Jack of all trades New Nonsuch chef has found himself in some of Winnipeg's best-known kitchens By: Jill Wilson Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, May. 22, 2019

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This article was published 22/05/2019 (2300 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not often that the same guy who’s cured your charcuterie could also treat your charley horse.

But Tyrone Welchinski is a multi-talented guy. The 29-year-old chef is a couple of credits away from getting his phys-ed degree from the University of Manitoba — studies he returned to last year after dropping out in his early 20s to pursue a culinary career.

Welchinski doesn’t imagine he’ll be using his degree much, however. He is the man behind the new restaurant at Nonsuch Brewing Co., the taproom at 125 Pacific Ave., that previously offered only gourmet popcorn to accompany its Belgian-style beers. The Rupert Avenue-facing portion of the building that houses the kitchen in the taproom — formerly home to Peg Brewing Co. — has been renovated into a more restaurant-like space.

A graduate of Springfield Collegiate in Oakbank, Welchinski didn’t go to culinary school — “just the school of hard knocks,” he says, laughing. He first got a taste for the industry working at the Birds Hill Park beach concession as a teen.

“I was just chipping fries, washing dishes,” he recalls. “I can’t say there was much inspiring about it, other than the dynamic in the kitchen; it was like hanging out with your friends and you’d do a little work in between.”

His career trajectory from those humble beginnings saw him hopscotching through some of Winnipeg’s best-known kitchens. His first position was working with his high school volleyball coach, who also was the banquet chef at Pineridge Hollow. From there, he went on to work with Alex Svenne at the late Bistro 7 1/4, Jesse Friesen (Merchant Kitchen/Pizzeria Gusto) at the Lobby on York, Tristan Foucault at Peasant Cookery, Mandel Hitzer at Deer + Almond (where his wife, Cloe Welchinski, is the dessert chef), and Scott Bagshaw at Deseo and Enoteca.

His first kick at creating his own menu came when he hooked up with King + Bannatyne owner Mike Del Buono, who was looking for a chef for the sandwich-focused restaurant in the Exchange District.

“It was his startup, his concept, but from the time I was 16, I can remember thinking it would be great to just do a sandwich shop — slow-roasted, hand-carved sandwiches to order,” Welchinski says. “When Mike and I met, it was kismet because we both wanted to do the same thing.”

He moved on from King + Bannatyne after about 31/2 years; had a brief stint at Chew; and then spent a summer at Bergmann Bros., working in the family-run farm’s CSA (community shared agriculture) garden, until a cold call from Matthew Sabourin, one of Nonsuch’s owners, set him on his new culinary course.

“I originally had completely different plans because they gave me no indication what they wanted,” he says of his designed-to-be-shared small menu. “They just said that they wanted to utilize the kitchen that was here with more snack-style food, stuff for sharing.

“My original menu was all eastern European food, because that’s my family background — Ukrainian. I approached them with that menu and they weren’t keen on it. It’s a Belgian brewery, so I get it. Somehow we started talking about charcuterie, which is more of my formal background because I worked at Peasant Cookery for a year with Tristan… who is so knowledgable when it comes to butchery and curing, things like that. He was the one who really sparked my interest in cured meats and charcuterie.”

The charcuterie board at Nonsuch will be a constant feature, but to ensure the freshest ingredients, the menu changes daily. Generally it will also include a cheese plate; two small-portion snacks; and dishes designed around fish, sausage, tartare and a vegan option.

A recent example featured venison tartare, a tomato salad with whipped ricotta, a Baltic porter sausage with pickled red cabbage and Fogo Island cod with warm fingerling and cucumber salad.

On a recent May morning, Welchinski sat down in the handsome East Exchange taproom to chat.

Jill Wilson: You’ve worked at a lot of a different places. Are you naturally restless?

Tyrone Welchinski: It makes me sound really flaky because I’m bouncing around so much — spend a year somewhere and then move on… When you’re working for other people, you absorb everything you can while you’re there. Each spot you learn some new techniques, or you learn organization or numbers. Different people have different strengths, so you draw from those. And then it comes to a point where you say, “OK, I’ve taken what I want from this, and I’ve given back by working here,” and you leave when you’re feeling satisfied and hopefully on good terms.

When you’re cooking in restaurants, you’re cooking someone else’s food. At the end of the day, I want to do my own food, cook what’s interesting to me at the time. In this space, as my interests evolve or change, the menu can also change.

Jill Wilson: Last summer, you took a break from the kitchen and worked at Bergmann Bros.’ CSA garden. How did that come about and what did you take away from the experience?

Tyrone Welchinski: Will (Bergmann, who runs Bergmann Bros., just south of Winnipeg, with his wife, Jen) is my wife Cloe’s cousin; we both worked there for a while. It gave me an appreciation for how much goes into these small organic gardens. I’m guilty of going to the farmers market at 3 or 4 p.m. and saying, “Well you’re just going to compost all this, I’ll give you this much for it.” I feel so guilty for doing it now… I feel like I’m more in touch and have an intimacy with the seasons. I know what to expect and when its peaks are so I’m able to plan a menu around it.

It’s made me more ingredient-focused — focused on where they come from and developing relationships with who’s growing them.

 

‘It’s a Belgian brewery, so I get it. Somehow we started talking about charcuterie, which is more of my formal background’

 

Jill Wilson: Do you come from a foodie family?

Tyrone Welchinski: Every payday, my dad would take us out for dinner… During the week, my mom would do all the cooking and she’s a really good cook. No one makes a meatloaf like my mom, or beef stroganoff. There’s always a protein, always a salad, vegetables, like a whole meal. We’d always sit down as a family. On the weekends, my dad would always take over; for having no kitchen experience, he’s an exceptional cook. He’s always watching cooking shows.

Jill Wilson: Are they proud of you? Was there ever a period where they said, “This is not a career?”

Tyrone Welchinski: Always! My brother’s an accountant, so he’s got that going for him; I was the one who didn’t follow through with school. When I dropped out of school, I could tell my mom especially was pretty disappointed. By when King + Bannatyne started, they were like, “Maybe there’s more to this,” and definitely now, when they come to eat, they’re proud.

Jill Wilson: Is there a family favourite dish that you try and fail to replicate?

Tyrone Welchinski: My mom’s baking. She doesn’t bake anymore because she doesn’t even handle flour (Welchinski’s mother has celiac disease), but my mom’s apple pies. Nothing’s going to be better than your mom’s apple pie. And my brother and I still talk about the times when she’d make hot cross buns. We’d come home from school, it would be so cold, and it would just hit you in the face when you walked in the door — the smell of cinnamon and freshly baked bread.

Jill Wilson: What ingredient is always in your fridge or pantry?

Tyrone Welchinski: Other than salt? Sugar, because I brine a lot of things. And I have a little tin of Old Bay because I love it in this and that; it’s so good.

 

 

Jill Wilson: Is there a food you hate or won’t eat?

Tyrone Welchinski: I don’t enjoy vegan or vegetarian products that are marketed as meat. If you’re making a choice to not eat meat, you shouldn’t crave the taste of meat, especially because you can do so many things with vegetables or proteins that aren’t meat.

Jill Wilson: What’s your guilty pleasure?

Tyrone Welchinski: My dream meal is those Safeway or Sobeys roasted chickens that are just sitting there all day. I don’t know if it’s the rotisserie or the time under the heat lamp, but you can just rip a leg off. One of those, followed by a McCain cake, would be perfect.

jill.wilson@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @dedaumier