“I never wanted to be a chef.
asserted
I → want → ?
This is the first thing Grant van Gameren says when we sat down for his interview.
asserted
we → say → interview
It was a bit surprising, given that he is one of the most influential Toronto chefs of all time.
asserted
he → give → time
He has an astonishing knack for knowing what people want to eat, or, rather, what he wants to eat, and opening restaurants to feed it to them at the right time.
asserted
he → have → time
Over the past two decades, he opened, among others, the Black Hoof, Grand Electric, Bar Isabel, Bar Raval, El Rey, and the Michelin-starred Quetzal.
asserted
he → open → Hoof
He revived The Tennessee Tavern and Harry’s Charbroiled.
asserted
He → revive → Tavern
He moved out to Prince Edward County a few years ago and opened Rosetta there, too.
asserted
He → move → Rosetta
And now, he’s shut down his two-year-old French bistro Martine’s and, alongside Fat Rabbit impresario Zach Smith and Bar Raval partner Hailey Burke, debuted Casa Rubia in its place, a Spanish-inspired restaurant serving things like succulent Galician beef, Cantabrian anchovies and marinated mussels, albacore tuna crudo, grilled cuttlefish with olives, charred octopus.
asserted
he → shut → olives
So what does he mean, he didn’t want to be a chef?
asserted
he → mean → what
You get the sense that van Gameren didn’t want to be a chef the same way he didn’t want to be, say, a fireman or an HVAC technician or a realtor.
asserted
he → get → sense
His family didn’t care about food growing up.
asserted
family → care → food
After a few cooking gigs, his school chum and fellow future famous chef Craig Harding got him a gig at Canoe.
asserted
chum → get → Canoe
Van Gameren promptly asked for a higher hourly than anyone was making there at the time.
asserted
anyone → ask → time
On his first day, he realized he didn’t really know anything about food.
asserted
he → realize → food
No biggie — van Gameren knew he would be worth the cash.
asserted
he → know → ?
“Me getting into restaurants has nothing to do with the food or the restaurant business.
asserted
getting → get → food
I like to excel at whatever I’m doing, and if I don’t know something, I like to figure it out on my own time,” he says.
asserted
he → like → time
“And I have this excessive nature of when I’m into something or trying to reach a goal, I will do whatever it takes to figure it out and do the best I can.”
asserted
I → have → best
One anecdote from his youth feels more telling than anything on his food CV.
asserted
anecdote → feel → CV
When van Gameren was in his late teens, he got a snake.
asserted
he → get → snake
“And then I liked it so much that I was like, ‘how can I do more of this?’” he remembers.
asserted
he → like → this
“And it was like, ‘OK, now we’re breeding snakes.’”
asserted
we → breed → snakes
Soon he was collecting snakes and selling them all over North America.
asserted
he → collect → America
Suddenly he found himself one of the continent’s blood python experts, writing out care sheets for his ophidiophile clients.
asserted
himself → find → clients
His Parkdale apartment filled with teetering stacks of snake containers and egg incubators.
asserted
apartment → fill → containers
Van Gameren couldn’t have just one snake.
asserted
Gameren → have → snake
He had to have 50.
asserted
He → have → 50
One restaurant was never going to cut it, either.
asserted
restaurant → go → it
Drive to succeed
Van Gameren doesn’t look like the usual head of a culinary empire.
asserted
Gameren → drive → empire
Standing outside Casa Rubia bright and early one recent Friday, his faded Sikes Cycles T-shirt had holes in it, his old Choppers Only cap was pulled low over sleepy blue eyes.
asserted
cap → stand → eyes
It was 9:30 in the morning and he was smoking, candid and friendly.
asserted
he → smoke → morning
But underneath the laidback vibe thrums an engine, as strong and unstoppable as the 1930s and 1940s Harley Knuckleheads he loves so much.
asserted
he → thrum → Knuckleheads
After we settle at a table on the second floor, he tells me cooking has always just been a job.
asserted
cooking → settle → me
“Never a passion,” van Gameren says.
asserted
Gameren → say → ?
“I think that’s what’s helped me do what I do…(with) that drive of execution and excellence and a methodical framework way of thinking versus ‘I grew up with these family memories of food, and now I’m showing it off to these people and telling a story.’
asserted
I → think → story
No — I’m like a chameleon when it comes to the restaurants.
asserted
it → ’m → restaurants
He doesn’t talk to restaurant people.
asserted
He → talk → people
He doesn’t follow trends or chefs, his feed instead filled with pitbull memes and vintage motorcycles.
asserted
feed → follow → memes
He rarely dines out, let alone eat at his own restaurants.
asserted
He → din → restaurants
van Gameren can’t stand the idea that even one person might be sitting there, just hating their meal.
uncertain
person → stand → meal
…and 39 more, not listed.
The Aporia
