Professional Spotlight – The Chefs of the 61st Canadian National Meeting

The Chefs of the 61st Canadian N ational Meeting

Gregory Burns

Executive Chef, Gio, The Prince George Hotel

Appointed Gio Restaurant Chef in November 2018, Greg Burns has put his own culinary stamp on the cuisine of Gio with his keen interest in fine dining and working with an engaged and friendly team of culinary professionals to provide fresh, locallysourced dishes. The only four Diamond hotel with a four Diamond restaurant on site in Atlantic Canada, Gio has long been a mainstay of the Halifax dining scene but is not immune to change and adaptation. Greg suggests the new GIO’s focus on smaller, more shareable plates “provides more of an experience. Plates are now designed to be shared. I think this will provide more flexibility for guests to come as small groups. The menu design allows for them to try more dishes and more variety of flavours.” The menu offers a range of ethnic influences, partially due to the diversity of GIO’s kitchen and wait staff, which includes members of Lebanese, Indian, Nepalese, Jamaican and Indian descent, yet according to Burns, “there is always a French bottom note that grounds the dishes.” The menu continues to highlight unique ingredients, whether they be the once, but now less so, exotic octopus or celebrated local ingredients, such as locally-produced Ciro’s Burrata. The restaurant’s dining room also showcases originality on and off the plate with art in rotation from gallery Studio 21 and purchasable glassware from Kiln Art.

Gio Restaurant

A “Red Seal” Certified and graduate of Holland College, The Culinary Institute of Canada, Burns’ CV includes an initial stint at a resort in the Queen Charlotte Islands in BC, time spent at the renowned Fogo Island Inn in Newfoundland and work under the tutelage of chef Michael Smith (Inn at Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Island) and chef Martin Ruiz Salvador (Fleur de Sel, Lunenburg) respectively. A selfdescribed classically French trained chef, Burns suggests the diversity of cultures seen on the GIO menu reflects the way he cooks at home.

While his journey now finds him back in Halifax, he has built great relationships over the years with local producers and continues to ensure his dishes include Nova Scotia products. Most recently, working closely with Chef Salvador at Fleur De Sel, Greg’s culinary dishes flourished using locally-sourced items. No stranger to competition, he won Bronze at Canada’s Great Kitchen Party, Halifax 2019 (the Regional Qualifier for the Canadian Culinary Championships) with his “fruits de mer”. Stunningly beautiful, this dish was a collation of many delectable flavours and textures perfectly in keeping with the competition itself, a celebration and elevation of Canadian culture in food, sport and music.

“fruits de mer”

Martin Luis Salvador, Maître Rôtisseur

Executive Chef/Owner, the Beach Pea

Despite his Spanish name, Martin Luis Salvador is a Nova Scotia boy through and through: his early years were divided between Nova Scotia’s South Shore and Halifax. After high school, he worked as a cook for a few years, and spent some time working in Banff, Alta, where by chance he reconnected with Sylvie MacDonald, who he had known since he was 12 years old. They renewed their friendship and eventually married. “Sylvie certainly pushed me toward getting involved in cooking more seriously,” says Martin, noting that she encouraged him to study at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Scottsdale, Arizona. Not long after, he got a job at a Michelin-starred French restaurant in Dublin, Ireland, where he developed a passion for French cooking; later, he moved to Lyon, France, where he did stints with crème de la crème chefs Jean-Paul LaCombe and Frédéric Côte. He also explored the culinary traditions of Corsica—an experience that strongly influences his cooking style today 26 Outside of the kitchen, Greg loves “the great outdoors” with a lot of ocean and lake swimming, hiking and foraging while camping and cycling. Of course, he also savours the food and wine he discovers across the Maritimes, in particular in Newfoundland and Halifax.

