The GOODS from Oakwood Canadian Bistro

Vancouver, BC | Kitsilano’s The Oakwood Canadian Bistro is proud to announce the addition of Michael Love to its team, in his first ever role as Head Chef. Continuing with the restaurant’s tradition of taking on young, passionate chefs (previously, Mike Robbins, now of AnnaLena), the change of leadership and much anticipated influx of creativity comes at an exciting time for the restaurant, which is celebrating its seventh anniversary this summer (2018).

Love was born in Powell River and grew up in Abbotsford. Although his kitchen training comes courtesy of a list of talented people – including Ned Bell, Sean Murray, and former Oakwood chefs Ryan Murphy and Mike Robbins – Love’s path to Chef status began modestly with a job at Panago Pizza. Since then his career path had several divergences outside of the restaurant industry, including jobs as a computer programmer and mechanic. It was while working at the Four Seasons in Vancouver that Love discovered The Oakwood, when he overheard one of the Chefs praising the restaurant. He decided to check it out and was impressed by the restaurant’s style, food and service. A few months later, Love was brought on board and for the following year-and-a-half worked his way up through the stations, eventually being given the opportunity to assist then Head Chef Murphy in creating their new Brunch menu.

Before being offered his current position, Love took time off from The Oakwood and spent eight months travelling through New Zealand, where he worked with “some amazing people”, including Sam Clark in Auckland. Afterwards he returned to work in Jasper, where he also developed an interest in golfing, before accepting the exciting new role as Head Chef.

Love admits that the adjustment hasn’t been small and, since taking on the position, he has learned a lot about the behind-the-scenes workings of a kitchen. After tackling a few special dinners and Dine Out earlier this year, Love just recently had the opportunity to finally focus on the Oakwood’s menu. His new dishes draw inspiration from childhood, as well as more recent influences from previous chefs and kitchen experiences. Ultimately, Love’s intention is to utilize the freedom afforded by the concept of ‘Canadian cuisine’ while also keeping the food comforting and shareable. Here he is in his own words:

Growing up there was a lot of meat and potatoes with the occasional taco night or build your own pizza night. Most of our vacations were camping all around BC. We got a lot of trout, beans and peaches when going through the Okanagan, plus cooking over the fire.

With my mom and dad split from a younger age and my dad being a pilot off working for days at a time, family get together’s were a real treat. My mom was big into baking and doing the whole family turkey dinners. I try to do one dinner for the family a year. Be it a birthday, thanksgiving or Christmas. Everyone helps out now, it’s great.

When I started working in restaurants, I didn’t think I was going to become a chef. But you start to try different foods here and there. I just got absorbed into the cooking culture. Now I’ve been traveling with my girlfriend to New Zealand, Taiwan, Japan. Trying all these amazing flavors.

So when I think about the style and where I want to go with my food as a chef. I want to have flavours of my childhood and my adult life combined with ideas and techniques I have learned from my previous chefs. I want the core of my food to be comforting like the food from my childhood and to have some complexity I’ve learned over the years as a cook.

In addition to revamping the original brunch menu which he originally collaborated on, Chef Love, along with Sous Chef Kai Leitner (most recently of Hawksworth) and the rest of the passionate team are also introducing three new dinner items to The Oakwood’s menu (and more on the way).

Roasted kabocha squash, lemon ricotta, apples, toasted pumpkin seeds, smoked maple – “I wanted to create a vegetable dish that would bridge the gap between spring and summer. The squash is somewhat starchy, but when balanced with compressed apples and ricotta it is mouth watering.”

Cache Creek eye of round tartare, grilled onion dressing, kohlrabi, pickled zucchini, kale powder, toast – “There was a need for a raw element and tartare is one of my favourites. I enjoy the charred green onion as well as the kale powder as an extra bit of ‘umami’.”

Pan-seared lingcod, miso carrot broth, lentils, pickled carrots, nori pistou – “I enjoy the Japanese elements and flavours of this dish. I feel that the carrots and miso work extremely well together.”

Cinnamon bun French toast, salted caramel, raisins – “I like to have a bit of fun with the French toast for brunch. I feel like I succeeded in creating a French toast that tastes like a cinnamon bun, already a staff favourite.”

Roasted mushroom and lemon ricotta omelette, kale pesto, lemon Parmesan brussel sprouts – “It was nice to bring back an omelette and just keep it simple in the flavours.”

Buttermilk fried chicken sandwich, pickled cabbage, spicy aioli, hash browns (pictured above) – “The fried chicken sandwich is a feel good throwback. What’s nice in this version is that everything is made in-house, including the hot sauce that we use to make the spicy aioli.”

Oakwood

Neighbourhood: Kitsilano

2741 West 4th Ave.

(Closed)

604-558-1965

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