At age 16, Kevin Birch already knew he wanted to be a chef. At 17, he trained as an apprentice at Relais Châteaux’s Millcroft Inn & Spa in Alton, Ont. under one of Swiss chef Anton Mosimann’s top apprentices, chef Freddy Stamm. It was there Birch learned about fine ingredients and culinary artistry.
“It’s very important to have respect for the ingredients you’re using,” says Birch. “You must get to know the local farmer or producer and visit the market daily [to] experience the full effect from start to finish.”
After completing his apprenticeship program at George Brown College in Toronto, Birch’s culinary career took off. He re-located to B.C. where he worked in two of Canada’s top-100 restaurants, Hart House Restaurant and Salmon House on the Hill. Birch has also worked for Princess Cruise Lines, Fairmont Banff Springs as sous chef and the J.W. Marriott Hotel Cairo in Egypt as executive chef. Upon returning to Toronto, he was the executive chef at The Rogers Centre and went on to become a culinary instructor at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT). In 2016, Birch made the leap to entrepreneurship with the launch of Chef’s Earth Inc., in partnership with his wife, who is also a chef, at the Calgary Farmer’s Market, offering nutritionally dense meals and catering services.
“I spent many years living like a rock star,” says Birch. “Later on, I decided I wanted to feel better and look better so I changed my lifestyle. I opened my own business with my wife and started eating better and selling healthier food and I’ve never looked back. I feel great.”
Additionally, Birch’s illustrious career has given him the opportunity to cook for three U.S. presidents, religious leaders, Monarchs, politicians and Hollywood celebrities.
Most recently, Birch took on the role as opening executive chef of The Dorian, Autograph Collection in Calgary, where he created the culinary offerings for Prologue, a lobby coffee-to-cocktail bar; Bistro Novelle, located within the nearby Courtyard by Marriott Calgary Downtown South on the second floor; and The Wilde, a fine-dining restaurant located on the hotel’s 27th floor that features organic, sustainable and local ingredients. Menu items at The Wilde include Brome Lake duck breast with Pommes Anna, coeur de canard, hickory nuts, sauce bigarade, crispy shallot and blue haskap ($55); elk tartare with confit quail yolk, sheep cheddar, capers, shallot-preserved amber plum and prairie-sage crisps ($25); and Digby Bay binchotan-smoked scallop with field-pea koshihikari, watercress wild mint, green apple, black pudding and dandelion pistou ($26).
“[All of the restaurants at The Dorian] share the same philosophy,” says Birch. “It’s all about conscious eating, sustainable, local ingredients and free-range, properly-treated animals.”
Birch says he’s been living a fulfilling life “having [earned] the respect of my colleagues and teams throughout the years and travelling the world. I feel blessed to have been able to create [these culinary offerings] from scratch at The Dorian.”
Birch also helped build the culinary team at The Dorian but in September, he passed the reins to Josh Dyer, former executive sous chef. “I’m confident chef Dyer will lead this team to new heights and continue to achieve even greater success,” says Birch. “I look forward to [witnessing the future successes that I will always be a part of] at The Dorian.”
Birch has since re-joined his wife at Chef’s Earth Inc. to continue providing fresh, healthy meals to their customers. “I’m going back to the entrepreneurial life I love,” he says.
By Nicole Di Tomasso
