Fields abloom

Back to basics

Bloomfield is considered by most to be the hub of the County. If you’re travelling anywhere on the island, chances are you will pass through or come close to the village, which is located dead centre if you’re looking at a map. With so many cars and buses travelling through, it makes sense that it would be a good place for restaurants. This season will see the opening of a new establishment in Bloomfield that will be pushing the boundaries of food while staying grounded with traditional cooking methods.

Sarah Soetens and Hidde Zomer, owners of Flame and Smith, with their two children Evo, three years old, and baby Hugo, seven days old.

Flame and Smith, located at 106 Main Street in Bloomfield, is opening as early as mid-May, and it’s a project that has been close to a year in the making. For chef Hidde Zomer and his wife Sarah Soetens, the opening has come at a particularly intense time, as the couple just welcomed the birth of their second child a week ago. Soetens is also the director for the restaurant, so the idea of maternity leave (which she is technically on from her job as a program specialist with Canadian Partnership Against Cancer) is wishful thinking. Just seven days after giving birth, Soetens is back onsite with a newborn in her arms. Hugo is the newest addition to the family, and his older brother Evo is three years old. For the time being, Zomer’s mother has come for an extended stay to help the couple focus on the task hand.

The couple met 12 years in Amsterdam where Zomer originally hails from. Soetens was an exchange student at the time, and Zomer was working his way up in the culinary scene. He earned a degree in culinary arts at the Nova Institute in Haarlem and went on to work for some of the best-known restaurants in Amsterdam, including Michelin star restaurant, Cristophe and Restaurant De Kas where he worked as Sous Chef. After Soeten’s time as a student came to an end and the work visa expired, the logical choice was to move to Canada. They moved across the pond with two backpacks and their Dutch cat, and they made a pact that the first person to find a job in whatever city would be the place that they would move to. Zomer’s experience as a trained chef was immediately a draw in the city of Toronto and he landed a job quickly at a small place off Queen West in Toronto called the Niagara Street Café (now Edulis). From there Zomer went on to work at other trendsetting places like Globe Bistro, Nota Bene and spent the last few years at the incredibly popular Carbon Bar. After elevating through the ranks of some the top places in Toronto, he had a choice to make. He could either continue with his trajectory and become an executive chef to a series of restaurants or go off and cut his own path in the world. The choice was made to leave corporate culinary world and head to the rural advantages of the County to fulfill a dream of opening his own place. A place where the only people he will have to answer to will be his wife and, of course, his children.

“We were both in the city running big projects, but both of us wanted a more familyfriendly environment to raise kids. As a chef I have always been drawn to the countryside. I feel so inspired in the County. In Toronto you ordered everything off a clipboard. Here you are so close to the source and can talk to farmers directly about what you’re buying,” says Zomer.

You can immediately feel the passion for this project when Zomer speaks of the concept. Flame and Smith is exactly what the name infers. The flame is indicative of how he will be cooking. The whole kitchen will be wood-fired, and the menu will be guided by what works best with the flame. It’s a much more complicated way of cooking. In the past, chef’s got away from wood-fire cooking for the same reason that Zomer is attracted to it. It’s gritty, unpredictable, and a challenge to work with, but that’s where this chef finds his drive.

“If you give me a big fire, I get really creative. It inspires me. In a traditional kitchen you turn an induction on and in two seconds it gets hot. With wood-fire cooking it takes an hour to get the kindling started and the fire up to temperature. It’s a relationship you have with the fire. If you nurture your fire and treat her well, it’s going to give you love back.”

The Smith side in the name speaks to all the artisans he is employing to make the restaurant a reality. Local blacksmith Island Forge has created his tools and his custom Plancha. The custom tiling, which is prevalent in the restaurant is done by Trevor De Haan. The grill was custom made for the restaurant by Grill Works out of the US and the 60-inch architectural grill is one of the first in Canada. Zomer refers to it as “a piece of art”.

Stove Master, which is based in Orangeville and specializes in multifunctional masonry stoves and fireplaces, built the hearth and oven. Stove Master also created the oven at world-renowned Fogo Island in Newfoundland.

Evo plays with a local cat that comes to visit regularly.

It will be a big cuts menu with everything from beef to chicken to whole baked salt-crusted fish. There will also be traditional lunch and dinner menus offered. Other highlights include a chef’s harvest table for up to seven people where Chef Zomer will decide what’s on the menu for you that night. The bar will serve food and feature seafood and oysters, and there will a wood-fireplace in the middle of the restaurant to cozy up around in the colder months. Also look for an in-house baker focusing on traditional leavenings like sourdough, pain de campagna and miche.

“There are plenty of intimate spaces, and style-wise there is a lot of texture and structure involved in the dining room. It’s like my cooking style. There is lots going on, but it’s all working in harmony,” says Zomer.

Before opening there is still a world of testing to be done. The volatile nature of woodfire cooking means that they must test everything before they open. Zomer must play with his heats and what wood works best with what food, and how hot the ovens will get are all factors that need to be considered. The restaurant is looking to establish relationships with the local orchards to get their discarded wood along with select farmers around the County. The couple do not want to use wood from logging and are focused on finding wood the most natural way possible. The dining room will also feature a custom wood storage bin and they will have storage outside for up to two bush cords to make sure the kitchen is well-fired.

For Zomer and his family, it’s all about working with the region. His cooking style and the concept of the restaurant are based around so many natural elements from this area. Wood, meat, produce and local artisans are all playing an important role in the success of this brave new venture. There is still quite a bit of testing to be done in fine tuning a menu that revolves around fire. But for Chef Zomer, this seems to be his happy place.

“I draw inspiration from the local surroundings and the local produce. Flame and Smith will be about embracing the art of wood-fire cooking and honouring the cultural fabric of the County.”