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THE LEXUS 3 DAY EVENT OCTOBER 12-14 ONLY 3131 King Street East, Kitchener (519) 748-9668 | Service hours extended to midnight Tuesday to Thursday. The Lexus 3 Day Event offers are available to retail customers on select models at participating Lexus Dealers from October 12 to 14, 2017 ("Offer Period"), on approved credit. ∞To qualify for the 1.5% lease and finance rate reduction ("Offer"), retail customers must enter into a new lease or finance agreement for a new,unregistered 2017/2018 Lexus vehicle (excluding the 2018 LC 500 and 2018 LC 500h) through Lexus Financial Services at a participating Lexus Dealer during the Offer Period.Offer not valid with any existing loyalty offers.As applicable, the customer's annual lease or finance rate will be reduced by 1.5% (to a minimum of 0%) throughout the term of their lease or finance agreement. Some conditions apply. ^Maximum $6,000 Delivery Credit applies to new 2017 Lexus GS 350 models (all suffixes) and will be deducted from the negotiated price after taxes. See your Lexus Dealer for Delivery Credit amounts offered on other models. Limited time offer is subject to change or cancellation without notice. *‡Lease and Finance offers provided through Lexus Financial Services, on approved credit. *Representative lease example based on a 2017 GS 350 sfx 'G' on a 24 month term at an annual rate of 0.4% (which includes the 1.5% rate reduction) and Complete Lexus Price of $70,973.Monthly payment is $989 (includes $6,000 Delivery Credit) with $4,460 down payment or equivalent trade in, $0 security deposit and first monthly payment due at lease inception.Total lease obligation is $28,207. 32,000 kilometre allowance; charge of $0.20/km for excess kilometres. ‡Representative finance example is based on a 2017 GS 350 sfx 'G' on a 36 month term at 0.4% (which includes the 1.5% rate reduction) annual rate and Complete Lexus Price of $70,973; Monthly payment is $1,816 (includes $6,000 Delivery Credit); Cost of borrowing is $401 for a total obligation of $65,374. Complete Lexus Price includes freight/PDI ($2,045), EHF Tires ($16.50), EHF Filters ($1),A/C charge ($100), and OMVIC Fee ($10).Taxes, license, registration (if applicable) and insurance are extra. Lexus Dealers are free to set their own prices. Limited time offers only apply to retail customers at participating Lexus Dealers. Dealer order/trade may be required (but may not be available in certain circumstances). Offers are subject to change or cancellation without notice.Offers valid during Offer Period. See your Dealer or Lexus.ca for complete details. AN ADDITIONAL 1.5% OFF∞ LEASE AND FINANCE RATES RATES AS LOW AS 0.4%*‡ ON SELECT LEXUS MODELS DELIVERY CREDITS UP TO $6,000^ ON SELECT LEXUS MODELS WITH AND EXPERIENCE AMAZINGEXPERIENCE AMAZING Th ursday, October 12, 2017 • WATERLOO CHRONICLE • 3Serving your community since 1856 CITY NEWS WATERLOO CHRONICLE CITY NEWSCITY NEWS WATERLOO CHRONICLE Staking a claim TV personality Jody Ness bet on Waterloo with Wildfire restaurant and feels it's finally paying off By Bob Vrbanac Chronicle Sta� You might have seen him as the host of CNBC's World's Wine Portfolio, travelling the globe to � nd the latest food trends. What a lot of people don't know is he's also the owner of Wild� re Steakhouse & Wine Bar in uptown Waterloo and is part of the chef to res- taurant to food movement who takes what he's learned in his travels about the best food trends and tries to serve it in his local restaurant. Chef and wine aficionado Jody Ness, most recently was in Israel sampling some of the local fare for his latest show taping. He called from his latest tour stop already talking about possibly returning to Middle East next year to visit Lebanon in the hopes of exposing an amazing wine culture that has remained virtually hidden in the back- drop of all the regional turmoil. He's been � nding hidden gems and doing the CNBC show since 2009, when the chef with more than 30 years of experience in the food industry, bumped in to an old friend who was a TV pro- ducer. "I was travelling to 15 countries a year just looking for food, wine and lifestyle products and this augmented that work," said Ness. "CNBC was looking for a show on food, wine and travel and since he knew my restaurants he said let's try it so we got together and started rolling the cameras." � e show is now seen in more than 40 coun- tries with an audience of possibly 300 million peo- ple on the cable show. But Ness wasn't satisfied with just exposing those food trends for a TV audience. He wanted to bring the experience to people in Canada as part of a burgeoning restaurant empire that started with his Wild� re Steakhouse & Wine Bar in the Greater Toronto Area. "Two weeks ago I was in Lisbon and the Azores, � lming an episode there and checking out what they're doing with food," said Ness. "Tapas are big, and they do some really interesting ones in Portugal. "I'm also looking at the wine list and I'm really looking to beef up the Israeli section with things that you wouldn't find in the LCBO. Finding what's in the LCBO doesn't interest me. It's � nd- ing those things that we really don't have access to -- that's what I'm looking for." When travelling to those exotic places, he said you � nd not only the local specialties and cultural treasures, but what the winemaker and local chefs were thinking when producing their latest batch of specialties. "What truly amazing accidents happened to bring that to life," said Ness. "You'd be amazed when you get into all these di� erent countries how many famous dishes came together by an amaz- ing coincidence." Not satisfied with just serving the Toronto market, he scoped out locations for his passion project in other centres, and was charmed by the sense of community in Waterloo and set up shop in the old Ali Baba restaurant in October 2015 after a major makeover. "I just saw so much potential in that property," said Ness. What he didn't realize at the time was that would be right before the start of LRT construc- tion, and the business would have to survive two years of construction. "We're just heading into our third year and with the construction on the street easing up a little bit, we're hoping we get some more traction out there," said Ness. He admits there were times when he won- dered about throwing in the towel with all the construction upheaval, but he said the commu- nity and his customers convinced him to keep the doors open. His said customers rallied around the local restaurant and said they would support it any way they could. "Believe me, I had every inclination and every reason under the sun to shut it down and walk away -- it was a very long and di� cult two years for what went on there," said Ness. "If not for the great support of the people of Waterloo and Kitch- ener, we wouldn't be here. "What kept us going were the great comments we got. People would say, 'We know you're having a hard time, but please stick it out, we'd love to have you around.' � at just speaks to the culture and people in Waterloo." Ness said you don't get that same community feel in bigger cities. � e support made the di� er- ence, and he said Wild� re Steakhouse & Wine Bar is � nally starting to take o� in the way he expected it too when he � rst opened it. He is rewarding that loyalty by using Waterloo as a staging point for some of his latest food � nds, and is holding a number of special events this fall. "I'm using Waterloo as a launching pad for some new items," said Ness. "If it works there, I'll roll it out everywhere." For three consecutive � ursdays, starting Oct. 19, Ness will be on hand to show o� some of those � nds. For more info, visit wild� resteakhouse.com. The host of CNBC's Wine Portfolio, Jody Ness, will be unveiling some of his discoveries from his recent trips at the restaurant he owns in Waterloo, Wild� re Steakhouse & Wine Bar. SUBMITTED PHOTO