From scratch: country bistro caters to the masses.

AuthorRoss, Ian
PositionCONFERENCE & CONVENTION

The same adventurous spirit that lured silver miners in the late 1800s to a semi-remote spot of northwestern Ontario has attracted a fledgling entrepreneur bent on creating a destination-attraction restaurant.

Shelley Simon, owner of Silver Mountain Station Restaurant, took a flyer in uprooting her life down south to open a country bistro in a former roadside bar at a rural crossroads, an hour west of Thunder Bay.

Her brother-in-law, a hunting and fishing enthusiast, had purchased a dilapidated building with a checkered past in 2010 and asked Simon if she wanted to run a restaurant in a place she'd never been to.

"I said, okay, and away I went," said Simon. "Change is always good."

Certainly not lacking in confidence, the Red Seal-certified chef and Leamington, Ont. native has 35 years of experience in the food and beverage business, beginning her apprenticeship at age 17 in her hometown of Leamington.

"It was just a dumpy old watering hole when I got here. Most of the history kind of got pushed under the carpet and nobody cared about it anymore."

What she had inherited was a century-old train station, the last standing remnant of the Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway.

Building alterations over the years covered up the unique architectural features and made the historic two-story structure unrecognizable from its past.

The building needed insulation, new windows and a new furnace to replace a wood-fired boiler outside.

She dug up old photos of the station and researched its most famous inhabitant, Dorothea Mitchell, known as the Lady Lumberjack.

Simon is republishing an historic book on Mitchell and is writing her own book on the station's history, sprinkled with a few of her own recipes.

"My whole goal is to create an historical destination with a message to go along with it," said Simon, who launched a society to preserve the history of Silver Mountain.

She's also created a casual, gourmet dining experience for those who venture out for wild game...

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