What’s your weakness? Dessert or mains?
I am good at conceiving dessert dishes, but lack the practice to always do them well.

Who or what got you interested in food?
I have enjoyed cooking since watching my mother make evening meals…it was my brother who said I should become a chef.

What inspires you?
Ingredients and where they come from.

What was your favourite dinner when you were a kid? Do you like it now?
My mother’s lasagna…and yes, I still love it!

What’s the first dish you remember making?
Breakfast in bed for my parents when I was 10…scrambled eggs and toast.

Proudest food-related moment?
Representing Nova Scotia at the first Canadian Chef’s Congress in 2008 at Eigensinn Farm.

Strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
Rattlesnake…I had to spit it out.

Favourite sound in the kitchen?
Deglazing a hot pan with wine.

Favourite cooking smell?
Frying onions.

Quintessential Canadian dish?
Tourtiere pie.

Molecular gastronomy, best thing ever or the unwearable haute couture of food?
I think it is well done by only a few chefs around the world. Everyone else should just…stop it already!

Cilantro — can’t get enough or tastes like soap?
Love it actually.

What local foods can’t you live without?
Maple syrup, lobster, oysters, potatoes.

What’s your greatest culinary extravagance?
When I travel I spare no expense on food in restaurants. I will eat anywhere if I think it’s worth the experience. Money is no object.

Most over-rated kitchen gadget?
Almost any hand-held knife sharpener. Only a whetstone works.

What’s the most treasured possession in your kitchen? Why?
My handmade wooden cutting board. Made by a Valley man at 88 years old. I hate chopping on plastic or glass boards, but the sentimental value is even greater.

Fill in the blank. If I never cooked / ate / heard about  ______ again, I’d be happy.
Kidneys.

If you could cook for anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
My Uncle John. He passed away before I became a chef and he loved to cook. He would absolutely be thrilled with my chosen career.

What would you prepare for him/her?
A 10-course tasting menu of my best dishes of the past 10 years…and lots of lobster, his favourite.

What  was the last thing you ate?
A homemade meatloaf and aged cheddar panini.

If you had to work outside the culinary field, what would you do?
I would be a very unhappy and hungry artist.

On March 1st, more than 400 chefs, food writers, food and beverage experts, restaurateurs and leaders in the hospitality field gathered at the Terroir Symposium in Toronto. While sessions ranged from steak tasting to social media, branding to (not surprisingly) terroir, the day opened with The Art of Hospitality. Chris McDonald of Toronto’s Cava Restaurant started the session with an informative and visually impressive presentation on restaurant trends. The “fireside chat” portion came from Craig Flinn of Chives Canadian Bistro in Halifax.

Flinn told the story of Chives in hopes of inspiring young, cash-strapped chefs. He made no promises, but instead explained the strategies and philosophy that worked for him. For those who couldn’t attend, here are the main points from Craig Flinn’s enlightening and humorous talk.

Background: Flinn loved good food and wine but not the pretense and expense of fine dining. To bridge the huge gap between high-end restaurants and the family diner, he opened a neighbourhood bistro that embraced high quality local ingredients from the Annapolis Valley, a growing winery scene, and artisan food. He also wanted to address the public’s needs, which included targeting students on a budget and people on time restraints wanting a quick bite before the movie. So Chives was conceived.

Today: Ten years in, Chives is doing well and Flinn has seen “a big shift in other restaurants to move towards the middle.”

Flinn on Building a Neighbourhood Bistro

• Remove the pretense. Chives has no linens, expensive cutlery, high-end microfiber chairs or costly printed menus. Flinn puts local art on the walls, posts a chalkboard menu — and his chairs? From Sears.

• Food and service before wine and ambiance: Flinn says educating your staff is a low cost way to improve the dining experience. Wine and decor are expensive, but if you provide good food, people will come. If they have a question, your informed staff will know the answer.

• Price just under the top: Flinn doesn’t price dishes based on food costs. Instead, he keeps prices below the top 5 restaurants in Halifax and crafts a menu $2 to $4 less on every item. If their soup is $12 his is $8.

• Push expectations: If an item isn’t being ordered, give customers a taste for free. The next visit, they might order it.

• Promote “Canadianness”: Although Flinn uses local ingredients from local farmers, he also embraces the culture of the region — Acadian dishes, French pates, Italian charcuterie — giving traditional European fare a Nova Scotian feel.