Born and raised on a poultry farm in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, Jason studied at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts Institute in Ottawa. Having grown up on a farm in a rural community, product and quality were always important to him. After working in Toronto and Ottawa, he was given the opportunity to move back to Nova Scotia and train with some of Canada’s most respected restaurateurs, David Barrett and Nicholas Pierce .He was part of the team at Acton’s Restaurant in Wolfville before joining Domaine de Grand Pré Winery’s Le Caveau Restaurant in 2003. In 2007 he took over as Le Caveau’s chef. Hededicated himself to working with local farmers, meat purveyors and fish mongers to build a supply chain that would be able to supply the majority of the product he would need to run his restaurants. At the forefront of the local food movement in the region, Jason sources roughly 80 percent of the restaurant’s ingredients locally. His philosophy is Terrior, using all of the ingredients before him with in a season. Jason is also Chef at the Black Spruce Restaurant in Gros Morne National Park.

Lawry Deneau, Maître Rôtisseur

Executive Chef, Hermitage Restaurant

Chef Deneau’s early love for cooking was sparked on his family’s farm where was introduced to his first ‘master chefs’ in his grandmother’s kitchen. Travelling across Canada and embarking on culinary expeditions to New Orleans, Charleston, and Mexico. Lawrence eagerly learned from each of the many French, Spanish, Italian, Creole, and Mexican Chefs he encountered and worked alongside. In 2004-05 he joined Martin Ruiz-Salvatore, as Sous chef, at Fleur de Sel in Lunenburg, NS. Lawrence moved on to back up Renée Lavallee at Il Mercato in Halifax, NS. He then moved into an Executive chef position within the Bertossi Group for 11 years at establishments LaFrasca Cibi + Vini and The Bicycle Thief. In addition, Lawrence travelled to Italy for training with Chef Giovanni Tavolaro at the Michelin starred La Taverna in Friuli in 2013. In 2017, he opened a small food operation within Chain Yard Cidery in Halifax’s North End. In 2019. he eyed a unique property on Barrington St. in Halifax. Julep Kitchen + Cocktails opened to fanfare and is considered one of Halifax’s most unique and well-loved restaurants. In October 2020, Lawrence, and his business partners, opened Hermitage.

Originally from Cape Breton Island, Andrew Shannon got into cooking because of a love for nature and his surroundings which inspired him to use local ingredients to make creative dishes. He moved to Lunenburg to attend the NSCC Culinary Arts Program. He then got an apprenticeship under Terry Vassallo at the restaurant Trattoria Della Nonna in Lunenburg. After travelling around Canada to gain further experience he moved back to Nova Scotia and got a job at Janes on the Commons restaurant in Halifax. He became the Day Time Manager and was in charge of their award winning busy lunch service. It was there that his love of local ingredients really came through. He then moved on to become the Sous Chef at the Battery Park Beer Bar where he helped opened the now very popular restaurant in Dartmouth. He eventually got promoted to the Head Chef position at the Brooklyn Warehouse and has been running the kitchen for a few years now bringing creative and approachable dishes to the menu for everyone to enjoy. Executive Chef Jeremy Beeton started his apprenticeship in 2012 under Chefs Luis Clavel and Brenan Madill at the Atlantica hotel in Halifax. During my time at the hotel, he was able to take part in many events and competitions such as gold medal plates and even competed as a junior alongside team Nova Scotia. Jeremy “was lucky enough to be a part of their team for 7 years, helping open new restaurants, elevate existing staples within the city and eventually working my way up to sous chef of Eliot and Vine with Chef Brenan”. In 2018, he competed in the Canadian National Jeunes Chefs Rôtisseurs Competition in Edmonton where he represented Nova Scotia receiving the Bronze Medal. About a year after that Jeremy left Eliot and Vine to become head chef of a French restaurant called Bistro le Coq. Within a few months, he had also taken over its sister restaurant East of Grafton tavern. During COVID, the bistro was rebranded and turned it into an Italian style aperitif bar allowing Jeremy to gain experience opening a new restaurant. Today, he has returned to Eliot and Vine as head chef, changing the menu all the time and trying to compete with the other great chefs and restaurants Halifax has to offer.