Beyond the Gate French restaurant celebrates five years in Shelburne

By Paula Brown

When Freddie Chartier opened his restaurant Beyond the Gate, his goal was to feed the best food to Shelburne, now five years later his cooking is attracting customers from across the province.

Last week, Beyond the Gate celebrated their 5th anniversary and to mark the milestone, hosted a party last Friday (Aug. 19) evening for new and old customers, suppliers, and staff.

“That's a pretty good accomplishment. Five years ago, I didn't think I was going to make it five years, we were pretty much thinking of one day at a time,” said Chartier, owner of the local French restaurant. “It's been a lot of work, challenging at times, but we've survivor and here we are – we're pretty proud of ourselves.”

Chartier hails from the Loire Valley of France and spent 20 years working around the globe with celebrity chefs, in Michelin star restaurants and for a Ritz Carlton. After working in the Cayman Islands and the U.S for over six years he eventual moved to Canada, becoming a citizen in 2018.

His life long dream of opening his own restaurant came to fruition in 2017, when he opened Beyond the Gate. Initially a crepe restaurant, Chartier expanded Beyond the Gate to have more traditional French foods other than crepes.

“My idea was to feed Shelburne, but it turned out that Shelburne wasn't ready for French food so we quickly expanded to more traditional foods and the demand has become pretty high,” explained Chartier. “We put Shelburne on the map and that was huge.”

For Chartier food is much more than a necessity for survival, it's a culture and an experience. A part of how he expresses this idea is in the ever-changing menu which he describes as “alive”.

“When you go to a regular restaurant they change the menu seasonally, that means four times a year, it's boring. I change my menu weekly. I change one or two items, depending on what sells, depending on the season and I work with local produces on what's available,” said Chartier.

During the Friday party, a number of regular customers spoke with the Free Press of their experiences at Beyond the Gate.

“It's a favourite spot for us to dine out,” said Ann and Jamie McAlpine. “We're so excited for Freddie and we look forward to his continued success. It's really important that you have a restaurant in town that serves really quality food and we're fortunate to have him in downtown Shelburne.”

“We followed the journey of Freddie coming to town through Instagram and Facebook,” said Jason Miles, who attended the event with family friends. “It's a great place to come, he's a wonderful chef and it's local; he's keeping it all about the community.”

While they've seen success over the last five years, Chartier admits there have been highs and lows during that time. One of the biggest challenges for him has been bringing in clientele from Shelburne,

“Most Shelburne people don't come here and I'm still struggling with that,” confesses Chartier.

But he notes optimism for the future.

“We'll get there,” said Chartier, confidently.

Beyond the Gate is located at 138 Main Street in Shelburne and is open Wednesday through to Sunday.