Finding balance between the traditional and contemporary By: Jill Wilson  Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 27, 2018

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/06/2018 (2630 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When news of Anthony Bourdain’s suicide made headlines earlier this month, fans who followed the chef’s culinary travels via his TV shows were shocked and saddened.

To people who cook for a living, the blow felt even more personal. Even if they’d never met Bourdain, the larger-than-life character felt like a mentor.

Adam Donnelly can trace his interest in cooking back to when he first read Bourdain’s gritty 2000 memoir, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. The Segovia chef had completed his first year at the University of Manitoba and was back in Pinawa, where he was born, working for the town.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” recalls the 35-year-old, sitting in the newly renovated dining room of his Osborne Village restaurant. “I had a lot of time on my hands, I was reading a lot, and that book was just at the public library there.

“I was already interested in food from an eating-out standpoint, but I’d never really cooked before, until I started culinary school. Kitchen Confidential got me in the door, I guess.”

After graduating from Red River College’s culinary program in 2005, Donnelly had moved with his then-partner, Carolina Konrad, to London. It was while the two were living in Britain that Konrad’s parents phoned to say they’d found a space they thought would be perfect for the restaurant the couple had envisioned since enjoying the tapas bars of London and Spain.

“They bought this building while we were still there,” Donnelly says, gesturing at the space that formerly housed Village Leaf and Bean. “They had a lot of confidence, which was very nerve-racking for me.”

After a year of renovations, Segovia opened in 2009, when Donnelly was just 26. For a guy who had never worked in a kitchen until culinary school, and who had never even been a sous-chef afterward, having his own kitchen was an unexpected turn of events.

“I think a lot of people were surprised that cooking was what I chose,” he admits. “Back then my parents were like, ‘Are you sure about this? Can you get a job? Is this something you can do for a living?’”

As it turns out, Donnelly could do better than just make a living. After years of Segovia consistently being named one of Winnipeg’s critical picks, this year it was named No. 46 on Canada’s Best 100 Restaurants list, where judges lauded the menu’s mix of traditional and contemporary tapas.

After he and Konrad partnered with her sister, Raya, and chef Chris Gama on popular brunch spot Clementine, which opened in 2016, Donnelly is now back to focusing his energies on one restaurant (he sold his Clementine shares, though he and his ex-wife still manage Segovia together).

“I was having a really tough time running two places,” he says. “I know lots of chefs can run two, three four places, but I like being in control and knowing what’s going on. I really love just having the one spot.”

Jill Wilson: What do you consider your signature dish?

Adam Donnelly: Hmm. We’ve had the dates stuffed with mascarpone cheese and pistachios on the menu for a long time, and the patatas bravas.

But whenever we do a new menu, there’s always regulars who say, “Argh, you took that off, it was my favourite dish!” We used to change it a lot less because of that, but now we change it all the time. People will find something else that they really like.

I think that’s part of the appeal, and why we have so many regular customers, is because they can come back and have something different all the time. I really feel that’s an amazing thing about having been open so long and having such a loyal clientele that trusts us; we can make whatever we want and people will come and eat it.

Jill: Do your kids (Donnelly and Konrad have two children, ages 2 and 4) have sophisticated palates?

Adam: I’d say they’re just regular kids in that way (laughs). They eat at the restaurant quite frequently, probably at Clementine more often, but they love the potatoes here. At home, they eat what I eat. But homemade chicken noodle soup, that’s definitely their favourite.

Jill: Is there any food you will not eat?

Adam Donnelly: No, I would try anything once. Uni sometimes is challenging for me, unless it’s super-fresh, or unless I’m going to (chef) Ed (Lam) at Yujiro, who I trust.

Jill: What ingredient is always in your pantry?

Adam: Rice, bomba rice. I like making paella.

Jill Wilson: What dish would you make to impress a date?

Adam: Paella! It’s my favourite thing to cook. You can throw anything in it and it’s an impressive dish.

Jill: Is there a food trend you think is overdone?

Adam: As I get older I just want to eat and cook simple, rustic food. I feel like overcomplicated food and food without any direction is something that needs to stop.

Jill: What’s your guilty-pleasure food?

Adam Donnelly: Those Hawkins Cheezies. I love those so much.

Jill: Is there a menu item you wish you could make more popular?

Adam: I love salt cod, bacala. It’s on the menu right now and it’s selling a little bit more. But I think that, mackerel, sardines, anchovies — these are all things that I love and when we started this restaurant, it was a tough sell.

Jill: Have you noticed a change in what people will eat over the years; are tastes broadening?

Adam: Yes — when we first started there wasn’t even Urbanspoon, let alone Instagram. People are so much more educated about food now, and where it’s coming from. It really keeps us honest and pushes us to do something different, and source properly. It’s really great. When people are educated and asking the questions, it forces the restaurant to be better.

Jill Wilson: What’s your proudest moment as a chef?

Adam: Whoo. I guess it’s still happening, you know what I mean? To run a restaurant, to be open for almost nine years and still be full almost every day is pretty amazing. Getting on the Canada’s Top 50 this year was something that I’ve always wanted to do and no Manitoba restaurant had been on it before; that was amazing for me.

jill.wilson@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @dedaumier

Jill Wilson
Arts & Life editor

Jill Wilson is the editor of the Arts & Life section. A born and bred Winnipegger, she graduated from the University of Winnipeg and worked at Stylus magazine, the Winnipeg Sun and Uptown before joining the Free Press in 2003. Read more about Jill.

Jill oversees the team that publishes news and analysis about art, entertainment and culture in Manitoba. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.