• Hold off on the advertising: Print, TV and radio are expensive and can easily eat up your meager profits. Initially, Flinn chose not to advertise, putting only his phone number in the Yellow Pages. In lieu of advertising, he focused on the community. He “earned media” by being present in the community, giving back, offering tastes, taking staff along to events. “Getting yourself out into the community builds more loyalty than advertising or 2 for 1 coupons,” he says. Of course, there is a time for branding and logos, but that comes later. Flinn began advertising on local radio recently.

• Have something people buy into: Flinn was concerned Chives was becoming a special occasion restaurant with clients coming only for birthdays and anniversaries. To counteract this he got involved in more youth events. Now Chives has a broad demographic of regular clients ranging from 25 to 65+.

• Local, local, local not location, location, location: Food trumps location. With the advent of Google maps Flinn says any restaurant can be found. In fact, a hidden location might even be a bonus since the public likes a secret and seeking you out makes diners feel like they’re going to a “real place.”  His proof? Chives first opened on a dark street just two doors down from a “massage parlour” —  but that didn’t prevent clientele from coming.

• Food is the prize: You can’t have long-term business without service and food.

If you have any points to add about growing a restaurant, we’d love to hear from you. Or if you attended the Terroir Symposium and wish to comment on other events, drop by the comments section. It never closes.

Photo © waferboard. Published under a Creative Commons License.

Dean Tudor is Ryerson University Journalism Professor Emeritus and the author of  the book Finding Answers. He taught Canadian news media, law and ethics, and computer-assisted reporting and research. He has been writing about beverage alcohol and food since 1968. His articles and books were published in the USA by Libraries Unlimited, R. R. Bowker, Library Journal, and American Library Association. His books Wines, Beers and Spirits and Cooking for Entertainment both won American Library Association reference literature awards. Dean produces his World Wine Watch Online and has two blogs, Gothic Epicures and his award-winning wine satire site Faux Voix VinCuisine.

What’s your weakness? Dessert or mains?
Savouries: I lust for herbs and flavours found in appetizers and cheeses. I could eat small plates all day long. It must be my wine mentality.

Who or what got you interested in food?
Going to Europe opened my taste buds. Then I spent my first full-time paycheque on wine and food, both being upgrades over my usual food budget. I wanted to see what food was all about. After that, the sky was the limit. Eventually, to pay for my habit, I had to get some writing gigs.

What inspires you?
My wife Ann’s cooking. Luckily, she apparently thrives on my accolades and bouquets. She cooks from scratch. When we married we set up some ground rules in the kitchen since she loves to cook. I promised to be her sous-chef and later, when I retired, I also took over all the pots and pans on a regular basis.

What was your favourite dinner when you were a kid? Do you like it now?
My grandmother was Italian-born, so my mum made a lot of peasant-style Italian food. My fave would have to be polenta with tomato sauce and grated Parmesan. I still love it, but I have branched out to variations with pesto, grilled polenta, or creamy Gorgonzola.

What’s the first dish you remember making?
Sandwiches I made as a kid (I made a killer fried egg sandwich) and stuff like that. My adult period:  date squares, Western sandwiches, any kind of soup.

Proudest food-related moment?
I’ve got two. One: just after we met, Ann (a gal from the Midwest who believed that I was some food and wine hotshot from Down East) made me some dynamite buttery croissants from scratch. But she didn’t know I had already fallen in love with her. And two: the sous-chef compromise (above) was a dealmaker.

Strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
I’m not that adventuresome. The most bizarre (at least to me) was in Nice in 1969. I had a Plateau de Fruits de Mer  (clams, oysters, mussels, periwinkles, unidentified other bivalves or crustaceans). It came with a couple of cut lemons. So I squeezed a lemon clockwise around the plate, and everybody twitched in clockwise fashion. To this day, I still cannot say “everything on the plate” — it has to be “everybody” since they were so obviously still alive.

Favourite sound in the kitchen?
A lid being placed on the top of a pot. The worst sound is someone cleaning the pots and pans since that is my job.

Favourite cooking smell?
All of them, but maybe butter and cooked sugar. I may talk about how I love savouries, but I also love the smell of sweets cooking.

Quintessential Canadian dish?
For me, tourtiere.

