Restaurant drops push to overturn its eviction

The tiny Mechanicsville restaurant Grunt has abandoned its legal challenge to overturn its mid-December eviction.

A brief court hearing last week heard that Grunt did not have insurance and could not continue its challenge without it. Ontario Superior Court Justice Sally Gomery asked the lawyers for Grunt and its landlord, Angela Ienzi, to report Monday on whether the restaurant had obtained insurance.

Ienzi's lawyer Ron Petersen said Tuesday that Grunt's application will not go ahead, and will be dismissed without costs.

Grunt's owner, Marie Brislinger; her husband, Grunt's chef Jason McLelland; and their lawyer, Eric Lay, declined to comment Tuesday, but McLelland said he would release a statement online on Wednesday.

On Dec. 13, Ienzi boarded up Grunt and changed the locks without giving notice to Brislinger and McLelland. Ienzi has alleged the couple, who leased her property in April 2018 and opened Grunt a year later, owe her about $38,000.

She also said she heard McLelland was trying to sell Grunt and move to the United Kingdom. In an interview, McLelland said he had tried to sell the restaurant and had had conversations about working in London.

Petersen said his client is very relieved Grunt's challenge has ended. Ienzi is allowed to sue McLelland and Brislinger for the money she alleges she is owed, Petersen said, but he doesn't know if she will. Meanwhile, although McLelland and Brislinger are not allowed to come within 15 metres of Grunt, movers are to enter the eatery this week to remove their property, Petersen added.

Grunt was well-liked by Ottawa food lovers and Mechanicsville residents. The restaurant had raised money to help a family in its neighbourhood left homeless by a fire, and had hosted a 90th-birthday party for Keith Brown, a Mechanicsville resident and volunteer. McLelland said Grunt has helped raise more than $100,000 for charities since it opened.

But after the eviction, creditors came forward to allege that they, like Ienzi, were owed thousands of dollars. In court, Petersen claimed Grunt was “insolvent.” When Grunt was evicted, it also did not have a food premise licence from the City of Ottawa.