David Foot To Be Executive Chef at Market

DAVID FOOT TO BE EXECUTIVE CHEF AT MARKET

Word out of New York is that Jean-George Vongerichten has chosen former Vancouverite, Chef David Foot, to be his Executive Chef at Market when the restaurant opens at the Shangri-la in late January.

Thus, for a former local chef, it's been a circuitous Pan-Pacific route that has finally led back to home. Doing a little sleuthing via unofficial sources, this is what we dug up on David:

With the exception of a stint at BeachSide Café in West Vancouver (when he took over from Chef Carol Chow after she left to jon the Hart House), Foot has built an extensive resume within the hotel industry, working with such major hotels as The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, The Metropolitan Vancouver, the Sheraton Guilford in Surrey, and finally the Westin Grand on Robson Street where he first worked with GM Stephen Darling (now top man at the Shangri-la Vancouver).

It was Darling who tapped Foot to become one of the Shangri-la’s  “Tigers” and sent him to gain experience in Asia, first at the Marina in Cairns, Australia, and then, as of January 2008, at the Pudong Shangri-La in Shanghai.

Apparently, Jean-Georges had a number of chef candidates in mind for the high profile Vancouver job, but after flying to Shanghai to interview Foot he decided that the BC-born chef had the right combination of Vancouver background, experience with Asian cuisine and compatibility with Vongerichten’s New York based stable of international restaurants to make him the right man for the job.

Congratulations to David Foot who is currently spending time in the kitchens of the Vongerichten restaurant group in New York before returning to take up his new position in Vancouver.

As for Market, we asked Jean-Georges during his recent visit if,  by giving his newest restaurant the same name as his Paris property, it meant that the two restaurants would be similar in style or menu.  And he answered … “Well, yes, but no.”

Whether that means we will be getting the famous Parisian black truffle pizza is still anyone’s guess at this point.