Homegrown grub Resto turns to the Leaf for freshest ingredients
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The term “eat local” has taken on a whole new meaning at Gather Craft Kitchen and Bar, where the journey from plot to plate is measured in footsteps rather than miles.
Head chef Mike Licharson has expanded the restaurant’s focus on local sourcing by incorporating fruit and vegetables grown in The Leaf’s biomes and outdoor kitchen garden into his menu.
Bananas from the tropical biomes star in his banana-bread French toast and accompanying banana compote. Leeks, braised slowly and paired with Manitoba-grown beluga lentils, and Swiss chard — which takes the place of grape leaves in Licharson’s play on classic meze dolmades, a nod to the chef’s Greek-Ukrainian-Irish heritage — are both grown in the outdoor kitchen garden.
The park’s produce complements the restaurant’s other locally sourced ingredients, Licharson says.
Banana bread French toast at Gather restaurant.
Butter is from the Notre Dame Creamery. Labneh comes from Chaeban and pure honey is sourced from the John Russell Honey Company.
This hyper-local approach carries through to the bar.
While they’re not yet brewing their own beer — there are plans afoot for the hops currently growing in the kitchen garden — drinks created by restaurant manager Eyoel (who only uses one name) feature allspice, Cuban oregano and rosemary from the herb garden. And the limited-run summer Garden Cocktail, made with pineapple, lime, soda and house-infused jackfruit rum, features jackfruit from The Leaf.
Licharson looks further afield while still remaining within the borders of the country for ingredients he is unable to source within the region.
“I’ve always been of the opinion that you should get the best from as close to you as you can and do it justice,” Licharson says. “Ingredients that champion Canadian farmers, ranchers and fishermen, and try to do as little to it as you can.”
Dolmades at Gather.
The seasons also dictate a lot of what’s on his menu, as does his desire for the kitchen to generate as little food waste as possible.
“If you are going to be a chef, you can’t just be throwing stuff out; food is wildly expensive to begin with.”
“If you are going to be a chef, you can’t just be throwing stuff out — food is wildly expensive to begin with,” he says, pointing out that all herbs, ginger and green trimmings are lacto-fermented and dehydrated, before being blitzed into a powder that is used as a seasoning.
“I’ve always been passionate about trying to preserve as much as I can, so that what we can’t utilize now, while it’s fresh, we can still have it here for later on.”
Braised leeks and Manitoba beluga lentils
He’s currently looking forward to harvesting lettuce, different herbs, zucchini, patty-pan squash, raspberries, saskatoon berries, beans, peas, walking onions, edible blooms and beetroot, all of which are growing strong in the kitchen garden.
And while the new chef, who replaced previous head chef Mike de Groot earlier this year, has revamped the restaurant menu, he’s quick to assure everyone that Gather’s much-loved roasted carrots will remain for the foreseeable future.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Ingredients sourced from Assiniboine Park and The Leaf biomes are being used at their restaurant, Gather.
“People love those carrots and it’s nice to have a vegetable-forward signature,” he says. “And later this month in the garden, we’re going have heaps of carrots, the very nice, pretty, multicoloured heritage carrots, which will be a nice sub to make to the dish.”
av.kitching@winnipegfreepress.com
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Roasted carrots are a popular item at Gather.
Berry rum punch, which uses allspice syrup made from a tree in The Leaf, at Gather restaurant.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Red veining Indian mallow flower, which is edible, is also being used in the Gather restaurant.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS
Chef Mike Licharson shows off a bouquet of chard and bountiful vegetables for making dishes at Gather using produce from the Leaf.
AV Kitching is an arts and life writer at the Free Press. She has been a journalist for more than two decades and has worked across three continents writing about people, travel, food, and fashion. Read more about AV.
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