Molecular gastronomy, best thing ever or the unwearable haute couture of food?
If you can duplicate it in the home kitchen, then it’s okay. Otherwise, leave it to the commercial establishments. Currently, it is overwrought. I’m just waiting for the next big thing, which at one time was supposed to be microgreens, but they never really got out of the ground.

Cilantro — can’t get enough or tastes like soap?
You know, cilantro really is the dividing line between foodies. You either like it or you don’t. Personally, I prefer coriander (joke).

What local foods can’t you live without?
It is easier to list what I don’t like. Usually, I am on a seafood diet: I see food and I eat it. If you pinned me down, it has to be basil, all kinds of nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant) and lilies (onions, garlic, leeks), local cheeses, Red Fife flour.

What’s your greatest culinary extravagance?
Spending money on top quality food in a top quality restaurant. It doesn’t happen very often. We used to go to Joso’s in Toronto for fish at lunch. All we would have is one whole fish EACH. No apps, sides, desserts, beverages (except one Perrier) — couldn’t get out for under $130 (including taxes and tips).

Also, on my 50th birthday I hired my son-in-law, a chef who now owns Tempest Restaurant in Wolfville, NS, to construct a meal (and cook it) for 10 friends of mine. I supplied the wines.

Most over-rated kitchen gadget?
A chef’s knife. Just kidding. Actually, that’s a hard question. For us, it would have to be a microwave. There’s nothing a microwave does that can’t be done better with a real stove.

What’s the most treasured possession in your kitchen? Why?
Any sharp knife, or a decent medium-sized spatula. You can do a million things with a sharp paring knife. A commercial Garland gas stove is a close second.

Fill in the blank. If I never cooked / ate / heard about  ______ again, I’d be happy.
Beets.

If you could cook for anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
Probably one of the de’ Medici. Then I would be forced to taste (yea!) my own food under penalty of death. Seriously, I have no idea.  Probably my  mother; I never did cook much for her when she was alive. So, call it guilt.

What would you prepare for him/her?
Surely something simple, nourishing, and full of taste. How about polenta with pesto sauce?

What  was the last thing you ate?
For lunch today, I had some blue cheese with a cake made from dried fruit and nuts, held together with a little flour and eggs. My second course was Parmigiano-Reggiano with chewy homemade Red Fife breakfast crunchies.

If you had to work outside the culinary field, what would you do?
I’m principally a wine writer, so I would concentrate more on that area. Also, film criticism has appealed to me.

What’s your weakness? Dessert or mains?
Mains.

Who or what got you interested in food?
My mother — she hated cooking and I knew I’d better love it if I wanted to eat well.

What inspires you?
Fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, pasta, sauces.

What was your favourite dinner when you were a kid? Do you like it now?
Grandma’s meatloaf – made with two cans of soup and a pound of “ground round”. I still love it.

What’s the first dish you remember making?
Jello with canned pears. My mother threw it out.

Proudest food-related moment?
Graduating from University in Home Economics.

Strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
A meal in Istanbul a couple of years ago. I still don’t know what it was.

Favourite sound in the kitchen?
The dishwasher “doing its thing.”

Favourite cooking smell?
Pickles being made.

Quintessential Canadian dish?
Salmon and fiddleheads, grilled on the barbecue.

Cilantro — can’t get enough or tastes like soap?
Can’t get enough.

What local foods can’t you live without?
Fresh local strawberries and fresh local tomatoes.

What’s your greatest culinary extravagance?
Cream and butter (in small amounts) rather than an edible oil topping and margarine.

Most over-rated kitchen gadget?
Garborator.

What’s the most treasured possession in your kitchen? Why?
A rocking chair made by my grandfather and brought from Newfoundland to Toronto in 1920. It sat in my grandparent’s kitchen, then my mothers, now mine, and it’s still used every day.

Fill in the blank. If I never cooked / ate / heard about  __________ again, I’d be happy.
Liver.

If you could cook for anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
Pierre Trudeau, because I think he probably had an educated palate and would appreciate small amounts of great food.

What would you prepare for him/her?
Either peppercorn steak with garlic potatoes and green beans or a lobster dish with a butter sauce.

What  was the last thing you ate?
Oatmeal porridge and homemade brown bread.

If you had to work outside the culinary field, what would you do?
Write.

