An exclusive look at David McMillan and Derek Dammann's upcoming West Island restaurant Grille-Nature

Editor's Note, Dec 3 2025: It's now open!

Grille-Nature: Dave McMillan & Derek Dammann’s West Island Bet

David McMillan and Derek Dammann debut their West Island restaurant with market-driven cooking and accessible prices far away from downtown.

The MainJ.P. Karwacki

There's a particular kind of promise you make when you're young and hungry and working the breakfast shift at Le Caveau, cooking for politicians and power brokers at 6:45 a.m. David McMillan made his to the West Island neighbours back home: someday, he'd open a place for them. Not the Toronto expense-account crowd or the food tourists, but for them.

Nearly two decades later, McMillan is making good on that promise by teaming up with longtime friend and fellow chef Derek Dammann to open Grille-Nature, a new restaurant set to debut next fall in the West Island. For both chefs, it’s as much a homecoming as it is a decisive break from the fine dining culture that made them famous.