The food and beverage industry was battered during the COVID-19 pandemic, and innovation has been more important than ever in the last couple years. Sun Peaks Resort LLP (SPR) is now focusing on building a foundation for a new future in food and beverage, Sandra Gregory, chief of accommodations and hospitality at SPR and Sun Peaks Grand Hotel (SPG) shared, adding that it starts with identifying the right talent.
Gregory pointed to the many different cultural backgrounds in the culinary staff at SPR and SPG, and spoke to SPIN about how they’re cultivating each chef’s individual gifts.
SPR and SPG have been focused heavily on hiring foreign culinary workers for two years at a time through the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). Now they want to see the diverse cultures represented in the food offered in town.
“We had several different countries represented, but our menus weren’t reflective of the culture and the talent that they’re bringing with them,” she explained.
Identifying and building on talent
“I want us to empower and to mentor and to grow our people,” she said.
Part of accomplishing this is giving chefs creative license over what they make.
“When you’re allowing someone to be authentic and to tell their story, you rarely go wrong because there’s passion and their sincerity to whatever they do,” Gregory said.
Besides highlighting individual talents, she also wants to showcase the way chefs can elevate the uniqueness of each restaurant.
“When you’re picking a menu, a lot of people go, oh, we need something for everyone,” she said, explaining there’s value in a smaller menu with more of a focus.
“As a destination, to be able to offer Moroccan and Mexican and Mauritian and all these different cuisines, that gives you opportunity and diversity.”
Dinesh Toofaneeram, executive sous chef for SPG, was able to work with many chefs from abroad during his time cooking in his home country of Mauritius. Many cultures were represented in the menu of his previous workplace, which would be built on what they learned from each visiting chef.
This structure is similar to what he wants to do in Sun Peaks, bringing menu items in from some of the cultures represented in the culinary team’s background and guiding the guest’s experience away from typical Canadian cuisines.
A taste of Sun Peaks
SPIN was invited to experience some culinary creations from three Sun Peaks chefs, all representing their experiences.
Beef Tacos by Chef Astrid
Paola Astrid Villanueva Gomez presented first a dish from her home country of Mexico. At 28 years old, she has been working in Sun Peaks for eight months, preparing food as chef de partie for Morissey’s Public House.
“I started my career six years ago, in Playa Del Carmen, then I traveled to the United States in West Virginia, then to Los Cabos in Mexico, and then I came here,” Gomez shared.
She chose to display a beef taco, as the most representative dish you can find in the streets of Mexico.
The tacos were flavourful with just the right amount of spice. Most important to achieve this, she said, is the marination of the meat before it’s cooked.
With the strong spices cooked into the beef, having melted cheese and pickled onions topping this dish help balance out each bite.
Lamb Tagine by Chef Aziz
Brought to the table by Abdelaziz Boulasnane, chef de partie for Masa’s Bar and Grill was Lamb Tagine, slow cooked with just a bit of water and spices, made with onion, honey, dried fruit and cinnamon.
It was the perfect texture, with an unexpected but welcome mix of sweet and savoury flavours. Each bite had just enough sauce and was even better when paired with the walnuts, dried fruit and apple on the side.
Boulasnane is from Morocco where this dish originated, and said it is made traditionally for special guests.
“This is how to say to others, you are most welcome, the home is yours,” he said.
He worked in Casablanca for 14 years and the Maldives for five before coming to Sun Peaks.
“My main concern, at the end of the day, is that all the guests will be happy,” he said.
Butter Chicken by Chef Dinesh
Dinesh Toofaneeram began cooking in Mauritian resorts before moving to France and working there for 18 years.
For his final culinary job in France, Toofaneeram worked at a one star Michelan restaurant for six years, a very big honour in the industry.
He presented a Chicken Makhani (Butter Chicken), a dish he learned to prepare when working as a line cook in Mauritius in 1997.
The business class hotel he worked at hosted chefs from abroad each month for 15 days to share their creations as a promotion. He was taught Butter Chicken along with many other Indian dishes from a Taj Mahal chef.
He’s been making this dish the same way he learned it then, and it proved to be a successful recipe.
Not too spicy but still with a full flavour profile and sufficiently creamy, this dish is a must-try even for the pickiest eaters. Each piece of chicken was cooked perfectly and when paired with the delectable sauce, even the taste of the side naan bread is more than worth noting.
Further culinary initiatives
A taste of some new culinary initiatives are being rolled out as part of the resort’s summer events.
As part of the First Fridays festivities on July 5, Sebastian Greer, food and beverage director for SPR, said there was delicious Jamaican and Argentinian street food featured.
“He was beaming, he was so proud to highlight his food, his heritage,” Greer said of the Jamaican chef, Chef Oshane Thomas.
Additionally, Masa’s showcased Moroccan skewers from Chef Aziz, Greer said, with a write-up of him and his history next to the food menu, as well as what the food means to him.
Food was a big part of the most recent Locals Day as well. Based on the grouse named El Diablo by locals after being spotted recurrently over the years, Greer said they served spicy El Diablo wings at Masa’s as a nod to the local avian celebrity.
They’re working on defining restaurant features for different days of the week.
“Sebastian [Greer] new, Kartik’s [Kumar] new, a lot of our team members are new,” Gregory explained. “We’ll start to define what those specials are in the week.”
One thing they’ve been experimenting with at Mantle’s is a selection of non-alcoholic cocktails, to contribute to an inclusive experience for all. Three mocktails were presented to SPIN as part of the tasting experience, and each one was refreshing and delicious in their own way.
This inclusivity is further being built on as they acquire gluten-free items from a bakery team in Kamloops that specializes in gluten-free bread, cookies, muffins and more.
This contributes to their larger picture of, as Toofaneeram said, “[using] Sun Peaks Resort and the Grand Hotel as platforms to help our local small business farmers.”
Many of their ingredients and products will be sourced from farms and businesses surrounding Sun Peaks, including Kamloops.
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