Featured Chefs

Alana Peckham,
Executive Chef Cru Restaurant

Raised in Vancouver Cru's Executive Chef Alana Peckham studied at Dubrulle's.  She worked at Fennie's and Lumiere before joining the staff at Cru whe she quickly rose through the ranks to become the restaurant's Executive Chef.  Alana's cooking style is influenced both by her training in traditional French culinary techniques and by her cultural heritage as a Chinese Canadian.  As the Executive Chef of a restaurant that focuses on pairing food and wine she enjoys the challenge of preparing cuisine that works together with wine to create a complete sensory experience for guests.

_______________________________________________________________________________________ Jonathan Chovancek,
Chef/Proprietor, Kale & Nori

 Chef Jonathan Chovancek has over 16 years experience cooking across Canada beginning  on Vancouver Island in such award winning, ingredients driven restaurants as the Aerie Resort and Sooke Harbour House.  From 2004-2011 Jonathan was Chef de Cuisine at Culinary Capers in Vancouver cooking award winning cuisine at events as far away as Torino, Italy and Beijing, China!  Jonathan's team served an incredible 59,000 people at 600 events over three weeks at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.  Jonathan is now the proud co-owner of the hot new boutique catering company based in Vancouver, Kale & Nori Culinary Arts, 604 773 6977.

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Executive Chef Kris Kabush
Hart House Restaurant, Deer Lake Park

Kris's Passion for cooking began in his high school's culinary arts program.  He started an apprenticeship at Vancouver's Wedgwood Hotel before he graduated and then enrolled in Vancouver's Community College"s Red Seal Program.
Kris has worked at Lumiere, Cioppino's and The Four Seasons.
In 2008 he joined the Hart House as Sous Chef and has been Executive Chef since 2010.  He delight guests with classically inspired and deeply satisfying cuisine.

   

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Todd Howard
Executive Chef of CinCin

Todd Howard’s leadership in the CinCin kitchens, first as chef de cuisine and now as executive chef, speak to his prodigious culinary talents as well as his strong team-building skills. Todd’s resumé saw him earn top marks at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology’s (SAIT) Culinary School before landing at two leading Calgary restaurants. But it was a two-year posting in London that saw him grow into his potential. In 2004, Todd joined the restaurant Angela Hartnett at The Connaught Hotel, a Gordon Ramsay restaurant, while also performing stages at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck and London’s iconic Le Gavroche. In 2006, Todd returned to Canada to join CinCin’s sister restaurant West, and then as head chef he opened Watermark Restaurant in the British Virgin Islands.

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Executive Chef Karen Barnaby
at the Fish House in Stanley Park

Karen Barnaby started cooking at the age of eight and has not been able to stop. Her professional career started twelve years later on a pink, four-burner electric stove in the basement of a restaurant in Ottawa where she baked carrot cakes, cheesecakes, quiches and other culinary marvels of the late 1970’s.

Karen has lived and worked in Toronto and Mexico, and for the past twenty years has called Vancouver home. She has been the Executive Chef of the Fish House in Stanley Park since 1995.

With her no-nonsense and approachable style, Karen has been a well-respected cooking teacher, speaker and inspirational role model. She is the only woman to hold the British Columbia Restaurant Association Back of the House Award for Excellence and has received a Minerva Award for Community Leadership

Karen has written and edited award winning cookbooks, contributed recipes to numerous publications and writes a popular column for the Vancouver Sun.

As a volunteer, she has edited the Helping Hands Cookbook, written to support Vancouver's Community Kitchens Project, is the Secretary and past president of Les Dames d’Escoffier Vancouver Chapter, cooks for charity dinners, and helps around her neighborhood

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Executive Chef Daryle Nagata

Nagata's formal culinary training and experience has spanned the globe.  After training with European masters, his culinary journey included London's renowned Savoy Hotel and Geneva's La Reserva before Nagata found his home with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.  Twelve years ago he opened the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia, preparing extraordinary cuisine for legendary occasions large and small.  In 1988 Nagata and a contingent of renowned Canadians participated in the opening of Canada House in London, where he had the honor of creating a traditional, West Coast First Nations meal for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth. 

A past appointee to the tasting board of the illustrious Culinary Institute of America, Chef Nagata's stellar international background includes the exclusive Savoy in London, the Hotel La Reserve in Geneva and the Fairmont in Washington, DC, where as executive chef he served as personal chef to numerous heads of state and celebrities. Chef Nagata invites all diners to share his motto: “Nourish your body, feed your soul, happy cooking.” 

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Chef Alain Rayé of La Régalade French Bistro

•   "Cooking is the happiness of my life.  This is my art, my way of communicating, my true passion".
  
  As any artist knows, the joy of creating is surpassed only by the joy of sharing your creations.  Sharing my cuisine with people who appreciate food is my ultimate satisfaction.
  La regalade means “a succulent treat “and you will be in store for that when you attend an evening with Alain as he shares with you some of his culinary secrets and delicious food.

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Authors Helen andAnastasia Koutalianos



The cookbook is filled with amazing mediterranean recipes and multiple uses for olive oil.
Helen was a food columnist and Greek cooking instructor who now runs, Basil Olive Oil Product with her husband Basil.
The company imports extra virgin olive oil from a grove in Greece that Basil's family has owned for four generations.