Here in the gentle southwest of Ontario, we don’t much suffer the scourges of famine and flood, of fire and drought. Instead, we enjoy the advantages of one of the globe’s benevolent environments. Eric Boyar appreciates the nature in which he was nurtured, and has integrated it, along with training, experience, and his own inventiveness and imagination, to create the flourishing restaurant that is SixThirtyNine.
The house at the corner of Peel and Young in Woodstock was once Boyar’s family home. It has been gracefully altered into a restaurant: casual yet elegant in the dining room, modern and very functional in the kitchen. It’s the output of that kitchen that is drawing accolades from a widening circle of diners and food critics. In his hands, meat and potatoes might become, for instance, grilled beef striploin (Ontario AAA), dusted with porcini, and served with potato gratin, just-harvested asparagus, and chasseur sauce – ‘tis a transformation devoutly to be consumed.
It’s a good thing that sometimes you just can’t take the boy out of the country. Boyar’s father and grandfather both grew up in this farming community, and his youthful employment was on family farms. This was “a huge influence” on his future. (The scent of a barn full of freshly harvested leeks brings tears to your eyes like nothing else, he says with a nostalgia we might not share, but can, with wonder, appreciate.) Fresh and local foods made their way, via his mother’s kitchen, onto Boyar’s plate. Good food, cooked well – basic ingredients in the recipe that is Eric Boyar. Mix in just enough junior restaurant experience to realize there’s a lot more to learn, then add chef training. Incorporate all the basics. Enhance with several years working under some very good chefs, to fully assimilate the classic repertoire. Allow the flavours of a personal culinary philosophy to develop, and return home. Finish in your own kitchen, garnish with the support of friends and family, and serve.
Of his training at Humber College, Boyar declares, “It was a fantastic introduction to the industry!” As well, it gave him a thorough grasp of the basics, too often undertaught (or underlearned). As garde manger at The Boulevard Club in Toronto, he honed his fundamental skills, then moved onto Mistura. Working with Massimo Capra provided “a good all-round feel for the industry.” More than that though, in a business known for demanding and often unsympathetic bosses, Boyar enjoyed the experience: “Such a character…a wonderful personality to work for!” By contrast, David Lee of Splendido Bar & Grill was “one of the hardest people I’ve ever had to work with,” says Boyar, but not without admiration. He describes his time there as perhaps the best learning experience of his career. In 2003, Boyar, having worked his way up the ladder, took the position of Sous Chef at Crush Wine Bar, where he stayed for the next two years, before moving back to Woodstock. His intention had always been “to eventually have something that I could call my own, and do the food that I wanted to. Instead of putting in the sixteen hours a day for someone else, I could do it for myself.”
And do it himself he has – with some help from family and friends. His mother, Pauline Bucek, is no stranger to the restaurant business, and no mean cook herself. She is the welcoming face in the dining room, and hard-working support behind the scenes.
The main dining area seats 28 and also has a generously sized and comfortable bar area. Tucked away through a doorway is what must be sought-after seating – four ringside seats overlooking the kitchen. Customers love it, and the staff enjoy the interest from, and interaction with, their guests.
There is also seating outside. With just a few tables under a wine-red awning, overlooking the lawn and garden, it feels less like a restaurant patio than a friend’s backyard. On one side is an old industrial building. Its aged brick walls meld into an unobtrusive background of fir trees, ferns and hostas. In the sunlit beds, old-fashioned perennials mingle with herbs that are destined for the kitchen. “Everything you see we’ve done ourselves,” says Boyar. It’s not a boast, but an expression of satisfaction for their achievements.
Of course, the main achievement is found on the customers’ plates. When SixThirtyNine opened its doors six years ago, the concept of eating locally had barely begun to find its way into common dialogue. The menu at SixThirtyNine was always based on the classics, says Pauline, and the food was always sourced locally. But they’ve noticed that the clientele has grown more open to a culinary style that might once have seemed willfully eccentric.
Duck Prosciutto is very traditional fare. Boyar commences in the standard fashion, but every step is graced with local ingredients and personal flair. The duck is from Everspring Farms in Ilderton, then “we smoke the walnuts, we take a beautiful goat cheese from Monforte Dairy…we put our own stamp on [the dish].”
You’ll find such reconstructions throughout the menu. The salad includes Sleger’s mixed greens and fennel, and in the vinaigrette, Boyar incorporates herbs from the garden and bee pollen from Oxford Honey & Supplies. And so on, through apple-smoked trout, pork belly with morel ravioli, foie gras torchon with… Just go. Find out for yourself.
This chef delights in the symbiotic connections he has with local farmers and area producers, and the personal relationships they have cultivated. And he wants to spread the word. “All this is available to us, to everyone. We want people to be able to get it themselves.” To that end, the back page of the menu provides a listing of his suppliers. Credit given where credit is due: “It’s not just my name, but it’s their name.”
Boyar is not trying to convert the world. It’s simply the way he chooses to do what he does. “We have such wonderful things here in Ontario, why wouldn’t we offer them?” And the seasonal availability is part of the attraction. If we were offered peaches all year round, he says, we’d lose some of the pleasure. “But if you have to wait for it….” And after a long winter, “I’m looking forward to when the asparagus pokes its head out of the ground.” Yes, winters can be challenging. “But that’s the reality of it.” Hothouse produce is a stopgap, and can be flavourful. But when speaking of food grown outdoors, Boyar waxes lyrical. On tomatoes, for instance: “I think the reason they’re so delicious is that they have to bear the elements, to endure through heavy rainfalls. That gives a special quality.”
So, how does a creative personality, bent on putting his personal ethos into practice, continue to develop in his métier? “We all have a passion about what we do – putting good food on the plate. And there’s been a really great progression in what we do here, while keeping true to what we say.” But now, Eric Boyar is moving to another level. “Instead of getting lamb racks, we’re now getting whole lamb, and using head to tail. We’re getting Berkshire pork (from Black Bow Farms in Sweaburg) and using half pigs. I’m making sausage, cold-smoking the trout… Some of this I’ve done in the past, but not to this extent. I’m learning and doing.”
This approach demands a degree of flexibility from the kitchen, as well as receptivity from the customer. Limitations of quantity prevent certain cuts from being listed on the menu, so some items are served as specials. “We’ll do something like braised shoulder with handmade pasta, very simple and traditional.” And, says Boyar, “Some customers are adventurous!”
At SixThirtyNine, the wines receive attention from both Eric and Pauline, who take great care to match the list to the food. “We do it all together,” says Pauline. “We taste every wine that we serve.” This is an area, though, where culinary philosophy bows to customer demand, and there are some nonlocal wines on the list. A good wine list is always a work in progress: expect to see more from Tawse Winery and Lailey Vineyard in the near future.
The natural state of mankind, wrote Mr. Hobbes, would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Eric Boyar and Pauline Bucek give us reason to hope. At SixThirtyNine, they provide compelling arguments that nature can help make our existence engagingly communal, full, morally satisfying, civilized, and (depending how long you linger at the table) delightfully sustained.
SixThirtyNine
639 Peel Street, Woodstock
519-536-9602
http://www.sixthirtynine.com/