advocate of the local food movement, has close relationships with many of the province’s farmers, and insists, “I’m not a preacher, but we need to do as much as we can for our local economy and our farmers and producers… it’s our responsibility.” Preacher or not, Ennest follows his own advice and lightly drizzles some more local canola oil on a white plate, creating a prairie-tinted halo around the grilled steak. Aside from finding inspiration within Alberta, Ennest finds travel to be one of the best ways to provoke his palate. He created Open Range’s next-door neighbour, Big Fish, after a few visits to Vancouver oyster bars. “We (Ennest and his wife, the aptly named Alberta) realized that Calgary needed more of an approachable restaurant; something more casual with the feel of an east coast dockside café.” Across the globe, one of Ennest’s favourite food-oriented destinations is France. He loves French cooking methods and attitudes, especially in Paris, “What I love about Parisians is that they believe their cuisine has the background to be not messed with – it can be as simple or extravagant as you want, but, it’s traditional.” He also loves the way people eat in Greece because they live off of what they produce locally – while it’s a growing trend here, it’s how the Greeks have always done it. It’s also how he and his wife try to eat at home: using simple and fresh ingredients. For Ennest, work life and family life mirror one another; he and Alberta are partners in their company, Cuisine Concepts Restaurant Group. “My wife and I are very close,” he says, grinning, “she’s as passionate as I
46
C UL INAIREMAGAZI NE. CA ● M AY 2012
am, so it’s a really good marriage in life as well as business.” Despite the long hours and demanding schedule of Ennest’s position, his life doesn’t revolve entirely around food. He stresses that it’s important to have a hobby outside of his day job; something that will really separate work from home life. He finds this in fly fishing (a hobby he’s recently taken up for the second time), and in collecting vintage cars. When asked how many he has, he silently counts them out on his fingers and says, “Seven right now, five of which are vintage.” He adds that the ‘61 Austin Healey 3000 may be his most beloved, but his first car, a ‘73 MGB convertible comes in a close second because of sentimental value. When the meal is done, he sits down in the sunlight of the quiet dining room; hanging above him is a stunning painting from the Virginia Christopher Fine Art Gallery (Virginia Christopher is his mother-in-law). Though the room is silent in this moment, it will surely be a full house later on in the evening. Ennest, in his white chef coat, cuts into the flank steak and I watch as the house-made Chilli Pine Nut Butter melts deliciously over the grilled meat. Right then, it occurs to me that for Chef Dwayne Ennest, life has come full circle in the most wonderful way.