myExperience
In September 2010, Murray left the familiarity of his hometown for London, England. It was his first taste of life away from home. Living in a big city wasn’t the only adjustment Murray had to make. Working as an internship trainee for one of London’s most elite chefs meant hard work and grueling hours. In this new world, where a 12-hour shift was considered a shorter day, it wasn’t unusual for tempers to flare, voices to raise, or pans to fly across the kitchen — sometimes, in his direction. He admits that there were times he would question whether he would cut it in this lightening-paced world. “If you don’t do things a certain way, you’re going to get fired or sent home,” he said. “So I quickly adapted. I just had to go faster and get my work done, to not ask questions, just do it.” With his college-acquired skills put to the ultimate test, Murray’s appetite for learning, passion for cooking and his willingness to work hard egged him on. In the end, he says, it was well worth it. Working for the prestigious Mosimann’s Club Kitchen and Mosimann’s Party Service, he proved himself to be a reliable member of the team. The position opened the door for him to work many high-profile events such as the Prince of Wales Christmas Party and the British Prime Minister’s dinner. His good work performance also gave him the opportunity to work at Asprey and Olympic Stadium where he was part of a team that catered to more than 1,000 people. If it weren’t enough to gain experience working for a world-famous chef at some of the most exclusive events in England, Mosimann being announced as the selected chef for dinner service at the royal wedding was icing on the cake. Murray found himself in the right place at the right time. Although his internship would come to an end by January 2011, months before the April 2011 wedding date, Murray let his boss know he was interested in the gig. He had already returned home when Murray received the news that he had been accepted to work the royal wedding. He flew back to London to work the week of the event. While the job itself was similar to preparing food for other events he worked during his internship at Mosimann’s, the fact that it was for the royal family added an extra dollop of stress. The finest details had to be executed with extreme precision. “This was the royal wedding. Everything really had to be centred, on-thedot perfect. No screw-ups,” he recalls. “I was nervous.” While he didn’t have the opportunity to rub shoulders with the royals, Murray became one of the privileged few with access through the long palace corridors and into rooms where few outsiders had gone before. As for details, Murray was sworn to secrecy. “What happens in Buckingham Palace stays in Buckingham Palace,” he says with a grin. Now that the royal wedding is behind him, Murray has ventured to the base of Blue Mountain in Collingwood, Ontario, where he works as an apprentice for the ski resort’s The Pottery restaurant. As he looks forward to the exciting career ahead of him, he is grateful for his training at NC’s CFWI, which equipped him with the skills he needed to succeed — both in London and beyond. “People have said that the experience has changed me. They say that I went a boy and came back a man,” he says. “I think it’s true.”
Chef de Luca adds teaching to his plate As a chef, restaurant owner and cookbook author, Tony de Luca has the recipe for culinary success. Now he’s dishing it out to Niagara College students. De Luca, who is one of the most celebrated chefs in Niagara’s growing restaurant scene, is one of the newest additions to the Canadian Food and Wine Institute. He joined the CFWI as a fulltime chef professor in August 2011. “We are very lucky to have a school like this in Niagara. With the on-campus Teaching Brewery, Teaching Winery, Benchmark — the teaching restaurant — and the vision of the whole program at Niagara College, it was really a no-brainer,” said de Luca of his decision to join Niagara College. “After 35 years of restaurant experience, I really believe I can make a difference and impart my knowledge on the students, to help train them for successful careers.” The decades of success de Luca brings to the CFWI are a result of skills honed in some of the most famous kitchens and in the company of some of the most talented chefs in the world. He began his career in Toronto as an apprentice at the Windsor Arms with Michael Bonacini. Since then, he has worked for such reputable establishments as Bistro 990, Taboo, and the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto; The Millcroft Inn in Orangeville; The Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C., with Jen Louis Palladin; and The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Virginia. He has also worked in Europe at the Chewton Glen Country House Hotel in Hampshire, England; and Hotel Bayerischer Hof and Otto Koch’s Michelin Le Gourmet in Munich, Germany. De Luca has lived in Niagara since 1996 when he was hand-picked to become the founding executive chef at Hillebrand Estates Winery Restaurant. He is currently chef proprietor of de Luca’s Wine Country restaurant in Niagara-on-the-Lake where he, until recently, also ran the Old Winery Restaurant. While his career as a restaurateur has been put on the backburner in favour of imparting the mastery of his craft to the next generation of chefs, de Luca hasn’t hung up his competition hat just yet. He was invited to battle against the top chefs in Toronto as part of the prestigious Gold Medal Plates competition this winter. Craig Youdale, Academic chair at the CFWI, noted the talented staff team at NC are not only key ingredients to student success but to the college, as it strives to become a center of culinary excellence in Canada. “We have an amazing group of chefs and professors on our team, and Tony is another piece of the puzzle moving toward our goals,” he said.
Winter 2012 | NiagaraCollege.ca | encore 25