Where do you go to dine out?
What are the essential ingredients for success in the foodservice industry today?
I love going for simple ethnic food, food I may not do professionally — like a good bowl of ramen, Indian food or dim sum. I love to travel as well and try to visit places with strong food cultures.
One needs a sense of humour and patience for this business. There are days that you need to be able to laugh it all off. Success is not an overnight phenomenon — it takes one showing up everyday, all day!
What is your favourite ingredient?
I’m a sucker for duck fat. It’s very versatile and brings such huge flavour to the plate.
Which cooking technique or tool is a favourite of yours right now, and why?
I’ve always been a lover of cooking over wood. Controlling the fire and one’s coal base is as much of a challenge as bringing flavour and technique to the food. The flavour is an old one that is buried deep in our past. I recently came back from Spain. While spending a week in Costa Brava, our house had a wood fired forno/grill. We would visit the market daily to search for the best ingredients and cook them every night over fire. Highlights of that were grilled octopus, razor clams, quails, milk fed lamb, whole chickens and whole fish.
Who were your biggest influences for becoming a chef?
I have had a lot of great mentors over my career. I would be nothing without John Bishop and all he instilled in me while at his restaurant in Vancouver. His values with regards to quality, flavour and the art of hospitality are the cornerstone to my values. If you knew you were going to be exiled to a desert island, what three ingredients or food items would take with you? What do you think is the most overrated food trend right now?
What do you think is the most underrated food trend?
Fresh vegetables. It’s a trend trying to gain some traction. We need to eat a greater variety of vegetables and feature them more prominently. Plus, smaller portions. We are simply eating too much and it’s not sustainable, as well as a burden on our health.
Poutine. In particular a poutine made with real cheese curds, with rich gravy, hot enough to thoroughly melt the cheese. The addition of lamb meatballs or shredded smoked BBQ pork or duck confit also goes a long way to making poutine a real guilty pleasure. What are some of the most interesting or unique challenges of being a chef?
One will never have the same day twice. This is a fast-moving industry with lots of moving parts. It keeps one engaged and keeps one thinking. I love the chaos that is generated, but I prefer to control it verses it controlling me. Problem solving is a huge prerequisite for this business. What advice would you have for aspiring new chefs as they enter the industry?
Be patient with yourself. This is an industry based on experience. Get the experience you need to be successful and What is your favourite food combination enjoy the journey. Be kind to yourself as right now? you grow and make mistakes. Learn from Third-page Ad_Layout_Final.pdf 4/27/17 6:27:43 PMalways look ahead, never Anything grilled with fresh lemon (or the mistakes and other acidity) and salt. behind!
Salt, butter, good quality vinegar
Gluten Free. If you are a celiac, I fully understand and respect how gluten can’t be consumed. But, gluten has been the cornerstone of our diet for over 3,000 years; the pyramids and Stonehenge were built on barley and now gluten is considered the death of our society. There are a large number of processed food companies looking to take advantage of that perception by providing a range of gluten-free foods that use, in some cases, some questionable ingredients to replace gluten.
Do you have any culinary guilty pleasures?
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Is there any type of cuisine that you would like to experiment more with?
One never has enough Indian flavours. I love the complexity and wonderful flavours this culture has. India has a deep, long history and food is the cornerstone to its complexity of regions. www.restobiz.ca | Fall 2017 9