Conestoga College’s “bloom.” Blossoms

bloom.
Address: Waterloo Campus, Conestoga College, 108 University Avenue E, Waterloo
Open: lunch Tuesday to Friday; dinner Monday and Tuesday; Reservations recommended
Cost: Dinner for two: $35-$50
Contact: 519-885-0501; www.conestogac.on.ca/diningmenu

Amuse-bouche: “Educate-eat-experience” is the philosophy of bloom., the newly re-named student-run restaurant of the Conestoga College culinary arts program. It’s a fitting description: students learning the craft of cookery and front-of-house service put together a dining experience for the public and hone their skills at the same time. The food and service are very good; the value unsurpassed.

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First, let’s get the typography correct. It’s a small “b” with a period at the end of the word, even if it doesn’t end-stop a sentence: “bloom.” It’s sort of like dining with e.e. cummings, the playful 20th century American poet who eschewed conventions of punctuation. The name is simple, sharp, and snazzy.

Next, the geography: bloom. is the funky, relatively new name of the Conestoga College hospitality and culinary arts program’s student-run restaurant, located at Conestoga’s Waterloo campus on University Avenue. It’s a new, fresh blossoming of a dining program that is decades old, and I’m penning it an aromatic bouquet of congratulations on its new evolution.

bloom. is an important part of Conestoga culinary students’ training as they learn how to cook and run the front-of-house while engaging in real-life restaurant skills. The good thing is, the food and dining experience they turn out is open to the general public—and what that general public receives is very good food and value for three- or four-course meals at lunch or dinner.

Chef Paul Torrance oversees the kitchen and has it, and his students, functioning with station-by-station discipline and attention to detail and execution amongst the brigade. It’s great to be able to be a part of the training and education process as a diner.

Similarly, maitre d’ and sommelier Matthew Worden guides the dining room and teaches wait-staff front-of-house skills, including all-important wine service. Worden, incidentally, has put together a list that balances local and international wines. That list was recognized in 2010 2011 for its excellence by The Wine Spectator.

It all blooms into making a healthy contribution to our local food culture which is a multi-layered affair: educated and receptive diners along with dedicated farmers and producers who work with cooks and restaurateurs make up a few important layers. Add to those a vibrant and energetic culinary-teaching element and you’ve got the essentials for continuing to build a robust culinary scene in Waterloo Region.

Torrance, left, and Jonathan Gushue. The Langdon Hall chef drops by to work with Conestoga students.

bloom.’s tagline is “educate-eat-experience,” and it’s fitting. Both students and diners do all three—and simultaneously, in fact, when the student-cooks visit the dining room for a brief chat with each table. That time with their guests is important to student learning.

The restaurant’s menus change weekly—quite ambitious—and use ingredients that are seasonal and local. Wine-makers’ dinners are also part of what bloom. offers. Students get the benefit of guest chefs dropping by every now and then: guest chefs like Susur Lee and Jonathan Gushue of Cambridge’s Langdon Hall no less.

Techniques are French-based generally, as for the menu of October 25 [2010], for instance: bisques, dauphinoise of potatoes (choux pastry croquettes), flaky-pastry galettes, and navarin of lamb (the French ragout traditionally prepared with turnip). Classic baked Alaska is a dish allowing students the pyrotechnic experience of torching a meringue.

Visiting last week, I enjoyed a kir-tini cocktail of sparkling wine and vodka with raspberry notes of Chambord liqueur and home-made fruit preserve: quite a pleasing aperitif. Together with a simple and elegant amuse-bouche of steamed trout bound with smooth mascarpone cheese served on a medallion of crisp cucumber, there were excellent contrasts of textures and enough acidic zing to energize the taste buds to the right degree.

I was sceptical of the first course of classic vichyssoise and chives with a garnish of crème Chantilly, a slightly sweet whipped cream. It took some stirring to get the crème incorporated, but it did add to a rich potato-leek soup an interesting and pleasant spectrum of flavours and textures to start off the meal. Scepticism abated.

A cold salad of chickpea, lentil, white kidney, navy, and green beans in a lemony vinaigrette is well-prepared with fresh beans and lentils maintaining a decent al dente texture and controlled acidity. Its presentation on the square glass plate was appealing too, though it was odd to have back-to-back cold dishes.

For the main course, cacciatore is traditionally a hunter-style dish (chasseur in France) of tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, herbs and vino—it often ends up as pollo alla cacciatora and is a classic of rustic Italian cookery that has long been among my favourites.

Susur Lee has donated significant amounts of his time and expertise during visits to the bloom. kitchen.

It emerged in a tweaked version at bloom. and with good success. A roast chicken breast is moist (but just about at the edge of being dry) and wrapped in its flavourful crisp skin—no mean feat when you have to cook the chicken ahead to the right degree and hold it for service. Chateau potatoes—those lovely ellipsoid tourneed spuds that are a classic of French cooking—are perfect with a gently crisp exterior and golden colour. They look lovely: my only complaint? I wanted more.

Now, a full dessert disclosure: I am emphatically not a bread pudding fan. Never have been; never will be. However, bloom.’s Bailey’s liqueur bread pudding with currants had deep, rich flavour and a delightful texture which won me over.

The students behind the stoves and in the prep kitchen at bloom. did yeoman’s work at creating a solid lunch-service’s worth of meals. Their culinary counterparts acting as front-of-house service staff did an equally good job as they learn the nuances and subtleties of the craft.

Both of these disciplines need to understand each other and be able to work together seamlessly to develop hospitality staff that can serve a demanding—and increasingly engaged—clientele in our restaurants. That the students seem to be eager learners bodes well for the local industry, to my mind. That said, bloom. is blossoming into a local culinary training facility-cum-restaurant worthy of our support.

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Restaurant reviews are based on anonymous and unannounced visits to the establishments. Restaurants do not pay for any portion of the reviewer’s meal. Listen to “The Food Show” Sundays at noon on 570 All News Radio. Andrew Coppolino can be reached at andrew@waterlooregioneats.com.