THE BIRDS AND THE BEETS with Matt Senecal-Junkeer

THE BIRDS AND THE BEETS

with Matt Senecal-Junkeer

Among the culmination of floral delights, local gastronomical delicacies, and divine espresso-based drinks with a walk-through concept that spans the width of Gastown’s very own flatiron building block, I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with owner and creative director, Matt Junkeer, for chats and chuckles as he shared the in’s and out’s of his fairly new space and the nuances within.

What inspired you to start?

Throughout university, I always knew I wanted to start some sort of restaurant, but didn’t know exactly what that was going to look like. I was living in Toronto at the time for school, and in coming back to Vancouver, places like Meat and Bread and Revolver really started to inspire me. Their counter service was really curated and kind of transported you within those spaces. This was something that you often found in sit-down places, but I think Vancouver pioneered the whole “low price point, casual counter service, using really good ingredients, interesting mixes of flavours, theatre, branding.. and theatre? What does that involve? Like at revolver with their pour-over counter, for example, the demonstrative aspect of the whole process. As you can see with our open-concept kitchen, it’s all really out in the open and you can see every step in preparation. You literally have to walk by it to find your seat.

How did you find yourself here?

I graduated from political science and business [in Toronto], but I always knew I wanted to do something like this, so I went to culinary school right after for about a year, worked as a cook for a bit, managed a small café for a little while, and then moved over to Matchstick to learn more of the coffee business. This is like the nexus of both.

For sure, it has definite qualities of both food and coffee, and I wanted to ask you about the deal with Wild Bunch [Flowers and Foliage], because I saw the little set up by the front door here and it looks really interesting.

I was always inspired by this little café I found in Paris when I was visiting my brother a few years ago that was also a flower shop, and I really liked the concept of how flowers could transform how people interact with a space. It just sort of frames you. We’re sort of in the “ritual” business, so I think it makes sense to have the two. The florist lives right down the street from me, we had a lot of mutual friends, and she worked in the restaurant industry as well, so it was kind of the perfect partnership for both of us. She also does her own floral styling and custom bouquets.

So in terms of beans [coffee] and food, how did you come up with your menu?

We wanted to differentiate a little bit. We knew the guys at Bows and Arrows, and I always thought they had the best coffee in the country probably. In the country! Cool. I mean they’re the only roaster you can find in LA or New York, and though they’re sort of a tiny operation, they source really well and have a very distinct style that you people seem to either love or hate. We wanted to stick with one roaster, and it works really well I think for both of us. They have quite a few in Toronto now, Boxcar Social for example.

So, haha, what’s behind the name, and how did you come up with it?

Well, we signed the lease with no name when we found the place, and we wanted something that was playful, memorable, and sort of funny? I like alliteration, And I guess you could go off the gastronomy aspect as well. Of course, you could stretch it even, like, we have a lot of poultry, eggs, and I guess a lot of beets on the menu with the seasonal dishes, but it’s really not that linear, haha, just sounded good.

What would you say sets your café apart and makes it unique?

I think definitely the food focus. In this tiny kitchen, we bake bread, do a lot of fermentation, we make yogurt. Everything on the menu is made from scratch and in-house, and I think we do it pretty well. At the time we opened, there was no one really doing the food and coffee, like they have in Australia a lot, and the shared use of the space. Originally we were thinking of having the coffee on one side, and the food on the other side, sort of as two separate businesses, but I think in the end it just made more sense to combine them into one.

Another thing I wanted to ask about too, not to share your secret plans or anything, but is there something in the next year or so that you are working towards or going to be starting new?

There might not be anything super concrete yet, but we want to start selling our own jams, bottling our own sodas and kombuchas, and we make ginger beer in-house as well. Oh, so would you have specific people making jams, or you already do… We already do, but we just don’t sell them. I kind of envisioned a big shelf with some retail components. There’s a new botega-style shop opening up nearby that are already interested in selling our jams, and we sell sodas to a couple great restaurants in town.

I love the idea of having Kombucha in a specialty coffee bar because I sort of feel that people who are going out of their way for this coffee would be conscious about the health benefits of Kombucha as well. I’ve been making it at home for a while, not that it’s perfected, but I’m curious to see how it’s done on a more massive scale.

Yeah, we ferment it and tap it in our basement. The SCOBY [Symbiotic Culture of Bacterial Yeast] gets pretty huge. And why this location [Gastown]? I live and work in the area, and I think one of the best parts of working in the café business is connecting with regular customers that you see every day and that you get to become a part of their life. I really like the people who live and work in this neighbourhood: a lot of interesting artists, or small-business people, or creatives. We’re a little off the beaten track here, which is also cool, So, what’s the beaten track? I’d say Water Street, Cambie Street… We don’t get too many tourists wandering down Powell Street yet. I think that’s about to change, for better or for worse, but it will definitely push us in a positive way.

Thanks, Matt.