The Birch Collective brings Canadian cuisine to White Plains

There”™s a new gastropub along Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains, one with a Canadian flair.

The Birch Collective, the two-floor bar and restaurant at 90 Mamaroneck Ave., opened its doors in August, offering Westchester diners a taste of Montreal a little closer to home. Helmed by restaurateurs Pierluc Dupont and Matthew Gagnon Guastaferri, the neighborhood eatery combines classic American cuisine with a Québécois twist.
“For me, it”™s about creating an experience. You can have food, you can have a drink anywhere, but if you feel like you had an experience, you”™ll remember it, you”™ll come back, you”™ll tell your friends,” Guastaferri said. “It”™s not just about a transaction.”

The 110-seat restaurant hopes to facilitate that experience by offering two bars, large communal tables and a custom-made foosball table. In keeping with the restaurant”™s name, the tabletops throughout the eatery are made of birch wood.

The restaurant draws its name from the birch tree, which serves as an emblem of Quebec.
“The birch tree is also a symbol of making new memories, of starting new journeys, and that”™s the kind of place we want to have,” Guastaferri said. “Where you meet new people, where you connect.”

For Guastaferri, opening his own restaurant is something he”™s dreamed of since his first stint in the restaurant world: working as a busboy at Applebee”™s at 16.
“I kind of caught the hospitality bug,” the New Hampshire-native said.

He then went on to work in a variety of positions ”“ from server to general manager ”“ at dozens of restaurants along the East Coast and in California.
“When you”™ve worked in so many restaurants and bars, you really can kind of figure out, ”˜What do I want for my place? What do I want to do differently?”™” he said. “It”™s cool to be able to apply that now.”

Guastaferri”™s love affair with Montreal began after a trip to the city with his husband, who is a native of Quebec.
“I was blown away by the food. They really put a lot of love into their sauces, their marinades, their purees, the drinks,” he said. “I”™m like, ”˜Why isn”™t this world famous?”™ But it is if you talk to people who’ve been there.”

Guastaferri later connected with Dupont, a Canadian restaurateur who hoped to open a restaurant along the East Coast.
“(Dupont) and I got together, and it was just like, ”˜Oh my gosh, let”™s do it,”™” Guastaferri said. “Both of us, we”™ve seen it all. We”™ve seen the scary parts of it and the great parts of it and the stuff we want to adopt for our own purposes.”

After becoming discouraged with ultra-high rents in New York City, the pair decided to look to Westchester.
“We said, ”˜Let”™s be a big fish in a small pond. Let”™s go somewhere where they need some love in the culinary and the mixology department,”™” Guastaferri said. “Coming to a place like this and being able to bring affordable food and beverage that we”™ve actually put a lot of love into, I just felt like we could stand out more and make a mark.”

The business partners then set their sights on Mamaroneck Avenue, choosing a space that formerly housed Asian fusion restaurant Red Plum, and quickly started on what would become a yearlong buildout.
“We did everything, literally everything,” Guastaferri said of the construction process. “The only thing we kept is the floors.”

To bring their Canadian eatery to the states, the duo also enlisted Canadian chefs Rodney Aguilar and Tony Giulietti, who have each held executive chef stints in Montreal. Guastaferri hopes to offer diners a mix of French Canadian comfort food and a new take on a variety of American classics.
“I didn”™t want to alienate our guests, so I had to figure out a way to marry the two (cuisines),” he said.

The result is a list of menu items that includes the Birch Burger, which is topped with bacon jam and sits on a brioche bun, and a three cheese Mac”™n on Mamaroneck, macaroni and cheese served with truffle oil and lobster. The menu also includes Canadian staples like poutine and sugar pie. Dishes range in price from $5 to $20.

The pub also offers craft beer and “over-the-top” cocktails designed by mixologist Samuel Trudeau, another Canadian expat. Drinks, like a BirchBerry Mojito or a Montreal Mule, can be served in “Instagram-friendly” 32-ounce mason jars.

Though the restaurant has only been open a few short months, Guastaferri already has big plans for his company.
“We want it to be a brand we grow, not just with other locations, but we want to sell our sauces, our other products,” he said.