National magazine applauds Langford’s Smoken Bones

There is nothing rushed about the food at Smoken Bones Cookshack.  From the hours the pork rib racks spend in the smoker, to the hours chef and owner Ken Hueston spends on the phone sourcing out local farm produce, it’s clear there’s something different about the one-year-old restaurant on Station Avenue.

The business is featured in the November issue of Air Canada’s en Route magazine as one of the top 20 new restaurants in Canada.

Hueston, 34, seems unfazed by the high-flying attention, noting the restaurant is “discovered” by the media every other month. Whether it’s the ever changing menu or the slew of apprentice cooks in the kitchen, people can’t seem but to notice Smoken Bones is tackling food in the West Shore a little differently.

“Supporting your backyard, that’s what this whole restaurant is based on,” Hueston said.

Inspired by southern style barbecue and Cajun-Creole cooking, the menu is 80 per cent local produce, while the meat travels no further than mainland B.C. to the table. Supporting local producers is paramount, although if he were to buy only local pork, the Island would be pig-less fast, he noted. The restaurant goes through about 20,000 kilograms of pork ribs a month.

With 80,000 customers served it can be hard to find local food to fill the plates. Hueston has come up with creative ways to deal with that problem too. Unlike most high volume restaurants, he buys small crops from farmers as well for daily specials. For example, last Tuesday’s menu included six pints of green beans — all the farmer had left.

Finding the food isn’t as expensive as people may think, it just involves time, he said. And taking that time makes a world of difference in the food and the community being supported.

It’s a business approach local competition could benefit from, he added.

“The West Shore body of thought in the restaurants is 10 years behind Victoria (in terms of sustainable local menus),” Hueston said. “I’m the only one doing it.”

The restaurant is opening seven days a week next year and adding everything from seafood and live music to an extensive Canadian beer list to the offerings. A word of advice from the chef — reservations are recommended.

reporter@goldstreamgazette.com