As a growing and thriving city Calgary has more than its fair share of excellent, world-class Chefs, including Top Chef Canada winner Nicole Grimes and Iron Chef competitors. It’s also got a selection of great chefs that haven’t (yet) made their mark on the national or international stage but absolutely have the potential to get there.
One of those is Chef Darren Mitchell, currently Head Chef at the Grey Eagle Casino. Fortunate enough to only need six hours of sleep a night, he always worked two jobs until he had kids, and often that second job was harvesting the ingredients used in the kitchen where he worked. That gave him the great experience of knowing exactly where everything on the plate came from when he served it.
A model that worked when he was under Chef Mark Filatow at the Okanagan’s award-winning Waterfront Café doesn’t necessarily scale up to the numbers he handles at Grey Eagle. That hasn’t stopped him from trying, though, and you can read about his ideas here.