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Some people have paint, others write, some play music, but for Bryce Williamson, food is his canvas—and has been for over two decades in town, being part of Churchill’s for that time.
But Bryce has been exploring a new avenue of his art for the past couple years since Churchill’s made the addition of the Cultura tapas bar inside, a chance for Bryce and his kitchen to experiment, adventure, and expose the people of North Bay, to new and fun dishes.
“We came up with the idea a couple years ago to try and bring small plates to the city,” Bryce said. “We wanted to come up with a tapas bar, but we didn’t just want it to be Spanish food—we wanted small sharing plates so people could come with their friends and family and share food while not breaking the bank.”
For Bryce—an avid traveler—trying the cuisine of different communities and cultures is a chance to explore outside of North Bay, to find and explore new trends and dishes by other chefs across the world. Even a simple change as going from North Bay to larger urban centres like Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver, presents him with new opportunities.
“It also seems like the way the food trends these days,” he said about small communal-style cuisines. “It also allows my kitchen to be a little more adventurous and artistic—my kitchen is basically an open art jam. Our menu changes any given week. It keeps things exciting having an open-ended menu for the kitchen and the patrons.”
Tapas, Bryce described, comes from the Spanish word meaning top. The history of it comes from the small appetizer used to cover the top of a drink, to stop the flies from approaching the sweet drinks of patrons, while also providing food.
But it’s been more than just a gustatory experience, Bryce said it’s about providing a multi-sensory experience, from serving meals on different surfaces, like warm leather, or certain woods, having particular music playing in the background, or scents for specific meals.
“I would hope that any chef would be excited to give a new experience, he said. “That’s the reason we get into these culinary arts, to be artistic, and not be stale. Bringing that simple idea of that we’re so busy with our lives taking that time whenever people can to sit together, even if it’s just for a couple of hours. Then the food becomes the conversation, and we’re trying to make it part of the conversation. It opens things up a lot more because you’re tasting and sharing together—sharing a new experience together. That’s what Cultura is to us.”
Bryce said it’s been a wonderful experience, especially working with his motivated kitchen—all former Canadore College graduates.
“They’re all very excited, it gives them the opportunity if somebody has an idea,” he said. “We look at their idea, maybe edit a bit, and then they have an item on the menu for a week. We change things up pretty frequently, even if it’s just the way we prepare something, like using the same protein of meat, but putting a different twist on it.”
Bryce said it’s also been an exciting journey increasing the number of vegan options in Cultura, taking the idea of vegan dishes being a meal sans-meat to making the vegan dishes their own experience from the ground up.
“We’re hoping to have at least three or four vegan items every week on the menu. I enjoy it because there are much more options with fruits and vegetables than any meat,” he said.
Bryce has been excited to see the community response to Cultura, saying his regulars are quite adventurous with their palates, as well as those who are yet to become regulars.
“Either they came in adventurous, to begin with, or we opened them up to being more adventurous,” Bryce said about his visitors. “Whether it be their first time trying octopus, pig tails, pork belly, or oysters. Then they’re back again the next week or the one after that.”
With 36 seats in the bar, Bryce said space fills up very quickly, even with groups reserving most of, if not the entirety of the bar, in what he calls their tapas takeover.
“I also have a have chef’s table three or four days per week where you can book between two and twenty people and it’s chefs choice,” he said. “I go to the table, ask about allergies, tastes and do a five or six-course meal for them.”
It’s those kinds of experiences in the kitchen, Bryce said, that really give them a chance to use all sorts of different ingredients—many from local farmers and vendors, and others from more distant places.
“We’ve sourced reindeer milk to use in a cream-based sauce,” he said, recalling a particularly challenging Christmas special that left him searching for an ingredient that turned heads in his search. “Thankfully, I was able to reach a guy from Norway who sent me some in time.”
But it’s precisely that kind of experience behind the meals that keep the profession interesting for Bryce and his kitchen staff. Having worked as a chef for over two decades, he says he still discovers new things, still makes mistakes and still grows as a culinary artist.
“With social media and having the world at your fingertips,” he said, “following hundreds of chefs across the world and seeing what they do—even with ingredients I’ll never get my hands on—opens up my mind to what can be done. I could never do the same old every day, this opens us up to new ideas. But it also opens us up to a lot of failures, but I’ve learned from those to make things better. It really is my passion for the art itself.”
For some occasions, Bryce has prepared themed dishes, like based on specific regions, the Christmas special, art, music, and time periods. Even themes like David Bowie night where each dish may be inspired by the various ideas of the theme.
“I’ve been with this restaurant for over two decades,” he said, recalling his foray into the culinary arts. “I went to school for journalism, psychology, and all these other things, but food was just my passion. I could never paint or draw but I was always good at using that as my canvas.”
Any of those who haven’t had a chance to visit the Cultura tapas bar in Churchill’s, it’s recommended to make reservations for meals.
