With its large front windows facing Tomkins Park and 17th Avenue Southwest, Parc Café and Brasserie strives to make French cuisine approachable, casual and pleasurable. It often comes with preconceptions about snooty waiters and haute cuisine, but Parc manager Nicholas Hewton describes it in a down-to-earth way. “French food is the basis for a lot of what we have in Canada. Stews and braises are things people have been doing for hundreds of years. It doesn’t have to be ultra-fine dining for very few people.”
Launched by the Creative Group in 2015, Parc breaks from the Italian cuisine served at its sister establishments Bonterra Trattoria and Cibo. However, it features their friendly, community-restaurant approach. This approachability manifests itself in Parc’s appearance. It's a large, upscale café one might imagine finding in Paris, where people talk about life over wine and food. Nicholas describes the room as two restaurants in one. The front (with its bar, high ceilings and black-and-white tile floors) is high-energy and bustling. The back is quieter and much more like an intimate French bistro.
