“I think I feel a cholesterol attack coming on,” stage-whispered my friend Antonio Pineda, actor, musician, poet and general man-about-town. We were standing at the door of the recently opened Bistro Corner and Kelvin Lemishka was telling us about his evolving menu.
First up was the penne with spicy Italian sausage, sundried tomato and artichoke. Next was the cheese toast spread made with cheddar and Danish blue. The bread is home-made, of course, as is all the food at The Bistro Corner. By the time he got to the pepper steak with a lashing of Swiss cheese and whiskey sauce, Antonio and I looked at each other and groaned softly.
We had just eaten our way through the weekend all-you-can-eat buffet that runs from 8am to 2pm and costs $4.50. After scrambled eggs and sausages and toast and perogies (dumplings of unleavened dough), the mere thought of more food was overwhelming. But we would be back. Nothing on the menu is over $5, so it’s an affordable eatery.
Kelvin is a fourth-generation Ukrainian chef who hails from Alberta. For the geographically challenged, that is plonk in the centre of Canada – read ‘in the middle of nowhere’ – and one province over from where I was born. Since my Norwegian grandmother lived in a Ukrainian village, Kelvin and I speak the same food language: perogies, borsht, verekeki, kublisah, petihere.
From this Eastern European base he introduces a fusion with Greek, Italian, Khmer and Filipino dishes. Combinations that don’t sound like they would work in fact do: take perogies with Italian fillings, for example. Or how about pork adobo with a cabbage roll rather than rice? And the beer-marguerites. Careful, though: the Cambodian beer and tequila come in equal measures and this concoction is best classified as downright dangerous.
“It is all about the quality of the ingredients and making things from scratch. Take our maple pork sausages, for example. I grind the meat myself and use real maple syrup. We plan on setting up a kurobuta (Black Berkshire pig) farm. It will keep us supplied with the best gourmet pork in the country. The French fries are cut by hand. Our bread is baked on the premises and follows a recipe handed down from my grandmother.”
Having run restaurants in Calgary, Hong Kong and New York, Kelvin has the kitchen in his blood. He wants to get The Bistro Corner up and running and then step back to concentrate on other business projects. The plan is to train Khmer staff. Somaly is his manager and he plans to set up a profit-sharing plan. “Give the staff a vested interest in the business. They will see that when it makes money they do, too. Simple.”
If you’re going to waddle up to The Bistro Corner weekend buffet marathon for seconds or thirds, wear pants with an expandable waistline. Those perogies like my grandmother used to make are tasty and you will keep going back for more.
The Bistro Corner, #63 Street 172; 097 2617875.