Chef Justin Leboe can't be pigeonholed

Before realizing he wanted to spend his life in the kitchen, chef Justin Leboe studied political science and philosophy with the dream of joining a think tank "the kind of place where you sit around and examine social policy,which was what I wanted to do," he told me one recent afternoon at his latest restaurant Pigeonhole, an extension of Model Milk located in the old Victoria's space on 17th Avenue S.W.

• Read more from Julie Van Rosendaal|Food and the City

It was also what the other 400 kids in his class wanted to do.

"So one day late in third year I was sitting in the office of my favourite professor, and I realized my options were limited."

He was working in a kitchen at that time and realized how much he enjoyed the work, a sense of fulfillment he still feels after 27 years of working in restaurants.

"So I jumped ship before I even finished fourth year," he said.

Travels

Leboe didn't feel the need to botherwith culinary school after so many years of working in the industry. "I already knew how to make stock, I knew what the base sauces were, so I started writing letters to the best chefs I could find, worked my way from Vancouver to Toronto to New York to Washington," he said.

He wound up in Calgary in 2007 after being headhunted for Rush a couple years into his first executive chef job at a hotel in Bermuda.

"I was at the point where if I didn't leave Bermuda, I never would," he said as the sunlight streamed in the front window at Pigeonhole, which opened back in May. "It was a good experience. I had been doing fine dining like that for 20 years, in New York and L.A.I loved food at that level, I just feel like it didn't reflect who I was."

Leboe started the business plan for what's now Model Milkin 2004 while still in Los Angeles.

"I wanted to open it in one of those old Airstream trailers and serve foie gras and fried chicken, essentially the menu that I have now at Model Milk," he said. "But back then no one wanted to back that idea of a diner-style restaurant. They only wanted to open Spago. Today in L.A., it would probably be a whole different story."

Doing as he pleases

His latest space was designed not to be "pigeonholed" into one particular culinary or ethnic style. The menu features 36 itemseverything from sea urchin to beef heartand it's 50 per cent vegetarian,sourced largely from urban backyard gardens. It'sa testament to Calgary's culinary evolution.

"I wanted to open a place that gave me the freedom to do what I wanted to do to barbecue ribs and put them on the same menu as fried chicken and waffles and terrine and apple pie," said Leboe."You have more freedom to do stuff like that in a restaurant like this. You don't have to worry about preconceived expectations."

The restaurant's upscale-casual style and attention to details beyond the plate earned Pigeonhole the top spot on EnRoute's Top 10 list of Canada's best new restaurants earlier this month. It's Leboe's third time on the list, and his first number one.

He credits his success to the time he took working in restaurant kitchens. And he gives equal credit to a strong, knowledgeable and dedicated team.

"You have to really like food," he says for anyone considering a career in the kitchen. "You have to love cooking. I like it because it's left of center my way to come up isn't the same way others have. I was 35 when I got my first chef job.I didn't decide until I was 27 to really do this."

Still on the line, for now

Now 42, Leboe says he doesn't have any regrets, even though some of his jobs were "tougher than others."

"I look back at the memories of those 10 years of learning and I wouldn't trade them for anything,from the people I've met and got to work with, the places I got to live. This is my ninth city. If I decided back when I was in Vancouver that I needed to be a sous chef in two years and then I'm going to take over, I wouldn't have this today. I have this because I slowed down and worked all over the world and made sure I had those experiences. You spend those early years travelling and meeting and working with people."

Sitting at the long farmhouse-style table in the extended open kitchen, Leboe leaned backas therestaurant buzzedwith activity leading up to its 4 p.m. opening. Cheeses and wines were being set out, and candles were being lit.

"I'm starting to get arthritis in my knees," he said. "I'm not going to be able to stand on the line forever. But no one's going to take those first 10 years away from me."