis’s inherent sense of hospitality come from? He tells me about a vignette from childhood: “One of my fondest memories is sitting in our family home, with my five siblings, their girlfriends, my grandparents—we had a lady going to nursing school that lived with us—and my parents were there.” He says, “The table was packed, there weren't enough seats for everybody—but it was about that daily sharing of a meal.” At just seven years old, he didn’t understand why it felt so good, but it now serves as one of his happiest memories. “So why wouldn't I want to give that to people?” Says Lewis.
Having a sense of purpose in his role has kept Lewis at the Prince George after all these years. “It's always humbling to serve people,” he says. “There's always someone who's going to challenge you during your day.” And though it’s been an uphill battle to maintain Gio as a restaurant destination in Halifax, considering it’s inside a hotel and not on a main street or the waterfront, Lewis says 70% of its customers are locals, not hotel guests. I suppose that’s what happens when a true sense of hospitality seeps through in everything you do. At Gio, one of the mottos is: “Always a big hello, and a big goodbye,” with an emphasis to make sure the guests leave feeling better than when they arrived.
Lewis would be remiss not to mention others he’s worked with over the years who left their mark on Gio. Aside from Bear and Wall, he name-checked chefs Ted Grant, Matt Pennel, and Barry Mooney.
For the last seven years, the chef behind the wheel has been Greg Burns, whose brunch dishes we’ve featured in Curated Magazine (issue 47). Catering chef Mary Arab (of whose beautiful brunch buffet menu we featured in issue 55) has been with the team for over 20 years, and Terri Acker, a recognized face at Gio, has been expertly serving guests for 21 years. Stop by to try Burns’ stunning summer menu—the Humboldt squid, tuna ceviche, and lobster spaghetti are some of my favourites.
Gio
1725 Market Street, Halifax
RESTAURANT $$-$$$$ D (GF/V)
giohalifax.com
