Remembering Ann McColl's Kitchen Shop

Ann McColl Lindsay and David Lindsay

Hospitality and the culinary arts have always been inseparable. London, Ontario, has a history of exceptional restaurateurs, chefs, and culinary retailers. Among the latter are Ann McColl Lindsay and David Lindsay, the former proprietors of the legendary Ann McColl's Kitchen Shop, one of Canada's finest cookware shops.

I have known the Lindsay's for over forty-five years and was a frequent visitor to their store on Richmond Row beginning in the mid-1970s and later at their Talbot Street location. When my store, Not Just Antiques, opened beside the Victoria Restaurant (later Prince Albert's Cafe) in 1980, they were my first customers. I remember they purchased all the Art Deco items I had for sale. Later, when I had my next iteration of the store (renamed Secondary Moderne) on the Talbot Block at the foot of Covent Garden Market Lane, they remained steadfast customers. I was a frequent visitor in their store located around the corner on Talbot Street from my first restaurant, La Cucina, which was across from the Covent Garden Market.

Ann and David met, married, and taught school in Windsor, Ontario, from 1961 to 1968. They resigned their positions, sold their red brick bungalow, and embarked on a year-long food pilgrimage across Europe while camping in a Volkswagen van with a gas burner. Travelling in the van with a gas burner truly allowed them to enjoy the local terroir.

Ann's memoir Hungry Hearts - A Food Odyssey across Britain and Spain describes the first six months of their trip, which ended at the French border. Embarking on the open road brought innovative marketing tactics and dining experiences at every turn. Alongside Ann's insightful journal entries and David's captivating photographs, this Food Odyssey presents over eighty recipes inspired by these remarkable adventures: - "Welcoming the New Year in Cardinal Wolsey's Great Tudor Kitchens - Crafting marmalade in a quaint caravan site - Indulging in mussels in a creamy sauce beside a crackling peat fire - Tracing the footsteps of the Canterbury pilgrims from the Tabard Inn - Witnessing three spirits enchantingly float over crepe suzettes on Christmas Eve - Overseeing a grand five-foot paella sizzling over a beach fire - Soaking in the theater of food preparation in open Spanish kitchens - Immersing in the vibrant energy of the marketplace - Observing the Aberdeen fishing fleet unloading their glistening haul at sunrise - Savoring fresh salmon and single malt by a highland stream - Observing the offering of squid and octopus innards to campsite cats - Gaining ten pounds of body weight on the captivating Tea Shop Trail - Experiencing the curative powers of Bath - Camping at remote Spanish beaches - Marveling at El Greco's emerald and russet-tiled cucina in Toledo - Witnessing a carver expertly crafting thistles from Braemar tree trunks - Sailing down the Clyde for a delectable serving of fish and chips at the Cowal Games in Dunoon - Simmering a clootie dumpling on a coal-fed range - Carefully tending to the beef daube, feeding pennies into the gas meter to keep it simmering - Delighting in the resplendent Brighton Pavilion at a dazzling soirée - Discovering a rabbit mysteriously tied to the door knob."

The second volume, Hearts Forever Young, includes their travels in France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark.

This formative trip introduced the Lindsay’s to small independent grocers, hardware stores, street markets and antique stores jammed with domestic serving pieces. During this time, they started collecting the one-of-a-kind utensils comprising a valuable and saleable batterie de cuisine. Ann says of a foray into British food writer Elizabeth David's Kitchen Shop, "This innocent morning's shopping expedition turned into a lifetime obsession."

Upon their return to Canada, they opened Ann McColl's Kitchen Shop and Victoriana on rented premises on Dundas Street, where they lived above the shop. They specialized in culinary utensils, antique books, furniture, and Victorian paraphernalia.

I should point out here that it was about this time that the Lindsay’s befriended restaurateurs Ginette Bisallion and Robin Askew, who opened the seven-table L'Auberge du Petit Prince ((named after Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Little Prince, who, if you remember, cooked over volcanic jets on a far planet). Chef Chris Squire purchased L'Auberge in 1976. Squire would operate the landmark business for 21 years. These steadfast relationships cemented their connection to the local restaurant scene.

After several years on Dundas Street, the Lindsay’s moved to new premises with beautiful storefront windows on Richmond at Hyman Street. It was one of just three small owner-operated specialty shops on Richmond Row at the time. Ann started to write cookbooks, which David, a talented artist and photographer, illustrated.

1977 Ann authored The Cookshop Cookbook, which instructed readers on using and caring for kitchen utensils and equipment. "We had always been traditionalists in kitchen equipment, shunning all electrical contrivances and putting our faith in good knives, sieves, mortar and pestles. The autumn of 1975 saw a change in all that. The Cuisinart Food Processor arrived in Canada and automatically half the stock in our store became obsolete," wrote Ann. The business prospered anyway, and they outgrew that location.

In the 1980s, they relocated the shop to 350 Talbot Street. Erected in 1890, the building was a showroom and repair shop for Massey-Harris Co. To this day, the landmark building provides a potent reminder of the late nineteenth-century commercial activity in downtown London. The new store was one of the most professionally stocked and artistically merchandised cookware shops anywhere. It had everything you needed to be a successful cook, except the food. The shop offered bakeware, pots and pans, woks, scales, utensils, gadgets, drain boards, glassware, bowls, and many specialty utensils. There was even a step-down kitchen in the renovated tractor repair shed with an AGA stove for cooking classes and demonstrations.

Already outspoken heritage activists, having had four of their buildings designated, campaigned to preserve the streetscape on the Talbot Block, culminating in a "Hands Around the Block" demonstration. Ann's commentaries on culinary matters, urban issues and heritage preservation have appeared in countless newspaper articles, magazines and letters to the editor.

In 1994, the Lindsay’s published Ann McColl's 25 Greatest Hits, which showcased 25 of the store's most excellent products beautifully illustrated by David. Eventually, they would sell this building and move the business to King Street, across from the Covent Garden Market.

The Lindsay's announcement in 2002 that they were retiring and closing down their store on King Street presented the opportunity for Jill Wilcox to expand Jill's Table into that location. The space was four times larger than Jill's original market space. Jill's Table filled part of the vacuum Ann McColl was leaving in the community.

During the 33 years they ran their kitchenware business, the Lindsay’s were also avid gardeners at their home in Woodfield and in community gardens. To this day, the Lindsay’s are the benchmark of how to blend culture and commerce. Until Ann's recent illness, the Lindsay's continued to be intrepid market enthusiasts, artists, heritage preservationists and community boosters.