...with David Harrison

BY LINDA GARSON

PHOTO BY DONG KIM

A native Calgarian, David Harrison’s father was a lawyer who loved Italian food. “In many respects, he was my best friend as I got older,” he says. “We loved the food, the style, the banter with the Italian servers, the Italian ownerships; it resonated with me.”

At high school on the West Coast, Harrison picked up the sport of rowing, which got him through school and into universities to study economics in both California and Vancouver, and allowed him to travel the world at a highly competitive level. However in 1988, realizing he wasn’t going to make an Olympic-style program, at 25 years old, he hung up his oar. With his girlfriend, they backpacked across Europe for four and a half months, and he loved learning about regional cuisine and working his way through his list of restaurants from Michelin three-star to holes in the wall, particularly in Italy.

“But I had to go to the real world, so I started working in commercial real estate and property management for several successful mall properties in Vancouver,” says Harrison, “and some investor relations work for a couple of public companies.” He became involved in raising money for a Sudanese oilfield project, and other international deals in Turkistan and Tunisia, before moving on to domestic oil and gas production in Alberta, and more commercial real estate.

By 2020 however, it was time to make changes and figure out what he was going to do next. Spending time with family was important, as his father was an early-onset memory loss at this time. Their favourite restaurant and Harrison’s regular haunt, Buon Giorno, had a contract operator in place who was running it for the landlord because they had an approved redevelopment plan for the building - and when Covid hit, they closed.

“More balls than brains, I wanted to reopen and run the business until they were ready to knock the building down, and then make a decision what we do next,” he says. “And when you don't come from this industry, your reliance on those who have spent their life doing it is paramount, so I called Giorgio, who was in charge of front of house, and whose experience is invaluable, and he said, ‘I'll come in and do your lunches, I'll help you understand and do this.’”

“We needed to find a new home, though” he adds. “And what was imperative to me is to not fix what isn't broken, and give people what they want. I knew what I wanted. My father had passed – (him being) the sole reason I reopened Buon Giorno – and the selfish reason is, I didn't want to lose this too.”

So what bottle is Harrison is saving for a special occasion?

In 2016, his family spent a week together in Vancouver, and 15 of them had gathered at CinCin Ristorante for one of their last great family dinners. “I had started to really like Sardinian wines, and there was a wine on the list that was a name that I remembered but didn't have a taste remembrance, and it was this one, Capichera Assajé, that I selected for us,” he explains. “And it's brilliant. Simple in structure, simple in character, but such a great character wine.”

“I was redoing the wine list for Buon Giorno, and the new selection of our house wine, which only us in Western Canada has. I bought everything I could, about nine six-pack cases, and I offered it at the restaurant. It was my little story, and guests that I've come to know wanted to try it, and they drank all of it in a matter of months except for one six-pack, which I've put aside. It will probably stay cellared for only family moments. And this is one bottle that I haven't yet cellared and put away. My family are enjoying this restaurant, because I did it as much for them as I do for me, and when I open the wine, it will be with be with family and it will be on a simple, great night. And it makes me smile and it makes me cry.”