As part of the Portraits of merchants & professionals of Côte-des-Neiges project (3rd edition), we invited Francis Faubert Cloutier to accompany us on a series of visits to 10 SDC Côte-des-Neiges businesses that took part in the project.
Interview with
Oleg Scobiola | Portraits of merchants & professionals of Côte-des-Neiges
Find out more about your local Côte-des-Neiges merchants and professionals! // Looking back on our meeting with : Oleg Scobiola, Owner of Restaurant Ermitage
Oleg Scobiola and Ermitage Restaurant:
The Humility of a Great Chef
Arriving in Canada with an impressive resume, Oleg Scobiola brings with him a wealth of experience. Despite having worked in prestigious restaurants around the world, this accomplished chef remains remarkably humble. “Opening a restaurant was a necessity for me. I had a family to support, it was my profession, and I couldn’t find employment,” he confides.
Whether in Rwanda or Nepal, this former engineer in public food service has orchestrated gastronomic events for royal families and diplomatic corps . “Back then, I was a grand chef. We could serve up to 3000 people, but still, I didn’t work as frantically as I do today,” he says with a lively and mischievous twinkle in his eye.
His impressive journey posed challenges for restaurant managers in Montreal when he applied for jobs, as they viewed him as a threat. Even though a dishwasher position could have sufficed, the chef faced numerous rejections before realizing that he had to open his own restaurant.
In 1998, the journey of Ermitage began. In a setting reminiscent of the museum of the same name in St. Petersburg, the chef and his wife Galiana present Russian cuisine with a touch of French inspiration. The intricacies of culinary art hold few secrets for Mr. Scobiola. Familiar with the world of television production, he has appeared multiple times preparing his famous smoked sturgeon on the show “Resto Mundo” aired on the Zeste TV channel.
Ermitage Restaurant offers entirely homemade dishes: “Here, we don’t buy anything; we make everything ourselves!” Oleg asserts confidently. From Acadian cuisine to authentic dishes, including wild boar and elk, the couple is dedicated to their customers, striving to provide an experience where the quality of the food and service remains a priority. “When you enter a restaurant, it’s to savor!” he declares. When asked about his pride in the journey he has undertaken, Oleg Scobiola embraces simplicity and modesty: “I do my job, the customers are satisfied, and so is my family.”
For me Côte-des-Neiges is: Little Europe
Copywriter: Francis Faubert Cloutier
Photographer: Gaelle Leroyer
Art direction: Félicia Balzano (SDC Côte-des-Neiges)
Complete the experience by visiting the free exhibition from September 7 to December 5, 2023.
ABOUT THE PROJECT :
After a great success in 2021 and 2022, the SDC Côte-des-Neiges is proud to present the third anniversary edition of its Portraits of merchants & professionals of Côte-des-Neiges project through an exhibition on the Promenade Jean-Brillant from September 7 to December 5, 2023, as well as online interviews accessible via QR code on each panel.
The aim of this initiative is to put citizens in touch with businesses in the territory of the Société de développement commercial (SDC) Côte-des-Neiges. Through a series of portraits of 10 shops and businesses, we get to know 14 local business owners and managers. This social and cultural project is a real encounter with the human side of business life.
In this third edition, you’ll discover men and women, young professionals and established entrepreneurs, all from different cultures and backgrounds, with a diverse range of commercial offerings. The common denominator? Their love for Côte-des-Neiges.
This project is an initiative of the SDC Côte-des-Neiges, made possible through collaboration with the Maison de la culture CDN and the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.