From one Stone to another

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This article was published 29/01/2023 (1329 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mike Publicover calls it his “Mick-time.”

Publicover is the owner of Stonework’s Bistro, which opened in the Shops of Winnipeg Square in May 2022. While you’ll usually find the veteran chef in the kitchen, turning out homestyle soups and fire-baked sandwiches, he still enjoys greeting customers in person, as much as possible. That means doffing his apron for a spell, to head to the front counter, where the action is.

“I equate it with Mick Jagger leaving the dressing room, to go out on stage,” Publicover says, sporting dark trousers, a grey Stonework’s ballcap and chef whites boasting his full name and title, “executive chef,” on the left chest.

“Generally, I’m shy and reserved, but put me out there, in front of an audience, and I become somebody completely different. And since it’s my food we’re selling, who better to talk it up than me?”

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Publicover, a married father of two grown children, has worked in the restaurant and hospitality industry for 45 of his 59 years. Check that, he says, seated at a raised table in the rear area of the 30-seat resto, where his son Zac, one of the attractively appointed spot’s six employees, has just dropped off his mid-afternoon coffee. His first foray with food actually occurred when he was five years old and living in Halifax, where he grew up the fourth of five siblings.

School was out for the summer, and a large construction project was taking place, down the block from where his family lived. Every morning for a month, Publicover rose and shone bright and early, to throw together a few dozen bologna sandwiches. Then, just before noon, he marched over to the construction site, to peddle sammies for a dime each, to famished workers.

“I sold out every single day and lemme tellya, the catering trucks hated my guts,” he says with a chuckle.

Publicover landed what he calls his first real job at age 14, peeling carrots and prepping vegetables for banquet meals at a Halifax hotel. He was taking a break in a staff lounge one day, when he began flipping through a trade magazine somebody had left behind. He paused at an article that detailed the salaries professional chefs in cities such as Las Vegas and San Francisco were commanding. “Ooh, I like the sound of that,” he said to himself.

After completing high school, he enrolled in a vocational school that offered a one-year, commercial-cooking course. He followed that up with a two-year stretch at Nova Scotia Community College’s Institute of Technology, where he studied culinary management.

He got a job almost immediately in his home province. The lifestyle he was leading wasn’t “the best,” mind you, and he felt it would be beneficial to start anew, elsewhere. That turned out to be the Chateau Lake Louise, in picturesque Lake Louise, Alta.

He’d been there for about two months when he was introduced to a person named Debbie, who’d just been hired as a front-desk clerk. The two began dating in the fall of 1986. Weeks later, when the hotel underwent a series of renovations, their hours of work were cut significantly. To make ends meet, they packed their bags and left for Calgary. The first of their two children was born six years later, and it was decision time, again.

“Debbie’s from (Winnipeg), so, wanting to be closer to her family, we moved here,” he says, mentioning he wasn’t concerned about finding work, as “the thing about cooking is, there’s always a job.”

Right he was. Following a stint at the Fort Garry Hotel, he moved over to Eaton’s, where he’d accepted an administrative position, developing menus for in-store restaurants from Saskatchewan to Thunder Bay. He remained there until the Portage Avenue store closed in 1999, then spent two years bouncing between cooking for guests aboard the Paddlewheel Queen, and helping the Ginakes family establish a new Pony Corral outlet, on St. Mary Avenue.

“I enjoyed the work, but the days were long,” he says, pointing out by then, they’d welcomed their second child. “About the only time I saw the kids was when Debbie picked me up at nine or 10 at night, and they were asleep in the back seat.”

In need of a change, he successfully applied at Holy Family Home, a long-term care facility on Aberdeen Avenue. He worked there for six years, before switching to Canada Life Assurance Company’s main headquarters, across from the legislature, to run an in-house eatery. He laughs, saying one of his tricks to bump up sales was to begin roasting chickens and prime rib by 8 a.m., which resulted in workers picking up the scent on route to their office or cubicle, and spending all morning dreaming about lunch.

Sure, he could have put his feet up and retired when his position was eliminated in 2021, except he felt he had “one more project” up his sleeve. He just didn’t know what it was.

