Chef Mike Provo pairs his love of simple ingredients prepared in creative ways with The Libertine's extensive beer list to create a menu full of culinary excursions in interesting directions.
Provo says the first lesson he learned about cooking was from his mom. He says, "I grew up in a small, lower middle class family and learned from my mom and learned that you can use really basic things and make really good dishes out of them."
Chef Provo elected to 'take his show on the road' and become a journeyman cook rather than go to culinary school. He's worked in New York and Atlanta gaining experience with everything from fine dining to pure soul food before returning to Calgary. After stints at the Ironwood Stage and Grill and teaching cooking classes at the Sunterra Keynote market he found his way to The Libertine.
For Provo every dish he creates should 'push the envelope'. The chef explains, "I don't have any rules or boundaries towards cooking. If you stay true to your style and use quality ingredients you can make a good dish."
The style of food at The Libertine is a good match for Chef Provo's cooking style. Provo points out, "The concept itself works out fantastically. It's one of the reasons I came over here. I'm fortunate to have the owners give me a very long leash to make what I want to make."
When it comes to sourcing ingredients Provo says, "I think I should get my meat from the butcher and my fish from the fishmonger. I'm not necessarily a big fan of getting my stuff from big suppliers. I think it's key for us to support the smaller guys. That way there's a better relationship."
Some of the suppliers Chef Provo uses include Rocky Mountain Game Meats, Daniel's Bakery and Worldwide Specialty Foods which provides hard-to-find ingredients for the chef.
Flavours Off the Beaten Path
Creating dishes is one of the biggest challenges for any chef. Provo says he's driven by a fascination with flavours and ideas that are off the beaten path. He explains, "I think: what can I do with turkey that's not the usual? So I thought about turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce but what if I ground the turkey and made a turkey burger? What if I took the cranberry sauce and made a cranberry mustard sauce and put it on the burger and then added the stuffing to the burger as well?"
Chef Provo also credits the people he works with for inspiring him and says, "I spend a lot of time here and I have a great chef, Stefan (from the Unicorn), that works with me. We're a great match up because he's kind of my mentor. He's an old school chef from Germany and he's good at working with some of the classic cuts of meat. My style is more new and modern."
The Libertine's menu will focus on the seasons and Chef Provo also tries to incorporate seasonality into his daily features. For example, he says, "If I'm creating a feature for a cooler day I want something hearty but not too hearty. It's fall right now so pumpkin, squash and game meats come to my mind."
Another feature of the The Libertine that plays into Provo's culinary creativity is the 60 types of beer they have on tap. Provo points out, "We source out a lot of craft beers. We incorporate the beers within the dishes. One of our biggest sellers here is our beer braised butter chicken. We actually use the lemon tea beer to braise the chicken for the dish."
Setting High Standards
Managing a kitchen is a different process for each chef. In Chef Provo's case he explains, "I'd say the most important part of running my kitchen is that I set the bar quite high. If we don't accomplish something day in, day out we aren't doing our job right. I'm hard on my team but that's because I want to get the best out of them."
Provo continues, "I tell them that their goal isn't to work for me for five or ten years. The goal is for them to have their own restaurants one day. I just teach them the tools to create their own style. I tell them that they don't have to cook the way I cook as long as they do it well."
When asked how he measures his success Chef Provo says, "I gauge everything by how busy my room is. If I have 150 people in the room that's 150 people that went out of their way to pick The Libertine as their dining destination and our goal is to exceed those customer's expectations."
The Libertine is relatively new on Calgary's dining scene and Provo is keen to point out that, "I think we're still scratching the surface here. With each menu my guys get a little bit better and a little bit stronger and we fix our mistakes. Each day we get just a bit more aggressive. I'm intrigued to see where we are a year or two years from now."
For more information please visit: http://thelibertine.ca
This interview with Mike Provo was conducted on Nov. 2, 2011 via telephone.
