What do you get when you put together paper maché flying pigs, a spectacular Rocky Mountain setting, and an insatiable creativity for cooking? If you’re Sean Cunningham, it’s Truffle Pigs, one of the hottest and most talked about restaurants in Western Canada, in Fields BC.

One of the gourmet entree offerings at Truffle Pigs.

Toronto born and bred, Sean with his wife Jen, is co-owner of Kicking Horse Lodge and Truffle Pigs Bistro in Field, a tiny hamlet of 134 souls run by Parks Canada on the edge of Yoho National Park in British Columbia. His journey from big city boy to small town celebrity chef was circuitous at best and almost as interesting as his Korean BBQ Pork Belly Nachos.

Back in 1996, Chef Sean, who holds a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the University of Toronto, met his wife, Jen, when she was hired to sell baked goods at rock concerts for bands like Tragically Hip. Jen had operated Toronto’s first gourmet coffee cart, but she was ahead of her time and struggling. “We both had a passion for opening a café and that blossomed into something else,” he says grinning. “We feel in love and got married.”

Chef Sean creates wildly innovative dishes using local Canadian ingredients.

They both claim ownership for the unusual name of their restaurant. “We’re not afraid to root around to come up with something good to eat,” pans Chef Sean.

They painted the name Truffle Pigs on their truck, packed up their worldly goods, and moved to the little resort town of Banff. But Sean wasn’t happy in a place he calls “Disneyland.” He was working as a carpenter when he and Jen spotted an ad for a couple to run a lodge in Field. They jumped at the chance.

“None of the locals ever came to the lodge to eat,” recalls Sean. “So we started running specials to bring them in.”

They connected with the eclectic community, winning fans and friends with their cooking. But the owner of the resort wasn’t happy when Jen and Sean needed to attend a funeral and he fired them both. “We weren’t sure what we were going to do,” says Sean. The people who ran the general store suggested they store their stuff in the store’s basement and Jen got a job there. They ended up running the place. ”We turned it into a general store and gourmet bistro and started making dinners. When we got a liquor license, we became the best liquor outlet in rural B.C.”

Karma has a way of coming back and, in 2007, the man who’d once fired the young couple was struggling to keep the lodge afloat. Jen and Sean made him an offer and suddenly they were owners of a 13-room post and beam lodge and restaurant space. “We took over on April 15 and, in order to have any season at all, we had to be open by June 1,” says Sean. “The lodge was in terrible shape and we renovated the whole place in six weeks. It was pigdom by fire!”

Truffle Pig Bistro’s humble exterior belies the gourmet meals created by Chef Sean Cunningham.

While they’re lodge owners, it’s in the little Truffle Pigs Bistro that their true passion shines. The dishes, using fresh, local ingredients grown or produced just miles from the restaurant, are wildly creative and over-the-top delicious. For appetizers, we try the pork belly nachos – chips, cheese, and fresh tomatoes with big chunks of sweet, fork-tender Korean Bulgogi pork; caprese salad – thick slices of heirloom tomatoes layered with silky fresh mozzarella and fragrant basil leaves; mussels in maras sauce – a creamy white wine Dijon sauce served over slightly briny Atlantic blue mussels; a Thai seafood cake made with wasabi aioli, carrot salad, and flying fish caviar; and tender, briny scallops in pesto. All of it deliciously distinct; a feast for the taste buds.

“To be a chef and an anthropologist means being open to everything,” says Sean, taking a rare break in the dining room after the dinner rush. “I read cookbooks with a pen and a piece of paper. I taste the food in my head. It’s important for me to understand food intellectually before I cook it.”

Mouthwatering shrimp married with pesto, on a bed of pasta is garnished with local cherry tomatoes.

For Sean, having a personal relationship with the people who grow and produce the ingredients he cooks is important. For instance, the vegetables he uses come from a little farm in Golden just down the road. “We’re real people cooking real food,” he says quietly. “I care about every plate. It’s an honor for me.”

He uses AAA Alberta Black Angus beef that he hand cuts and ages an extra two weeks. When my rib eye arrives, it’s amazingly tender, juicy, and perfectly cooked. It comes with crispy calamari, bright green al dente broccolini¸ and tiny new potatoes that taste like they just came from the garden.

We really don’t need dessert. Our meal has been utterly satisfying, but the woman at the table next to us is swooning over Jen’s homemade macadamia blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream. We can’t resist. The pie and has a bright blueberry flavor with a wonderfully flaky crust. We also try the creamy lemon cheesecake served with house made lemon syrup; and the chocolate torte with blueberry compote, which is good, but a pale second to the spectacular pie.

Co-owner Jen Cunningham creates delightful desserts as eye catching as they are mouth watering.

As a local singer belts out a catchy tune, we sip espresso, reticent to leave. It’s well past the dinner hour and most people have finished eating, but the dining room is still full. Maybe it’s the music or the funky pig decorations in this little bistro that makes people want to linger. But it’s getting lateIt’s late and we reluctantly bid Chef Sean goodbye. I know that I’ll be back to Truffle Pigs again and again. – Bobbie Hasselbring, RFT founder

Learn more about Truffle Pigs Bistro on their website. 

Hungry for more? Try Chef Sean’s recipe for mussels in maras sauce.