Week of October 22, 2009, Issue #731
DISH
Backstairs café: Keep it to yourself
Underground vegan café a secret worth sharing, but don't
Bryan Birtles / bryan@vueweekly.com
Running up a street on the western edge of the city's downtown, it's tough not to get lost looking for the Backstairs Café. Billing itself as a "culinary speakeasy," the restaurant is basically a secret—the only place to find any information about how to get reservations is through a Facebook page or the restaurant's bare-bones blog. Upon finally arriving, the only clue to the underground café's location is a small sign hanging over a house's back gate which reads "Backstairs." Pushing the gate open yields no new clues—it's past dark, snow from an unseasonal autumn downfall crunches underfoot, and things are getting a little spooky. It isn't until the door of the house swings open as you arrive and light from the expansive dining room pours out into the yard that it becomes apparent that something is happening.
The brainchild of a talented amateur chef named Kevin, who, for obvious reasons, would prefer his last name not be used, the Backstairs Café is located in a beautiful home overlooking Edmonton's even-more-beautiful river valley. Warm and inviting, the restaurant is part of a community of secret restaurants, an idea that has taken off all over the world. From London to San Francisco, Portland to Vancouver, secret restaurants are a growing phenomenon, catering to those with their ears to the ground and in search of culinary adventure. Kevin himself was introduced to the idea through a zine by a chef named Joshua Ploug who travelled the country cooking for people.
"The first time I encountered that whole idea my first thought was, 'This won't fly. You can't run a restaurant out of your house,' but I wished I could find a way to make it work," he says. "In traveling along the West Coast I came across a few different examples—the people I was couch surfing with in Vancouver showed me the website of the Secret Supper that happens there [and] I thought, 'This is actually happening, it could even be happening in Edmonton and I just don't know it.' In Portland I came across flyers for a brunch that the secret café there was doing and I thought, 'Wow people are really doing this. Why aren't I?'"
For the most part, these underground restaurants serve only vegan food. Kevin is of the opinion that this is partly because of the lack of options for vegans looking to dine out, as well as a correlation between veganism and the DIY ethic of the punk rock movement. Indeed, similar to starting one's own label or home recording studio, underground supper clubs are a way to bypass the traditional modes of cultural transmission, and it allows for immediate gratification.
"There's a lot of good vegan food in Edmonton but there's a lot of stuff that nobody has touched on and I've always been eager to be the one to have that opportunity, but by the time I'd be able to have a café or restaurant it'd be too late," explains Kevin. "That's why I jumped on this because I can do this now—I don't have to get a space and set it up and get furniture and pay staff, all the stuff that comes with having a restaurant."
His culinary tastes run towards the impossible—it's not often you can find creamy sauces in a vegan restaurant, nor are vegans often chowing down on delectably flaky pie crusts or meaty tourtière—but Kevin is determined to stretch the limits of vegan cuisine and not just create vegan versions of food that omnivores eat every day. Most importantly, however, the Backstairs Café is all about creating community, and sharing with others.
"That's a big reason why I enjoy cooking so much—I like the act of cooking, but the best part is seeing something go from a raw ingredient to being something that someone is totally enjoying and getting to watch that transformation. It's the whole reason why I want to do it and why I started this up," he says. "It's an intimate thing—you're providing food for someone and hopefully they're enjoying it."
As an underground restaurant, the Backstairs Café is about as exclusive as it gets in Edmonton—which is honestly half the fun—but Kevin insists that while it may be exclusive, he's not looking to exclude anyone.
"I wasn't really going for [exclusivity] but I noticed very quickly that it had an effect. I think the name that I gave it—which I just gave it quickly because I needed something—made it sound mysterious and like something you had to get in on," he says. "On the other hand I really don't want it to feel too exclusive, I don't want people to feel excluded from it. Anyone is welcome to come and enjoy."
Still, you'll find few clues as to where the restaurant is located on either the Backstairs Café's blog or Facebook page, and you'll only receive the address and directions once you have reservations—which aren't always easy to get, as the place fills up mere hours after the next week's menu is posted. Still, everyone should be able to get a turn as the talented chef has plans for the future.
"There's tons of potential, I'd love to do special holiday ones where it's a little bit more upscale. What I think about a lot is the fine dining end of things. I don't have the skills to pull it off but that's what I dream about. When you're working with a blank slate out of a house you're not confined to a category of restaurant—you can experiment and do what you want." V
The Backstairs Café
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