In the Kitchen with Brian Skinner of Vancouver’s The Acorn

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Brian Skinner remembers the first time he developed a taste for simplicity. While on vacation in the Isle of Skye in Scotland with his parents, the family dined on mussels with garlic, cream and white wine. “It opened my eyes to how much one ingredient can shine in a dish,” the 34-year-old says. “If you took any of those components away, that perfect dish would not exist. It was the first time I realized simple food is beautiful.”

Growing up in Vancouver, Skinner spent his teenage years snowboarding during the day and washing dishes at night at a ski lodge in Whistler, B.C. That led to work as a line cook at Earls; after two years on the job, he realized he didn’t want to do anything else. By 25, he was armed with his Red Seal certification and looking for a new turf to sharpen his skills.

“Vancouver was amazing, but I felt like it was limiting in the culinary scope,” he says, of his decision to stage in England. “Essentially I wanted to go and get my ass kicked.” So, he was catapulted into a traditional “oui chef” kitchen at Sketch Restaurant in London, England, where he worked under chef Pierre Gagnaire. Starry-eyed, Skinner was eager to please but quickly learned the make-or-break mentality inside a Michelin-starred restaurant. “For me, it was romantic, but ask me six months later when I was there, with tears streaming down my face — it was extremely difficult,” he recalls, especially being a lone Anglophone among a French-speaking brigade.

While it tested his mettle, and taught him discipline, the best was yet to come. After leading menu development for the fast-casual vegetarian restaurant, Otarian, in London, England, Skinner landed a staging opportunity at Denmark’s renowned Noma restaurant. “I gravitated to [René Redzepi’s] cerebral, emotionally intelligent way of going about food and the risks he was taking early on in his career,” says Skinner.

Soon after returning home to Vancouver and working as a chef instructor, Skinner took a risk of his own, opening a 48-seat high-end vegetarian restaurant. Launched in July 2012, The Acorn celebrates meatless dishes — without being preachy. “It’s about trying to create delicious meals from just vegetables, just for the fact of celebrating vegetables. They deserve a lot more praise than people give them,” explains the long-time vegetarian. In the short time since opening, the establishment has received attention on EnRoute’s best new restaurants’ list, and Skinner recently took home gold for a vegetarian dish he created at Vancouver’s Gold Medal Plates.

It proves meat eaters, and even flexitarians, can connect with his food. For example, taking a cue from the traditional English fish-and-chips, Skinner presents a beer-battered halloumi — a Mediterranean cheese — with zucchini pancake, smashed peas, yogurt and lemon balm ($19), or he tops a bed of kale with savoury vegan Caesar dressing, smoked paprika croutons and crispy capers ($15). And, as always, a pinch of provocation adds an element of surprise to any plate. “It’s a playfulness between feeling safe and challenged,” he sums up. “We try to have that in every single dish.”

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