Peterborough’s downtown district may be small but its bar and restaurant scene is mighty and Love You, Mean It has had an active part in it since 2024. Owned by Peterborough veterans Owen Walsh and Sam Sayer (Sam’s Sandwiches is a local PTBO instituation), the menu is built with comfort food but also dishes to get locals out of their comfort zones while experiencing elevated cuisine and locally sourced ingredients.

My top pick from our night was a tender, juicy, perfectly cooked masala-cured chicken breast that came with a mango chutney. Seared brocollini and potato pavé ground it in the west but it also felt like a nod to the classic pub tradition of including dishes from the often South Asian (or Tamil) kitchen staff.

Other dishes on the menu include creative apps like jerk chicken egg rolls and confit leeks, and mains like steak frites or an ultra creamy corn risotto. And then there dishes like the seared beef cheeks that were just so popular that they had to be taken off the menu because it was so hard to keep up with supply and demand. I wish we could have tried more mains because I know that while the descriptions sound modest, the quality and presentation are anything but.

If these descriptions appeal to any of your senses, then read on for my chat with Owen Walsh.

Thanks for sitting down with me Owen. it’s great to meet you. Tell me a bit more about Love You, Mean it.

So we’re just coming up on two years. I’m part owner and the other owner is Sam Sayer from Sam’s Sandwiches on . We ran the place tougher for a bit and then talked a lot about what we wanted to do net. It was something along the lines of casual fine dining where it’s still fun with dishes that would be familiar and accessible but then also bringing in a bit more high-end dining, and just something different that people can try to instead of their usual stuff. 

We eventually reached out to Mack Found, one of our favourite chefs who was working at Publican House in Peterborough. Him and I went to high school together so we’ve known each other a long time but found each other again later in life. We talked and it all came together!

Mack’s a wizard in the kitchen obviously. He puts together a new menu every few months. We change it often.

Yeah, I noticed that. The beef cheeks are gone.

Yeah, we couldn’t even keep them on the menu when we had them because it’s a less common cut for our butcher, Autonomy Meat Packers. They only get so many cows every week, so we’d only get so many cheeks. And most weeks we’d be sold out of them by 6 o’clock on Friday.

It’s been a fun couple of years! Our anniversary is coming up and we’re going to celebrate with an 8-course tasting menu.  We just want to have fun at the end of the day. That’s what we’re here to do, to make sure people are having a good time and having good food.

Tell us about Sam’s.

Sam’s is a sandwich shop where they smoke all their own meat and prep everything in-house. Sam opened the place when she was 28 and it’s been 16 years since.

I started there during COVID when Sam was pregnant and needed someone to take over the spot because she was the only person who ever worked the lin.  It’s like a bit of a different beast. You’re dealing 100-200 sandwiches in under three hours and you just have to be locked in. It’s the craziest thing. You’d never think a sandwich shop would be that crazy but Sam’s the only person that was making the food for so long so there’s a reputation to maintain.

Our name, “Love You, Mean It” is based on something Sam says a lot.  Working in the restaurant industry can make people very demanding of each other and Sam would say things like, “I need this now, love you, mean it,” as a reminder that we’re all friends and we’re all doing this shit because we like what we’re doing. So, I suggested that and she suggested the logo which is based on my family’s coat of arms. 

What’s the menu inspiration like at Love You, Mean It?

Some of the original stuff had deli inspirations.  Like, we had a duck pastrami that had all the elements of a Reuben sandwich but it was a weird upscale plated version.  It was awesome. The deli stuff is a separate beast entirely but this was our next vision.

We really talked about where we wanted to eat and what we’d do to make it that. 

What was your background before running a restaurant?

It was all over the place.  I worked in kitchens when I was 15, managed a Little Caesars later, then worked at a butcher and a few other places but I took a big break and went to school for marketing.  Then COVID happened and I fell out of love with marketing.  I was talking to my sister one day saying I wish I could work at Sam’s and then low and behold a job opened up.  Sam was like “I don’t know why you applied because you haven’t worked in food in a while, but come by and let’s talk,” and I hopped back in.

I feel you, there’s been times in my life where I’d love to take on something like a barista job.

Yeah, there’s something about working at the deli where the line you’re working is in the restaurant so you’re getting that interaction.  It’s a really nice experience when you’re working and someone tells you “This is the best sandwich I’ve ever had in my life” and you’re like “Hell yeah!” Because how many sandwiches have you ever had? A million. And if someone tells you yours is the best ever, you’re like, “yessssssss”. It’s just such a good feeling.

So how is the food scene in Peterborough?

Peterborough and the Kawarthas has always had an interesting foods scene.  The downtown core has always had fantastic restaurants like Rio Gusto, Two Dishes, St. Veronus, Sam’s Place.  We used to have a great bar and nightlife culture here.  But there are new spots popping up still all the time. Its very food driven city. People do like to go out for a good meal here.  I think it’s just going to keep growing. There are things that come and go because that’s the nature of the industry but still there are places that pop up and surprise everyone with big numbers and people love it. I’m happy. We seem to be in a spot where people are enjoying us and happy we’re here. It’s been nice for us so far. 

I find in bigger cities, it’s not people who are owning restaurants, it’s ownership groups. A lot of places I love here have only one or two owners and they’re working in the restaurant and at the end of the day they’re going off to a bar and will have drinks with other business owners and people in the community. It’s more interconnected.  You lose that when you get into these bigger multi-owner situations.

Where do you like to eat in Toronto?

I love Bernhardt’s for their chicken.  I really want to go to Mhel and Linny’s.  There’s a lot of stuff in Toronto that I’m definitely into but I live here so I don’t get to pop out as much as I’d like to. 

I’m a big believer in Peterborough’s downtown. I live and operate in a two-block radius.  I work here and I drink in a bar a block away, the Pig’s Ear, that’s like a legion hall where you can get a quart of Labatt 50.