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出于好奇，我静静等待着餐厅店主的出现。不一会儿，一位叔叔向我走来，他中等身材，戴着眼镜，用流利的中文热情地和我打招呼。原来，这位就是卡门牛扒房的店主黄家祥（Jason），福建人，已移民到加拿大八年时间了。
据他介绍，卡门牛扒房最早的店主老卡门（Athanasios Karamanos）在多伦多是一个充满传奇色彩的人物。1950年，老卡门从希腊非法移民来到加拿大，为饭店打工，耗时10年才获得合法身份。他最大的成就就是在1959年开了这家名为“卡门俱乐部”的牛扒店，一家20世纪多伦多政商云集、名流络绎的顶级扒房。由于坐落在闹市里的住宅区，市政府不发放公共酒牌，一直以私人会所的形式经营。老卡门收藏了很多图书和文物，还有艺术品，如锡盘、绘画作品等。
黄家祥叔叔大学期间为了赚生活费，曾在1999年时在老卡门做过一段时间的帮厨（洗盘子）。他非常努力地工作，并受到老卡门对高端餐饮管理的熏陶。辞职的时候，老卡门依依不舍地挽留说：“这里的大门永远为你开着，任何时候都欢迎你回来。”他记在了心里。后来，老卡门年龄越来越大，却没有子女可以继承这家餐厅，在2009年11月店庆50周年的时候关闭了餐厅，在当时成为一大新闻，很多人为之惋惜。2011年的一天，黄家祥叔叔带着自己的朋友去他曾经打工的地方吃饭，没想到这家餐厅正在出售，他大费周折，买下了这家餐厅，并耗费两年时间精心设计与改造，克服了很多困难，餐厅终于在2014年11月重新开业了。
他在讲这段故事的时候，眼睛里闪耀着光芒。他觉得自己有一种使命感，也许是老卡门的召唤，冥冥之中把这家餐厅交给了自己。他在这之前没有开过餐厅，因此在餐厅名字的注册和餐厅的经营、运作等很多方面都遇到了困难。如今，餐厅已被很多老卡门的顾客和新的用餐者所熟知，餐厅的经营已经有了起色。他创造了一个中国人经营着一家古董西餐厅的奇迹，并正在续写着老卡门的历史和故事。
Out of curiosity, I waited quietly for the arrival of the owner. A middle-aged man came tome, he was of medium height and wearing a pair of glasses. He greeted me with fluent Chinese.This is the owner of Carmen’s House, Jiaxiang Huang (Jason), who came from Fujian Province ofChina and has been in Canada for eight years. And this is where his story begins.
The first owner of Carmen’s, Athanasios Karamanos (the old Carmen), was a legendaryperson in Toronto. He emigrated from Greece to Canada in 1950, and washed dishes forrestaurants ever since. He took ten years to get an official Canadian civilian certificate. Hisgreatest achievement was to found the Carmen’s Steak House in 1959, which was the preferredsteak house in the last century for politicians, businessmen and celebrities gathering together.Because it was located near the residential area, the government did not issue them the publicalcohol license. Therefore, Carmen’s was always run as a private club. Old Carmen collected a lotof books, cultural antiques and artistic masterpieces like tin plates and paintings.
Jason started at Carmen’s washing dishes in order to earn a living when he was a universitystudent in 1999. He worked very hard and learned a lot from old Carmen’s management of high-end catering service. When Jason resigned, old Carmen was very unwilling to let him go andsaid, “That the door of Carmen’s would always be open to him and he was welcomed back at anytime.” Jason was touched by his words and would always remember them. As old Carmen grewolder, he did not have any offspring to take over this restaurant, so he closed Carmen’s during its50th anniversary in November 2009. This was a sensational news to the local people and theyall felt sorry for its closure. In 2011, Jason had planned to take his friends to Carmen’s, where heonce worked, only to find out that the restaurant had closed and was currently on sale. He sparedno effort to buy this antique restaurant and spent two years in redesigning and constructing it.Overcoming obstacles and difficulties, the restaurant reopened its doors in November 2014.
As Jason told his story to me, his eyes shone with memory. There seemed to be a senseof destiny when he returned and eventually bought Carmen’s Although Jason did not haveexperience with the running a restaurant and would face many challenges he would persist andnever give up. Finally, the restaurant was recognized by some of Carmen’s early acquaintanceand its business started to get better and better. Jason made a legend of how a Chinese inheritedand managed an old Western restaurant, and the story of the Carmen’s would continue to be told.
