A "Fresh start" for this bakery....

One of the nice things about this business is that the baking community, although appearing to be very large…..Is actually quite small when you factor OUT all those that aren’t totally committed to this craft.  Over time, one finds the same names cropping up, when referring to a contact, or when speaking about someone that has influenced them.  One of the people that I have had the pleasure of dealing with on several occasions, is Dave Dornn.  Dave and I met, when he sauntered into a bakery that my wife an I were operating in North Vancouver, BC, Canada.   It was the summer of 2003, and he was visiting BC  with some friends.   He approached me, and detailed briefly his plan to me, to open a bakery.  He hesitated before asking me if I wouldn’t mind giving him some pointers on making some traditional bread.   I  responded with “where will you be located?”, thinking he would be around the block.  “Edmonton”, he replied.   “Well, that’s far enough away!”, I laughed.   We didn’t speak for another year or so, and then one day, while I was fishing, and playing a large Chinook salmon, by a local flow, he had the nerve to call me on my cell.  “Hi, it’s Dave Dornn, do you remember me?”  “Uh, yeah, can I call you back, I’ve kinda got my hands full…”  In December of 2004, I made my way to Edmonton, Alberta, to help Dave open “BLUE RIBBON CUISINE” bakery.  It was an immediate success. Unfortunately, the bakery had a serious fire , and had to suspend operations for several months. In the interim, Dave managed to secure another location, and reopened in December of 2005, retaining a good chunk of his former staff.  I had the honor of being at THIS reopening as well, and the look of gratitude, and relief on the faces of the patrons, as they streamed into the shop was blissfully apparent.   They were elated that their favourite bakery hotspot was open for business again, so were we!  Here are some photos of the shop as if stands today.  One of the characters at "Fresh Start", Natalie...  Germaine, a tireless worker, and true Albertan.....A dang good cook too!  That's a whole lotta chicken, dude!
The 2 rockstar night bakers:  Chris, and Upull......Mixing up some new recipes  for bread and buns...Oh look, it must be lunchtime, we're filling up!
 
It has morphed into a little hub of frenzied activity. Catering, full service kitchen, bistro food, cakes and pastries, hand shaped breads, all manner of goodies to make your tummy happy.  Dave, is STILL the nice, humble and approachable guy that I remember though…..Some things  don’t change , I’m happy to report. I will be making a few more posts between now, and Mother’s day. Today  I made up some Wiener schnitzel, some food porn to follow!  Here is a short video of Memerto, a very talented pastry chef, and cakemaker extraordinaire!