A taste of the past
In order to appreciate the present, one must understand the past. Fort Steele Heritage Town does precisely that.
The staff at the International Restaurant are proud to serve Fort Steele visitors.—photo by Kali Love
In order to appreciate the present, one must understand the past. Fort Steele Heritage Town does precisely that, transporting people into another world where horses were the mode of transportation, painless dentistry required a bottle of rye and a cloth, and a good home-cooked meal at a dining establishment cost 50 cents.
Originally called Galbraith’s Ferry, the community sprung up during the Kootenay gold rush of 1864 and quickly came alive with wealth and prosperity. As the town continued to flourish, more businesses opened; in 1897 the International Hotel Restaurant opened its doors to the public.
Fort Steele, situated in the southeast corner of B.C., was rather isolated, but the restaurant still managed to carry a wide selection of meals. Among the items listed on the original menu were mock turtle soup, canvasback duck with currant jelly, veal cutlets, tenderloin steak, cold pickled ox tongue, Boston cream toast, rum omelette, cove oysters, lamb chops, stewed corn and tomatoes, oatmeal mush with cream and a whole boiled spring chicken.
Today, most of the original menu choices are no longer available due to current food preferences and preparation time, but the restaurant and the bakery at Fort Steele still use as many authentic cooking methods as possible.
Shauna Beaulac, the food services manager at Fort Steele Heritage Town, comes from a service background and began working at Fort Steele in 2001. She loves many things about her job, including meeting new people.
“My favourite part of my job is the people,” said Beaulac. “Serving people is what I enjoy. I love hearing people’s stories and especially here at Fort Steele we get people from all over the world. I like to hear where they are from and how they found out about Fort Steele.”
Honouring tradition
Beaulac said that although the staff cannot replicate all of the meals and cooking methods from the 1890s, the cooks at the restaurant are committed to preparing hearty food that tastes homemade.
“The meals that we provide at the restaurant are all hearty, home-cooked meals,” said Beaulac. “They are not coming out of a can; they are all home-cooked, coming right out of our kitchen. Items such as buffalo stew, homemade soup, chili, shepherd’s pie and lasagna—everything is definitely hearty.”
Dana Armitage, the head cook at Fort Steele’s International Hotel Restaurant, graduated with honours from the culinary arts program at the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook, B.C., and she takes pride in all of her creations. Armitage prepares everything from scratch and her specialties and talents come through in the food. Beaulac noted that the buffalo stew is the restaurant’s feature item.
“What people think is most unique when coming to the International Hotel in Fort Steele is the buffalo stew,” said Beaulac. “A lot of people ask if it is real—and it is real buffalo meat.”
In addition to the generous spread of salad bar choices, tasty main dishes and delicious desserts offered at the International Hotel Restaurant, a selection of wine and beer is also available.
Other treats and sweets
Located beside the International Hotel Restaurant is the City Bakery, where jams, jellies, antipasto, cookies, cakes, pastries and gigantic cinnamon buns are in abundance. Ginette Benoit, the head baker at the City Bakery, said among the many things she loves about her job is that she likes to try new recipes; Benoit has brought some of her creative ideas and secrets to Fort Steele.
“I am a cook by trade,” said Benoit. “I have been cooking for 20 years and I have taken courses. I am one for trying out new recipes . . . and I have gone to old recipes and tried to make them here.”
Benoit makes most of the bakery items from scratch, and this requires her to be in the kitchen by 3:30 a.m. Her dedication comes from her belief that preserving our heritage is important for future generations.
“I think it is a really nice way to preserve the past,” said Benoit, “and to me this job is not a chore—it is something that I really enjoy.”
When Benoit bakes at Fort Steele she uses the same wood-fired brick oven that was used at Fort Steele in the 1890s. Beaulac explained that preparation to have the oven hot enough to bake cookies, pastries and bread requires at least two weeks of lighting and heating the oven at the beginning of each season before it is ready for use.
“When we heat the oven for the very first time it has to be lit for two full weeks before we can start baking,” said Beaulac. “So after the winter is over, we start lighting little fires inside and slowly we start making them bigger and bigger. With the oven we use, we have to start it very slowly because if you heat it quickly then the bricks will start cracking. What we need to do to make bread is get the temperature to 800 degrees before we can start baking it. Once the bread is made, the temperature will drop throughout the day and then we can start making cookies and pastries.”
It is clearly evident that everyone at Fort Steele Heritage Town is dedicated to providing a rich heritage experience for visitors—and the culinary creations prepared at the restaurant and bakery are certainly a flavourful part of that.
If you go:
Fort Steele Heritage Town is open year round. Throughout the busy season, which runs until mid-September, the bakery is open from from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and the restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. During fall and winter months, the restaurant is just open for the annual Thanksgiving celebration, and private bookings and wedding receptions.The bakery stays open until October 13 and serves fresh sandwiches and soups along with tasty treats baked in the wood-fire oven.
For further information about Fort Steele, phone 250-417-6000.
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