Volume 12 Issue 1 » 35
A lot of famous people come here.
Who are some of them?
So talking about movie stars, we had John
Travolta and he came on his own. He came
about six times, sat by himself and asked
our waiter to request a special French
recipe. I went out and asked him how he
would know this dish. He said he was in
Cannes and loved this recipe. We also
had Penelope Cruz and many others, so
overall, we have lots of famous people come
here. People ask me why would I not take
pictures with all these famous people? But
I would think why would I take pictures
with the people who only come in town
once in a lifetime and never come back at
all? I should take pictures with people like
you who come on a weekly or monthly
basis. Those are our movie stars!
I know that you love cars. What is
your favourite car and what are you
driving now?
I can only have one car. But my objective
would be a Pagani or a McLaren P1 or F1.
I am driving a Porsche Targa 4S. I like the
flexibility of the car. It’s like a hatchback
that can open the trunk and I can put my
golf bag inside.
You are owner and chef. Is there
a balance there? You are the
manager, creator and the creative
force. Is there tension there?
Two heads. End of the month or week, you
still have to make money and you have two
papers: your food cost and your labour cost.
Sometimes your restaurant is full, but it
does not mean you make money; you have
to be well managed. We have ninety seats
and thirty staff so it’s quite easy to manage.
But I have no partners to assist and my
accountant comes once a week. And I sign
the entire cheques for the suppliers on a
monthly basis. And every two weeks we
pay our staff. We need to do about $8,000
a day to break even and our rent is about
$25,000 per month. So we need to be at
the top.
And you keep fit by cycling?
Yes. In France, we are off in the afternoon
and by 3 pm to 7 pm all the winos and
friends come over and drink for free. By 7
pm all chefs are hammered, yelling at each
other! If I have problems at work, in order
to release my stress, I do exercise. I go for
a run, 10-15km. I come back and have no
problem, stress released. If I have an injury
for a week or two, I go nuts. And 90% of
the new generation of chefs in Vancouver
or France are very fit now. Because being
a chef, it is demanding and stressful and
a tough job. You have four ovens to look
at, different ingredients, twenty different
sauces. You have to be very, very sharp.