After three years at the helm of classic English pub The Queen and Beaver, Jamieson Kerr and executive chef Andrew Carter are embarking on a new venture: The Oxley. Located on Yorkville Avenue opposite the Hazelton Hotel, the new restaurant will cater to the area’s clientele with a slightly more upscale play on what the duo currently has going on at their Elm Street location.
“I think what we do best is comfort food,” says Carter. “But this will definitely have more of an elegance to it.”
The concept, though, will be familiar to anyone who has visited The Queen and Beaver, with two bars over two floors and a dining room. Kerr says, “It might be a bit cosier inside, but we’ll have more room outside.” The venue will seat 45 in the dining room (where they will be taking dinner reservations) and have two patios, a small one at the front with space for 25 and an enclosed rear one with seating for 45. Once again, Kerr and Carter have enlisted the help of Elisa Sauvé to design the space, so guests can expect the same homey, British pub-style decor they’ve grown accustomed to.
The pair, though, expects the Yorkville venture to attract a different crowd. “There’s a bit of a cross over in terms of clientele,” explains Carter. “We have customers who live up there, but work downtown, so we’ll have some of them. But in general it’s a very different neighbourhood.”
Though there will be an area in the upstairs bar where sports fans can watch their events like the Euro Cup or the Olympics on a big screen, Kerr says that, unlike The Queen and Beaver, The Oxley will not be marketed as a place to catch a game.
Carter plans to take his menu in a more refined direction. “We don’t want to stay stagnant and do the same thing over again,” says the chef. “I think people have come to expect more from us.”
Instead, Carter plans to take traditional English comfort food and cross it with fine dining. “That’s my background, I went to school in England,” he says, but adds “Any chef’s training really comes from working.”
Carter will now split his time between the two restaurants, though mostly he expects to be at the new location. “I have a great team that’s been with me for two years,” Carter says. “They know the ebb and flow of The Queen and Beaver, but like a mother hen, I’ll pop in every once in a while.”
The Oxley is set to open in mid April, but the pair have yet to announce a firm date as renovations are still underway. When asked if they have plans to further expand, Kerr and Carter said they would consider it, should the opportunity arise in the future.
The Oxley, 121 Yorkville Ave.
