Chef's Table

Privada Wine + Tapas is a St. Albert restaurant that points to the city’s growing cosmopolitan reach.

An anchor on St. Anne Street’s food strip, it is a chic neighbourhood restaurant that re-imagines the form of food and how people eat. It’s basically about sharing.

“At first, it was difficult to convince people to share. In fact, we probably lost clientele in the beginning,” said chef Tony Krause, who has led the team since 2014.

The restaurant does not serve the traditional Spanish tapas people know. Instead it borrows the spirit of tapas. The 15-item menu is a small version of Canadian cuisine, but more polished.

Portions are larger than typical tapas in what could be described as mini main courses and virtually all fare ranges from $8 to $20.

Krause’s culinary signature tantalizes the palette by mixing unusual ingredients. He serves scallops with apple relish and asparagus. P.E.I. mussels are cooked in coconut milk and the braised beef uses tongue.

One of his more off-the-beaten-path tapas is horse tartare, a dish that has elicited a variety of responses.

“One lady asked if we served dog,” chuckles Krause. “Another table ate half and when they realized it was horse, they left the other half on the plate. They thought it was ‘house’ tartar.”

As Privada celebrates its fifth anniversary, the St. Albert-raised chef believes revising the menu monthly is key to the restaurant’s success.

“I think people come here because we change the menu often. People come because they like to experiment.”

Although many dishes are avant-garde, they are far from being pretentious.

“We want to showcase a great product in this environment without being stuffy. For me, comfort, high-quality and caring about the product is important. Even if you just buy asparagus from the grocery store, you should cook it and showcase it at its best.”

One of three sons in an army family, Krause was born in Medicine Hat. His family transferred to New Brunswick when he was six, and later to St. Albert in junior high school.

“My mom was a hardcore cook. She was all about making everything from scratch. And I was never allowed to be away from home at dinner.”

When the family moved to St. Albert, his parents chose a house with a large plot.

“The house had the biggest plot they could find and they put a garden in it. I was forced to weed every week and I hated it. They were never involved in the restaurant business, but food and family was very important.”

Anxious to buy a guitar, a 16-year-old Krause took a job at the now defunct Ric’s Grill washing dishes.

“Something always happens in kitchens, and pretty soon I was making salads and desserts. I made my way through the entire kitchen. After working there three years, I still felt I didn’t know anything about cooking. The chef at the time did a wine dinner, and started talking about his time at culinary school and how much he enjoyed it.”

Logging onto Google, Krause discovered a culinary competition at the Art Institute of Vancouver. In a daring moment, he registered. Within two weeks, he received a response inviting him to apply at the culinary school. Without hesitation, Krause enrolled in the 18-month program.

“It was amazing. It was great. It was exactly what I was looking for.”

But it was far from a breeze. Carol Bird, an instructor with high, exacting standards, trained in France’s Michelin star kitchens, was known to make students cry.

“But she was super-amazing. She was really passionate about food. She really inspired me.”

One time Krause whipped up ratatouille. Forgetting that some vegetables take longer to cook, he dumped everything in at once.

“She didn’t hold back. She took a mouthful and spit the food out. Looking back, I appreciate it. It’s good to be tough on cooks.”

His own style as overseer is more casual.

“You find a way to inspire and motivate the team while treating them like humans. It’s important to be tough on cooks, but it’s equally important to treat them well."

For instance, last year he purchased tickets to Seven Music Fest for the staff.

After graduating from the culinary institute in 2010, Krause cooked at Wild Rice for three years, a Vancouver restaurant that boasts culinary roots from “grandma’s Chinese cooking.”

It was a “super cool experience” where the graduate chef not only cooked contemporary Chinese food, but also took part in competitions.

“One competition was really big and broadcast in China. Another time I was in a cooking competition at the Vancouver Aquarium. At the challenge, I was situated next to a sea turtle. How cool is that?”

Before returning to St. Albert, Krause worked a stint at the now closed Weczeria Food and Wine, a farm-to-table Saskatoon restaurant that served simple, hearty meals.

“You’d never know who knocked on the kitchen door selling something. One guy from B.C. would load his produce on the back of a van and travel across Canada selling it. And there were foragers selling wild mushrooms and fiddleheads. I was able to tour so many farms when I was there.”

Now at Privada, the head chef continues to source local vendors: Peas on Earth’s baby corn, Untamed Feast’s wild mushrooms, and Benchmark Farm’s steak meat dry-aged at the restaurant for 50 days.

Prairie Gardens grows oxalis or wood sorrel, a specialty herb for Privada while Sturgeon County potter Brenda Danforth customized the restaurant with her plates and teapots.

This past year Privada’s owners, the Como family, put a great deal of energy and resources into opening a second restaurant in Edmonton. Revel Bistro & Bar is located at the old Alberta Hotel on Jasper Ave.

For the past year, Krause has split his time between Privada and Revel.

“I came up with the concept and the name. The layout of the kitchen was done, but I made some minor renovations. It was a big project.”

The moniker ‘Revel’ came to him after listening to a song on the radio.

“It was engaging. It was something exciting, upbeat and elegant. It was a party song.”

The 136-seat Revel is larger than Privada’s 50-seater. It is divided into two parts – a restaurant and lounge. The restaurant is contemporary, modelled with dark woods. The bar instead retains a vintage look with original lead mirrors and a hand-cranked cash register weighing 120 lbs.

“You walk in, and it’s like walking into a different time.”

Creating a vision and developing a restaurant from the ground up has been an incredible experience.

“But for me, Privada is still the truest form of what we’re trying to achieve. We’re not grungy. We’re not polished. We’re casual and we want to focus on tapas, our wine selection and the spirit of celebration.”

Privada’s Green Tomato Bruschetta

Procedure

• Finely dice green tomatoes and reserve in a non-reactive mixing bowl.
• Finely dice red onions and garlic. Lightly sweat in a sauté pan over medium low heat. Once onions are translucent in colour, add chili flakes and red wine.
• Continue cooking on medium low heat until wine has reduced to dry, but does not stick to pan.
• Cool onion garlic mixture and add diced tomatoes. Season with Balsamic glaze and chopped basil.
• Divide bruschetta among slices of toasted baguette. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese and sea salt.
• Serve as is or with chicken.