Karl Wells

Karl Wells is a food writer and restaurant reviewer with The Telegram in St. John’s Newfoundland. He has hosted and produced many television food segments for CBC in the past two decades and currently hosts the popular Rogers TV programme, One Chef One Critic, seen throughout his home province. In addition to judging many culinary competitions, such as the upcoming Gold Medal Plates in St. John’s, Karl has served for many years as enRoute Magazine’s Best New Restaurants’ Newfoundland panelist.

What’s your weakness? Dessert or mains?
Mains. I love high flavoured braised dishes. Lamb shank is one of my addictions, cooked slowly on a low heat for a few hours. Shrimp and lobster are also favourites, especially when done very simply.

Who or what got you interested in food?
My father. He was a chef with the now defunct Newfoundland Railway before I was born and cooked professionally for several years before becoming a grocer. (We lived above our grocery store when I was growing up.) My dad cooked with an ease and efficiency that I found fascinating. I was also a big fan of the early television cooking shows featuring Jehane Benoit and then Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet. I also took great delight in reading my mother’s collection of cookery books.

What inspires you?
In the culinary world it would be the passion displayed by folk who make great food, be they cooks, farmers, chocolate makers or whatever. Nothing thrills like hearing a true believer talk enthusiastically about the quality of grass fed beef or making the ultimate chocolate truffle.

What was your favourite dinner when you were a kid? Do you like it now?
Macaroni and cheese with lots of Canadian cheddar on top and crispy at the edges. I will always love it. Who doesn’t enjoy macaroni and cheese? I’d like some now as a matter of fact. In fast food it would be fish and chips. We have the best fish and chips in St. John’s. When I was growing up it was a real Friday treat.

What’s the first dish you remember making?
My grandmother taught me to make apple pie when I was 10. We’d make a bunch of them together at first but afterward I did it all by myself. Then I learned how to make baked beans because I liked them and making baked beans didn’t look that hard.

Proudest food-related moment?
Believe it or not I had the opportunity to make crème brulee for the actor, William Hurt, at a private dinner. He was in St. John’s making a film. He said my crème brulee was as good as the crème brulee he’d enjoyed in Paris. It probably wasn’t but it was nice of him to say so. He has a well-educated palate.

Strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
Chocolate coated insects. Essentially they tasted like crunchy chocolate.

Favourite sound in the kitchen?
The sound of meat sizzling on a skillet.

Favourite cooking smell?
Bread when it comes straight from the oven.

Quintessential Canadian dish?
Moose stew with local root vegetables cooked in a little Canadian beer.

Molecular gastronomy, best thing ever or the unwearable haute couture of food?
The latter, mostly. It has its place as an adjunct to more traditional methods of cooking but I wouldn’t care for a meal prepared entirely by using molecular cooking techniques. It’s getting too far from real food for my liking.

Cilantro – can’t get enough or tastes like soap?
I’ve acquired a taste for it, especially in some Indian dishes.

What non-local foods can’t you live without?
Obviously many types of fruit like mangoes, oranges and bananas. Oh, and peanut butter. I cannot survive without peanut butter.

What’s your greatest culinary extravagance?
Real caviar from sturgeon but only on extremely rare occasions. I have champagne taste and a beer budget I’m afraid.

Most over-rated kitchen gadget?
I’m not a kitchen gadget person but my uncle was given a George Foreman rotisserie oven that takes forever to clean. It has a million parts. Sticking a chicken in the oven is much simpler and just as good. He never uses the thing. I think the landfills must be full of such devices.

What’s the most treasured possession in your kitchen? Why?
My dad’s 2-cup ladle that he used when he cooked professionally.
It’s pretty special because every time I see it or use it I think of him and the wonderful meals he and my mom cooked for us. It’s over sixty years old.

Fill in the blank. If I never cooked / ate / heard about  ______ again, I’d be happy.
FOAM. I hate the stuff. So many chefs decorate their plates with it that it has become a culinary cliché.

If you could cook for anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
Clement Freud. He was a great foodie and great wit. I particularly enjoyed his food writing.

What would you prepare for him/her?
My moose stew. I think he’d love it.

What was the last thing you ate?
A meal prepared for me by a lovely Russian couple. They’re new friends of mine. It began with mushroom soup and ended with blinis filled with cream cheese and topped with blueberry preserves. There were lots of interesting dishes in between with names that I cannot pronounce. One featured pounded out pork cutlets that had been cooked with cheese on top.

If you had to work outside the culinary field, what would you do?
I’d be a professional actor.