www.modernluxuria.com
WORDS BY TWYLA CAMPBELL PHOTOGRAPHY BY NEV OSTOIN
Biera Is In A League Of Its Own Next level pub fare courtesy of Christine Sandford
FIVE
years ago, Greg Zeschuk opened the doors to Biera and set diners’ tongues wagging. While the gleaming tanks in one section of the
space verify that this is a brewery, the restaurant within that space is certainly not a brew pub. Not in the way that most would think, anyway. In the kitchen is Christine Sandford, a Culina alumnus, who lived for 18 months in Belgium working at the now closed, Michelin-starred In de Wulf, and its sister restaurant, De Superette. Sandford also has impressive butchery skills, courtesy of time spent in Italy learning from the masters there. She was practising those skills at Acme Meats in the Ritchie neighbourhood at the same time Greg Zeschuk hit a bump in his plans to build a brewery across the street. The city would only approve plans for a brewery if a restaurant was attached to it. Zeschuk offered Sandford the position of head chef. He sealed the deal with the promise of a slick kitchen and a charcoal grill, like the one at De Superette, and Sandford began creating “pub food”, the likes of which most Edmontonians had never experienced.
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