Planning for PEI: Stalking Chef Michael Smith redux

You might remember that last year when we visited PEI, we spent a fun day in Souris stalking our family’s favourite celebrity chef, Chef Michael Smith. It was one of our favourite days in PEI, even though the chef himself was not actually even in the country at that time.

We continue to be big fans of Chef Michael. We record back episodes of Chef at Home on the Food Network and watch them in little binges, adding to our culinary repertoire. I think it’s fairly safe to say that more than two thirds of the meals I feed to my family have some influence from Chef Michael, from techniques we learned on TV to his cookbooks to the recipes on his website. Any time I want to try something new, the first thing I google is to see if Chef Michael has a recipe, because I know our family likes how he puts food and flavours together.

You might have heard that Chef Michael and his wife Chastity recently bought the Inn at Bay Fortune, where Chef Michael worked his first job as a chef and hosted his first TV show back in the 1990s. I love how he describes the FireWorks dining experience put on at the Inn every night:

In so many ways, The Inn at Bay Fortune is a return to our roots but also a firm step into the future. We’d be happy to have you come aboard for the ride! In 1992 I began my chef’s career behind the Inn’s stoves. Cooking in this beautiful place defined my career forever and now I get to do it again. The world has changed a bit in the last 20 years though, and fortunately so have I. Where once I tried to be creatively provocative, today I’d rather build a fire and share simple, honest flavours. That’s what Fireworks is all about. Join us for our nightly feast and you’ll see what I mean! This year is all about a fresh start for the Inn. We’ve worked hard to imagine a shared experience at the table that starts with our farm and finishes with flame. We’re excited but there’s lots more to come… Our goal is nothing less than creating Prince Edward Island’s leading country inn. In the years to come you can expect a renewed focus and solid investment in world-class amenities. We’ve got lots of ideas and look forward to sharing them all with you.

You can see where this is going, right? Ordinarily, I’d scoff at the idea of bringing the boys to what is certainly priced as a high-end dining experience. However, after more than a year of making his recipes, I think we’ve developed a bit of a taste for his culinary style. And this doesn’t seem like your ordinary bone china and linen napkins experience. When I heard that they had a half-price-for-kids rate, I was further reassured. When I framed it as an early birthday gift to me from the family, it didn’t seem quite so extravagant an expense – I am, after all, worth it. 🙂

We made the reservations this week for our second-last evening in PEI. There’s no guarantee, of course, that Chef Michael himself will be there, and I’m quite sure that I’d be starstruck into silence even if he were – but we sure are excited about going!

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante. View all posts by DaniGirl