He briefly entertained the idea of running a food truck on Broadway. He also thought about entering the world of appliance sales. After all, who would you rather buy an oven from than a Red Seal chef?

It finally hit him, one morning in the shower. Knowing one of the fastest growing sectors in the food industry was ready-made meals that only required reheating, he thought, what if he readied gourmet sides and entrees, vacuum-packed the lot to preserve freshness, and marketed them to people on the go?

In August 2021 he had friends over to his and Debbie’s North Kildonan home, to sample 18 vacuum-packed dishes, which he reheated in a water bath using a sous-vide wand. His guests were impressed with how great everything tasted, but what they especially loved was how there was next to no mess to clean up.

Following a second trial run at a buddy’s cottage, where he treated his hosts to vacuum-packed Kung Pao chicken and roasted veggies, which he reheated in a slow cooker while everybody was at the beach, he knew he was onto something. All he needed was a spot to cook.

Publicover never planned on becoming a first-time restaurant owner at the tender age of 58. That changed when he paid a visit to Winnipeg Square in November 2021, to inspect a vacant station in the food court, and was led past a shuttered pizza spot equipped with a wood-fired oven. “What have we here?” he asked the leasing agent.

Seven months later, following a series of renovations led by his carpenter son, Zac, he became the owner of Stonework’s Bistro.

“The focus was still going to be on the vacuum packs — we’ll finally be getting around to that next month — but after spending a few days (in Winnipeg Square), studying the lay of the land, I thought, hmm, it’s mostly deep-fried everything down here. If I was to offer healthy, hearty dishes, stuff I’d do from scratch every day, there might be an opportunity to make some money in the interim,” he explains. His best move? Persuading a woman named Denise to leave Starbucks, where he’d gotten to know her, to join his operation, instead.

“She’s worked downtown forever, she remembers exactly what everybody takes in their coffee, no questions asked, and chats with customers in the most friendly manner possible… she was an absolutely brilliant find.”

It wasn’t long before positive reviews began pouring in. “This new downtown gem ticks all the boxes,” one person commented on Facebook. Another satisfied customer wrote: “Delicious food and the staff are always friendly,” while a third touted Publicover’s beer-and-cheese soup as “absolutely delicious.” (Wait, what? Beer? Cheese? What time do they open?)

Fair warning if you’re in the area: it’s almost never the same thing twice, menu-wise. The fresh-baked muffins change daily, as do the lunch selections. You can count on chicken noodle soup every Monday, plus a weekly taco bar, but past that, the motto is “just wing it,” the owner says.

“Last Friday I did a pineapple-chicken (soup) and people were like, they’ve never heard of such a thing,” he goes on. “I told them the only reason for it was because I had a catering event the day prior, and didn’t need all the pineapple I’d bought for the fruit skewers. What else was I going to do with it, and by 12:30 (p.m.), we were sold out.”

Like he mentioned, Stonework’s Bistro, which is open from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m, Monday to Friday, will begin introducing take-home, vacuum packs in February, right around when residents will begin moving into 300 Main, the swanky, 42-storey highrise directly above Winnipeg Square. Perfect timing? Here’s hoping, he says.

“People have to eat, right, so, yeah, we expect to greet a few people in their housecoats, who pop down for their morning coffee and a muffin,” he says, adding he’ll also offer vacuum-packed, gourmet dog food for discriminating pet owners. As well, he understands federal government employees are supposed to report back to the office in the coming weeks. That’s another segment of the population he’s looking forward to feeding.

Before we let him get back to work, can we expect to spot a good, old-fashioned bologna sandwich on the menu, the sort that sparked his culinary journey, almost 55 years ago?

“Don’t get me wrong, I still love a bologna sandwich, but I think that generation has retired,” he replies, polishing off the last of his coffee. “But if you’re a fan of meatloaf sandwiches, which are kind of in that same realm, you might want to drop by next Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. I still haven’t made up my mind.”

David Sanderson writes about Winnipeg-centric restaurants and businesses.

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca