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Grant Macdonald / Chef de Cuisine

If variety is the spice of life, then one could call Chef de Cuisine Grant Macdonald’s restaurant experience perfectly seasoned. Want Italian? Been there. Craving French? Cooked that. Greek, Pan-Asian or Seafood? Check, check and…check. Truly, his culinary history is as well-rounded as a chef’s toque.

And with his addition to the TRIO team in December 2011, he’ll soon be able to formally add “steak” to his areas of expertise.

Born in Vancouver, Grant moved to Tromsø, Norway with his family when he was eight years old, giving him early exposure to international food and the concept of knowing exactly where your food is sourced. “Tromsø was rural, so we literally grew our own potatoes and caught our own fish,” says Grant. 

Although his family lived in Norway for only a year, Grant’s first foray into the farm-to-table concept seems to have created an appreciation for fresh ingredients that provide a sense of place. “As a chef, for inspiration I look to my local environment – the farms, ranches and orchards,” says Grant. “I like to see what’s coming out of the earth and to think about how I can put it on a plate.”

With such a keen interest in how things are made, it’s no surprise Grant originally pursued a degree in chemistry at McGill University in Montreal. Selecting the major because he “was good at it,” he soon determined he didn’t love the idea of a future holed up in a lab working with chemicals. 

Forced to choose between starting a different course of study and finding a job to pay the bills, he headed across the street – literally – to a brand new restaurant, hoping his summers in food service would pay off. As luck would have it, the chef, Michel Ross, had worked under Gordon Ramsey in England and, finding Grant to be “a nice guy,” he was willing to take the relative novice under his wing. Grant was given the role of prep cook, and within a short year and a half he was promoted to saucier (lead cook). 

After helping Ross open a new Pan-Asian fusion restaurant called Baila, Grant went to work for Claude Pelletier, one of Quebec’s top chefs and Chef Ross’ culinary mentor. As garde manger cook at Cube at the Hotel St. Paul, Grant learned how to re-create old school classics in a modern way. He says of the experience, “I didn’t realize at the time how ahead of the curve we were, but I see restaurants today doing what we pioneered back then.”

In 2003, Grant left Cube to help a co-worker open Bronte, an Italian fine dining restaurant that was soon named the “Best New Restaurant in Canada.” The following year, he moved to the venerable Le Club des Pins, a southern French restaurant that had been around for 20 years but had slipped from its glory days. “Some of the best chefs in the city had worked in that kitchen,” says Grant. “I was lucky to get in there.” Unfortunately, after Grant built it back up to glowing critical reviews, the restaurant’s owner decided to sell.

The following year of 2005 would be a busy one full of new experiences for Grant. Intent on expanding his skills, he stepped out of his comfort zone and took the role of pastry chef for Brunoise, a top Zagat-rated restaurant in Montreal. Mastering that, he ran a high-end market for a four-star Greek restaurant group. The year would also introduce him to another side of the restaurant business: catering. As the chef at a high-end caterer, Grant oversaw some of Montreal’s most logistically complex events, ranging from seated dinners for 700 to receptions that required 60,000 canapés.  This catering knowledge would come in handy when Grant and his wife catered their own wedding that October.

In 2006, Grant returned to the restaurant world to work as the daytime chef de cuisine at Tavern on the Square. The schedule was perfect for his most important role to date as dad to his newborn daughter. 

After over two years at the Tavern and six months of Canadian paternity leave following the birth of his son, Grant was ready for a real change of scenery. In 2009, he packed up the family and moved to New York to assume the chef de cuisine role at Bouley Upstairs and two other David Bouley restaurants. 

At the end of 2009, Grant made the decision to move back to his hometown of Vancouver to accept the position of chef de cuisine at YEW, Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver’s restaurant. Although born there, Grant says “it was cool to see what a world-class dining city it had become.” That said, he quickly made his own mark by modernizing brunch – increasing the covers from 30 to 300 a day in the process – and helping change the branding from a generic restaurant to a seafood concept complete with a raw bar. He also oversaw the restaurant’s food operations during the 2010 Olympics, a high-profile gig that saw him serving everyone from heads-of-state to media and celebrities. 

Armed with a dozen years in the kitchen and a variety of experiences, Grant moved within the company to take the helm in TRIO at Four Seasons Hotel Austin in December 2011. The furthest south he’s yet travelled in his career, he’s excited to create new dishes using local ingredients like pecans and olive oil. 

“I was thrilled to hear Texas is the second largest producer of olive oil in the U.S., since it’s never been a local ingredient for me,” says Grant. “I look forward to exploring even more Texas ingredients since I really love the idea that you get a sense of place based on what you’re eating.” 

Just like he did back in Norway. Coming full circle? Not surprising for such a well-rounded chef.

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