HALIFAX - When it comes to food, Dennis Johnston's a homeboy's homeboy.
Some of the Halifax chef and restaurant owner's fondest memories are of cooking with his dad and grandmother when he was a kid.
Although classically trained in Europe and Montreal, the atmosphere he's created at Fid, his 40-seat Halifax venue, and his culinary mindset haven't wandered far from the kitchen in that west-end Halifax house where he grew up.
"To do this business you have to have a generous spirit because you're taking care of people," he says over a cup of espresso.
"In this day and age the word service is somewhat lost."
In fact, stepping into Fid, which he and his wife Monica Bauche have run for eight years in a small courtyard just below Halifax's imposing Citadel Hill, is like stepping into a dining room at the home of old friends.
It is named after a conical-shaped mariner's tool used for splicing rope.
Apt, because the menu, driven by the seasonal market, splices contemporary French with Asian accents, inspired in part by the years Johnston also spent working in sushi bars.
The muted setting of warm brick, polished wood floors and flowers from their own garden has an intimate feel that seems to have evolved naturally, organically, much like the menu.
"We never really had a total concept of what we were doing. Kind of naive on our part when you think about it. We never really thought everything through," Johnston confesses of opening his own kitchen.
For the past eight years he has worked hard to cultivate relationships with local butchers, seafood producers and farmers whom he meets on a weekly basis at the local market.
It's to the point where he can walk in, pick what he wants, weigh it at home and cut the cheque later.
"For me the most important thing is the freshness and the flavour of the food. We generally don't mess with it too much, letting it stand on its own so it will work in combination with other things."
The eclectic menu features in-season items, like fresh Sambro snow crab with celery root, blood orange and arugula and fresh local young Asian greens of the season with a raspberry vinaigrette and puffed quinoa.
In a section labelled "farmers market inspiration" you'll find things like crispy-skin ocean perch with Annapolis Valley Jacobs Cattle beans and Teddy's komatazuna (Japanese mustard spinach).
The seasonal dessert menu, now that local strawberries are ripening, features a shortcake recipe inspired by Johnston's grandmother.
Fid's intimate atmosphere also extends to an open kitchen.
"There are no lines here. I'll have clients come into the kitchen and talk to me while I'm cooking. Some of them even cook their own meals," said Johnston of his regulars.
Being late for a reservation doesn't appear to be an issue either.
"People will call up and say, 'Oh my God. I can't make my reservation. I'm going to be late. We say that's OK. Your table will be waiting for you."
So comfortable are they with many of their customers that Bauche, who looks after the front of the house, has been known to pull pranks.
"I remember one regular slipped his shoes off while eating. She stole them and for dessert brought them back stuffed full of parsley," said Johnston, laughing.
