Village Squire, 1976-04, Page 11The facade of the old pipe organ stands out against the stripped red brick of one end of the Church. In less
than a year the restaurant has carved a spot for itself in the dining habits of many in the Stratford area.
THE CHURCH
How a Hungarian
New Zealander
from England
gave Stratford
a new taste treat
"What this town needs is a good
restaurant." The remark was heard time and
time again during the years since The
Festival made Stratford a major tourist centre
a quarter century ago.
Stratford had many good small "bread and
butter" restaurants but many people coming
to the Festival wanted something really
special, and were willing to pay for it,,
The need was spoken again and again by
visitors and one visitor heard it and
remembered it. Later, when this visitor
decided to emigrate to Canada from England,
he came back to Stratford to provide just what
the tourists ordered: a high class, out of the
ordinary restaurant.
The result, opening last July was The
Church, and its success has proven that there
was indeed a need for such a dining spot in
Stratford.
Joseph Mandel was the man who
accomplished all this. The. youngish, suave
New Zealander has quickly established his
restaurant as a "must" stop for visitors to the
city. It's become a centre of the social life of
the Stratford area. And in a way, it all
happened by chance.
Mr. Mandell was born in New Zealand. His
grandfather had run away from his home irf
Budapest, Hungary in the late 1800's, as a 12
year-old. He took passage as a cabin boy on a
boat headed for New Zealand. He was
nick -named Joe by the other members of the
crew who couldn't pronounce his name.
But the youngster, before he died had built
up quite a little hotel chain. This family
history had a lasting impression on grandson
Joe, even though the hotel chain had been
sold out by the family before he came along.
While other students at school would say they
wanted to be doctors or lawyers, he'd proudly
proclaim he was going to be a hotelier which
caused some consternation since in New
Zealand. a hotel owner was equated with a
pub owner. The hotel business, he says, has
come a long way since then.
His father, however wanted Joe to have a
solid educational background and insisted on
his taking an accounting course at Uniyersit%.
He didn't think much of it at the time. he
said, but later was thankful tor the training.
He was in the hotel business before long.
however and it was to take him around the
world. One of the first stops in his tra%els as
part of the Hilton chain of hotels was what he
recalls as an "apparentl% glamous place
where the sun alwa%s shines a place called
Surfer's Paradise. It was delightful he
recalls, to be able to get up e%ers morning t.•
sunshine and take a walk down to the peach
VILLAGE SQUIRE.'APRIL 14)'t. u