Canmore restaurant in high gear
Two new food and cocktail options that won’t disappoint
There’s an empty lot at 806 Main Street in Canmore that’s been a green space for as long as I can remember. (And likely a lot longer.) It’s been a shortcut spot and a place to exercise your dog, a short gap in the line of Main Street stores. It’s privately owned but many assume it’s public property.
A few weeks ago, locals were surprised that their shortcut path led to the service window of a huge, double-decker Leyland Titan PD3 bus parked in the middle of the lot and that the green space was now surrounded by a long metal-mesh fence. Some were disappointed but those who stopped to embrace the aromas coming from the bus were enticed by the scent of scallops grilled with chorizo oil and brown butter, prawn-and-pork burgers layered between bun-shaped discs of ramen noodles, and smoked bananas with toasted marshmallows.
Others grabbed a quick hotdog from a second vehicle parked on the lot, this one a red Japanese fire truck that’s been converted into a mobile doghouse. And still more gathered at the umbrellaed tables dotting the lot, enjoying a tequila-jalapeno-coconut milk cocktail or a glass of Prosecco (on tap).
The Leyland bus — now an elaborate version of a food truck — belongs to Norm and Blake Flann, longtime Canmore residents and culinary entrepreneurs. Norm, Blake’s father, is also a contractor with the talents and wherewithal to repurpose a British double-decker into a gourmet food centre.
Blake, a talented young chef, learned from fine chefs at The Trough, Rustica and Stewart Creek before shifting to Black & Blue in Vancouver. He then travelled the globe to study food cultures and to develop his “World Fusion” menu and has returned to Canmore with his ideas.
Built in 1962, the bus came to Canada in the early 1980s and was in service in Victoria. Charlie Locke, owner of the Lake Louise Ski Resort, bought it a few years later, using it to shuttle skiers from Banff to Lake Louise. From there it went to Fairmont where it resided by a gas station for a number of years. Arrowhead Brewing eventually bought it and then just over a year ago, the Flanns took it over.
During all those years, the Leyland was painted British-bus red but it now sports a steel-grey coat. And that’s not all. An efficient and top-notch kitchen has been installed on the main floor to crank out mortadella panzanellas and romanesco steaks. The second floor — built with a 1.75-metre ceiling — was too con- strained to convert into a dining room as is. So Norm Flann and friend Charles Reynolds installed a hydraulic lift to gain over a metre of headroom. The upstairs now seats 16 to 20.
They didn’t stop there, adding four stabilizers under the bus and patio heaters, LED lighting, hardwood floors and a slew of bells and whistles upstairs, including a dumb waiter to bring up the food.
The new restaurant — or restaurants considering you can grab-and-go from the main floor window — is called PD3 by Blake, a natural considering that’s the name of the bus and the name of the chef. Reservations for topfloor dinners — a five-course, $99 prix fixe menu at 5 p.m. or 7:15 p.m. Thursday through Tuesday — can be made at www.blakecanmore.com. (The menu is also available a la carte.)
And if you’d like to cook some of Blake’s exotic dishes at home, the Flanns also have a gourmet food store — Blake Provisions — at 8 Industrial Place, 403675-3663 for yuzu oil, bourbon-soaked toothpicks and dark-dark chocolate.
COCKTAIL BAR OPENS IN CANMORE
A couple of blocks away from PD3, Where The Buffalo Roam has opened at 626 Main St. (403675-2222). It’s where the original Crazyweed, and more recently O Bistro, once sat.
Longtime Canmore restaurant workers Shelley Young and Oona Davis have created a cocktail bar with good food, that Young calls, “The kind of place where we want to go.”
The partners pushed the kitchen a bit further into the back, opening up the dining area. The space is now largely white with a single cast bison head mounted on one wall. The Buffalo’s strength is in their cocktails, hand-mixed with house-made syrups and a variety of bitters. Chef Angelique O’Neill adds a menu of pork & beans with toast, guacamole, and smoky nuts, a list that goes well with the beverages.
Where The Buffalo Roam is open daily from noon until late.