The executive chef at Out of Bounds restaurant is hoping to hit a hole in one at a qualifier for a national competition this fall.
Chef Julia Kundera is among the eight chefs who will be scored on their slicing, sautéing and signature dishes during the Great Canadian Kitchen Party at the Edmonton Convention Centre Oct. 10.
The winner will advance to the Canadian Culinary Championships in Ottawa early in the New Year. Similar qualifiers will take place in 10 major cities across the country this fall, including Calgary, Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.
A “truly honoured” Kundera will bring her family’s farm-to-table philosophy to the cook-off in the capital — ideally, both capitals.
"I’m incredibly grateful to the entire team for their unwavering support and encouragement,” she said of the crew at Out of Bounds and Cattail Crossing Golf and Winter Club nestled in the countryside about 15 minutes east of downtown St. Albert. “Your belief in me means the world, and I’m excited to share a piece of our restaurant with everyone.”
Kundera has owned or run restaurants including Cafe Mosaics, Two Rooms Cafe, Backroom Vodka Bar, Flavours Modern Bistro, Glasshouse Bistro and the cafe at Holt Renfrew Edmonton since coming to Canada at 22.
She has put her mark on Out of Bounds since joining two years ago. As it happens, her daughter, Weronika Kundera, is the restaurant’s general manager. She has a lifetime of experience to inform how she thinks “Chef Julia” will approach the cook-off.
It starts with the mother of all invention, necessity: in the Communist Poland where Kundera was raised, food was scarce and the garden was essential.
“She doesn't want to get too, I'm not going to say ‘creative,’ but you know, sometimes you'll get things that are, like, science-y and whatnot,” Weronika Kundera said. “Like watching her, her mom and her grandma using everything they could possibly use in the garden and what they did with it. I don't know what she's making up, but I think she's going to bring that into her dish for sure: Something that ties in her background, her culture.”
They are currently promoting a dinner at the restaurant Sept. 13 where two lucky diners will win tickets to the competition in October. Fall 'N For Food will feature a four-course meal from Chef Julia and her sous, Jamie Ede, including smoked salmon dip, pan seared scallops, a short rib entrée with butternut squash risotto and bourbon-poached pears for dessert.
“Even after all these years, she still has that passion and that drive and also those expectations that I do see a lot of chefs lose, and I've been in this industry since I was born, basically,” Weronika said. “I've worked with a lot of different personalities and one thing I can say for sure is I will always be proud of what I'm putting on the table, because I know that she still has that.”
The “extraordinary chef” is the “heart and soul of what we’ve built here,” according to a “beyond proud” Mark Beck, who owns the restaurant and the golf course it adorns.
“She’s an incredibly humble lady, and Out of Bounds is what it is today because of her. Watching her create such extraordinary dishes every day is a privilege, and I know she’ll shine at the competition.”
