Chris Lepore has been doing a solo act for the past 11 years as chef and owner of Solo Trattoria at 250 Queen St. E.
“I’ve always loved cooking. I was always in the kitchen with my Mom beginning when I was eight years old,” Chris smiled as we delivered a pair of complimentary SooToday coffee mugs to Solo Trattoria, his restaurant the subject of this week’s Mid-Week Mugging.
Chris started baking muffins and helping out with breakfast at home, then eventually told his parents he wanted to cook for a living.
“My Mom said ‘no, do something else, the hours are long,’ because we had family members who had restaurants, and there are long hours, but I enjoy doing it,” Chris said with a grin.
“I enjoy cooking for customers and making them happy.”
‘Trattoria,’ in English, means ‘tavern,’ but Chris said “it’s a catchy word meaning ‘casual, Italian restaurant'.”
“We’re not fine dining, but we’re not fast food, we’re an in-between, good quality family restaurant.”
‘Solo’ means (obviously) ‘alone,’ so Chris says he is operating what he calls “my own casual restaurant.”
“The name’s easy to remember. People can say ‘let’s go to Solo'.”
Chris and his staff serve gourmet pizzas, grilled panini at lunch, and for dinner, everything from pasta dishes to risotto to lamb.
“I put my heart into it and I enjoy what I do. I’m a hands on kind of guy. I get in the kitchen and I’m another one of the guys on the line. I don’t just stand there and watch other people cooking.”
“The customers can see me back there working, and they like that. I think they like seeing the owner, knowing I’m back there and making sure everybody’s taken care of properly. I think that sets me apart.”
Chris told us he has always loved working downtown, Solo Trattoria ideally located across the street from the GFL Memorial Gardens.
“Before a Soo Greyhounds game, a concert, people absolutely love to eat here. It’s huge. On March 5 there’s a concert (Foreigner) at the Gardens and we’re half full with reservations already.”
“I always tell people when tickets for concerts go on sale, make your reservation."
“For the Mellencamp concert, we were booked two months in advance. For the figure skating show, we were booked a month in advance.”
“You park, you come and have a nice dinner here, then you just walk over to the Gardens,” Chris said enthusiastically.
Solo Trattoria, because of its downtown location, has also attracted a crowd of professionals in the area, such as business people, lawyers and dentists, who eat regularly at the restaurant.
But should ‘the average customer’ feel intimidated by that?
“No, everybody’s welcome,” Chris responded emphatically.
“I get seniors, families, I have a little kids menu...anyone can come on in and enjoy our food,” adding a group of former local Sears employees get together as Solo regulars.
Born and raised in the Sault, Chris has officially been in the restaurant business since he was 15, starting off by washing dishes at Giovanni’s, then becoming a line cook at that same restaurant.
“I always wanted to get into this business, so that was the best way to try it out. I enjoyed it, did it (at Giovanni’s) for five years, went to Sault College for its chef training program at the same time, then I got a position at the old Gran Festa at the Quality Inn (at 180 Bay St.).”
The Gran Festa dining space was eventually taken over by Gliss Steak & Seafood, that space now occupied by the recently opened Johnny's Chophouse & Bar.
At 20, Chris became Gran Festa’s kitchen manager, continuing at that eatery for 11 years, becoming the business co-owner before deciding to ‘go solo’ and open Solo Trattoria in July 2007.
“I haven’t stopped since. It’s been really good.”
Chris expanded Solo in 2010 by purchasing the building next door, at 248 Queen St. E., and opened a comfortable 64-seat banquet room.
“It’s been a great addition. We do a lot of baby showers, stags, anniversaries, birthdays, retirement parties, Christmas parties are huge and they’re coming up at this time of year, we’re booking up like crazy for the month of December (the banquet space can be divided into two separated spaces for smaller gatherings).”
The main dining space and bar can accommodate 80 people.
Apart from himself, Chris employs a full-time, part-time mix of 23 employees, open six days a week.
For more information on Solo Trattoria and a look at its menu, click here.